It seems Tiny Boy has graduated from regular checkups at the sleep clinic! He stays on flinstones with iron, I can try weaning him from melatonin after time change (but if it doesn't work, no worries about keeping him on it, apparently), and call for follow up if things go downhill. No more blood tests, sleep studies, or anything else. As is ALWAYS the case when we go there, he had a (rare) horrible night last night, which means I'm going on 2 hrs of sleep (from 12:30-2:30--oy). Which is why I'm typing this now, instead of plowing my way through work. We did manage to squeeze in a trip to the deli-of-overpriced-hotdogs-and-superb-coffee--I mean, it WAS lunchtime--before I drove him back to school. (Note to every parent in the universe: 2:00 pm dropoffs are massively confusing for preschoolers, even with a lot of explanation. Avoid if at all possible.)
I'm not sure why I'm writing this exactly, other than as a PSA: sometimes kids really do have sleep problems that no amount of Ferberizing (or any other sleep method) will solve. I can't even really think what my life would be like right now if I hadn't fought so hard to get him seen by a specialist (well, a team of specialists); we have a family friend who is fighting this battle for her *11-year-old* who also has low iron. I don't think the issue is as debilitating as it was for Tiny Boy and me...but still. Since June I have gone from a child who woke 4-5 times per night to a child who on a BAD night wakes once for 30-40 minutes max. About a third of the time, he sleeps straight through without a peep; the other third to half the time, he calls me once and immediately resettles (I'm not sure he's actually awake). I have time with LG in the evenings. And I'm sleeping, mostly, just under 8 hrs per night, which is still a tad low for me but totally livable (I do notice a huge difference if I can sleep 8.5 instead of 7.5).
So yay.
I'm not sure why I'm writing this exactly, other than as a PSA: sometimes kids really do have sleep problems that no amount of Ferberizing (or any other sleep method) will solve. I can't even really think what my life would be like right now if I hadn't fought so hard to get him seen by a specialist (well, a team of specialists); we have a family friend who is fighting this battle for her *11-year-old* who also has low iron. I don't think the issue is as debilitating as it was for Tiny Boy and me...but still. Since June I have gone from a child who woke 4-5 times per night to a child who on a BAD night wakes once for 30-40 minutes max. About a third of the time, he sleeps straight through without a peep; the other third to half the time, he calls me once and immediately resettles (I'm not sure he's actually awake). I have time with LG in the evenings. And I'm sleeping, mostly, just under 8 hrs per night, which is still a tad low for me but totally livable (I do notice a huge difference if I can sleep 8.5 instead of 7.5).
So yay.
Hooray for sleep clinic graduation! Here's hoping that Tiny Boy's sleep problems are a thing of the past. :-)
ReplyDeleteHot damn! Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteyay! And great PSA!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your blog since the you were ttc Tiny Boy, but I'm not really a commenter. However, I was hoping for some advice in reference to tiny sleep. I hope that's ok; I'm desperate.
My daughter is not quite 8 months, but has full on night terrors, & they are only getting worse. Every night and most naps she begins to scream in her sleep, will not be touched or comforted or nursed, just screams. During nap she eventually goes back to sleep or wakes up for real, but at night I'd been waking her up so we could both go back to sleep. Our pediatrician says I shouldn't wake her up and just let her go. My question is: how long does this go on before we should see a specialist? & how old does she need to be to see a specialist? We haven't slept in... I can't remember when. She wakes up somewhere between 45 mins to 3 hours, usually, but the night terrors are becoming more and more frequent. Last night we were up every 20. The pediatrician recommends sleep training, strict nap schedules, etc. Which we try, but she's exhausted from screaming through most of her nap and nighttime and doesn't actually ever rest.
Any advice would be wonderful. Thank you!
-Melanie
Hi, Melanie. That sounds truly awful. I'm sorry.
ReplyDeleteI'll say a few things. 1. I'm not a doctor, so I really can't say how normal or abnormal that behavior is. But personally I haven't ever heard of night terrors in a child that age--it's more a 3-year-old situation? Perhaps there's something else going on. I believe in the power of the specialist.
2. Pediatric sleep clinics DO work with infants. The one we saw was 'multi-unit'--meaning they had a peds neurologist, pulmnologist, bheavioral psych person and they referred to other units (like GI) as necessary to get info. It was a pain to get in, as you know if you've been reading this blog, but totally worth it. I should have pushed harder, sooner.
Feel free to email me at gwinne at yahoo dot com if you want to chat.