Bubby has always had trouble sleeping. When he was a baby it was hard to get him to go to sleep. You had to pat his bum pretty hard--like trying to get him to focus on the patting--so that he forgot he was falling asleep. Then he would have waves of waking up several times a night or even waking up at 1 am and being awake until 3 am and then going back to sleep. But he always returned to a more normal pattern--eventually.
For the last 6 months we have been dealing with a child who can take up to 2 hours to go to sleep, may sleep all night (very rare--happened once in the last 10 days), or wake-up several times a night for long periods. Last night he went to bed at 7 pm and was asleep within 45 minutes. He slept until 12 am. Then was up until after 3 am, which meant all of us were up as well. Did I mention that he is loud, very loud? I think he slept until about 6 :30 am. I'm not sure because at 3 am I shut his door and ours, with Sissy sleeping in our bed. We woke-up at 6:30 am to the sounds of Bubby kicking his door.
Melatonin doesn't help. It will knock him out and get him to sleep (sometimes), but it doesn't help him stay asleep. We have a whole list of things to try like different sheets, pjs, light in the room, and white noise, etc. We also have an appointment now to talk to the occupational therapist about sensory integration dysfunction. And hopefully an appointment with his pedi--this simply needs to get better.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Like what will I do if we can't get this child all of the help he needs--especially if he won't let us sleep and he doesn't sleep himself. UGH!
For the last 6 months we have been dealing with a child who can take up to 2 hours to go to sleep, may sleep all night (very rare--happened once in the last 10 days), or wake-up several times a night for long periods. Last night he went to bed at 7 pm and was asleep within 45 minutes. He slept until 12 am. Then was up until after 3 am, which meant all of us were up as well. Did I mention that he is loud, very loud? I think he slept until about 6 :30 am. I'm not sure because at 3 am I shut his door and ours, with Sissy sleeping in our bed. We woke-up at 6:30 am to the sounds of Bubby kicking his door.
Melatonin doesn't help. It will knock him out and get him to sleep (sometimes), but it doesn't help him stay asleep. We have a whole list of things to try like different sheets, pjs, light in the room, and white noise, etc. We also have an appointment now to talk to the occupational therapist about sensory integration dysfunction. And hopefully an appointment with his pedi--this simply needs to get better.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Like what will I do if we can't get this child all of the help he needs--especially if he won't let us sleep and he doesn't sleep himself. UGH!
I'm NOT (not not not!) discounting what you are going through, but "sensory integration dysfunction/disorder" is usually not the final diagnosis. It describes often what people with certain neurological conditions including autism go through... but usually this is not all that is going on.
ReplyDeleteI recently unfollowed a blog where a haughty public school teacher came off as saying if you EVER use benadryl off-label for ANY reason that you are a bad parent, worse than no parent. You know... we had a developmental pediatrician (not just pediatrician, but one who specialises in developmental problems) write us a prescription for x amount at bedtime along with a bunch of other stuff to do. Thankfully G did better within about a week and a half.
Ignorant people have NO CLUE how hard it is to get these kids to sleep sometimes. Or what other parents go through.
Hey, if SID label gets your kid understood, more power to ya. I am just not sure (even from this distance!) that that is all it is.
Oh I know HEM--it's just a beggining of trying to understand some of his issues. We are waiting on the BIG evaluation in June/July by the "team." If he isn't on the autistic spectrum I will be shocked!!! Benadryl does not work for him. In fact he has horrible hay fever and skin allergies, but we can't use any antihistimines--they have the opposite effect on him. They make him more hyper! We are going to try some new sheets, lavender scents, white noise in his room, a night light, etc. Also going to try keeping him up a bit later and some organized exercise. Thinking I might try a really good supplemental shake before bed as he doesn't eat much dinner and wonder if he might be hungry.
ReplyDeleteWhatever it is... it is what it is. Autism, FASD, or whatever, you're one of the most accepting and loving Mums in the world. I know you guys are going to be ok. It just might be hard for a while. :)
DeleteWe had very similar problems with Griffin until he was about 5 or 6?
ReplyDeleteWhen we were desperate I took him to the Dr and Screamed at him... "Give me something to make him sleep or I'm going to throw him out the window" or words similar to that! I was desperate for sleep myself!
So he have us a rather strong medication that knocked Griffin out! We used it for 3 days on, 3 days off for about a month. But it made him like a Zombie.
So we stopped using it.
One of the biggest problems can be that the child is so SLEEP DEPRIVED over such a long time that they then struggle to get to sleep and stay asleep.
I think a visit to the Dr is necessary, cos no one can function for too long with interrupted sleep.
I personally would not recommend the drug our Dr gave Griffin as it really was strong and changed our boy so much in a negative way, even his Kindergarten teachers noticed he wasn't himself and asked me what was 'wrong' with him! But, maybe there is something your wee boy can have that will help YOU guys to get some sleep if nothing else?