We're back from the Property and yes we survived the great outdoors. I'll post on that later this week. The girls had a BLAST!! And don't tell anyone, but even I managed to have a really good time! But I did not sleep well. Which is quite typical lately.
Kathryn has never been a good sleeper. Ever since she was a baby, the child just didn't sleep. She didn't sleep through the night until she was 16 months old. And even now, she rarely sleeps all night long. She has night terrors and it breaks my heart. She screams in the middle of the night and is just plain scared to death. Of what, I'm not sure, I just know that this is very hard for the both of us.
Last week was the worst it has ever been. She was waking up as many as 8 times a night and it definitely took its toll on me. I'll be the first to admit, I was a flat out bitch. I didn't cook, I didn't clean, I bit everyone's head off about every little thing, I didn't do much of anything except stumble through my days waiting for bedtime. Which ended up to be a total letdown because the cycle just repeated itself. I never bring my children into my bed, I need my space, that's just my thing, but twice I just said screw it and around 4am made hubs get up and plop her in with us.
Yesterday, I was beat. We had so much fun, but we were all so tired. And I was DREADING night time! As soon as we started driving home Kathryn started to say that she didn't want to sleep in her room. Could she sleep with me? Could she sleep with Alli? Could she sleep in the playroom? No, no and no.
She had her bath, her dinner, her story and then she settled in the playroom for a bit to watch Noggin. She was falling asleep and I picked her up to put her in her bed and she immediately started freaking out. I was too tired to deal with it but somehow when you need patience the most is when you find it. And trying to rationalize with a three year old about sleep is a task that requires oodles of patience.
We went round and round and finally I kissed her goodnight and told her it was time to sleep. She needed to dry her tears and settle down. And if she was going to cry, then I was going to have to close her door so she didn't disturb her sisters. She appeared to be calm and then the second my head hit the pillow, she started sobbing. I walked upstairs and noticed her door was closed. That is when my heart just broke. She had gotten up and closed her door herself and was sitting on her bed, tears just streaming.
I laid with her for a bit, tried to talk with her for a bit, every time she finally got calm, something else would set her off. I put about 12 of her favorite stuffed animals on her bed and then the A/C clicked on and she lost it.
The vent is located right outside her door and was making an eerie hissing sound. So everytime the A/C clicked on, she would hear this noise, all night long. That's what has been waking her up. FINALLY! I had something to work with! So we talked about how the air won't hurt us, yada yada...
And then I got up and closed her door. And we couldn't hear it. I asked her if that was better and she said yes. She's never slept with her door closed, she's always been scared to do that as well. But I showed her how the noise was gone and she INSISTED upon sleeping with her door closed. Which was fine, I just resorted to the fact that she would now be freaking out about that now and I would have yet another sleepless night.
Fast forward to 7am. I JUMPED out of bed! When you don't sleep in forever, and you get it, man what a feeling! And the girls noticed right away. Wow, Mom, you're really happy this morning! And they are right, I am happy, I am energized and gosh I just want to sleep again tonight.
Today I've been so productive, cleaning, some laundry done, a few rounds of Candyland, a bit of swing and trampoline time, I've started through Kathryn's dresser and closet and to reorganize her clothes all before 10am.
Last week, I would trudge in from the bus stop, fall back into bed, hand her a snack and juice and we would watch Nick Jr. together until 11. Or if it was her school day, I just dropped her off and came home and slept for about 2 hours. It's really quite a worthless feeling, going through your day feeling like a zombie.
So last night worked out for us, but I'm afraid of what tonight might bring. I've temporarily solved the A/C problem but that's not the only thing that keeps her up at night. She's freaked about many things both real and in her head. I'm open to any and all suggestions about how to keep little bit and Momma sleeping and HAPPY! Got any tricks?
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5 months ago
17 comments:
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that the same works tonight. Poor little dear. And poor you! Hope you have another wonderful nights sleep!
I love nights that I can sleep all the way through. I hope that you get many many more of those!!
I'll pray that there are many more to follow!
First of all, GENIUS for figuring out the A/C culprit. If you can convince her to keep the door closed, you will be in good shape on that score. We've had about one trazillion sleep issues with Son, so here are my best tips:
(1) small nightlight close to the bed
(2) sizeable stuffed monster toy to serve as a protector monster (our Monster is currently Teddy's best friend, and has been known to make Ted pancakes on occasion -- invisible ones, you understand "because Teddy doesn't really have a mouth"). Anyway, the beloved Monster scares away all the others, who won't dare come in the room.
(3) several nights in a row of continuous sleep will often break a cycle of midnight wakings. My pediatrician suggested a dose of Benadryl before bed for three nights in a row as a cure for night terrors, since those are often caused by not falling asleep deeply enough. The Benadryl can get you passed that hurdle, and after three nights, your body is "programmed" to keep sleeping rather than awaken. This DID work to get rid of the night terrors for Son.
(4) her own digital clock. Once she is sleeping well, you can keep her in bed by telling her she can't come get you until the first number is a seven, let's say, unless it's an emergency.
I hope one or more of these help. I know how exhausting and frustrating sleepless nights can be. I nearly lost my mind when Son was 2.5 and his brand-new baby sister was sleeping better than he was at night. But, it does get better! Good luck.
I have no helpful hints. I just pray this resolves the situation and she quickly outgrows it because I know in my house, too, momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. I hate it that way, but it definitely trickles down.
KEEP BELIEVING
My son suffered from night terrors. It used to scare me to death. I wish I had advice, but I don't. I, too, just trudged on. Thanks goodness he grew out of them. I did tend to notice that the night terrors came when he was extremely tired from a busy/long day or when he didn't go to sleep calmly at night.
My daughter has never been a great sleeper either. She will wake up crying about once a week, and sometimes I can get her a drink, say a prayer with her about Jesus keeping her safe, and she will go back to sleep, no problems. Other nights I do end up bringing her back to my bed, because as you know - we all need some sleep! I definitely don't have a magic cure, and it sounds like your daughter is having a harder time with it than m - I pray that keeping her door closed will do the trick!
Poor thing. Here's to hoping that you've found the magic combination that will allow you all some more and much well deserved rest.
Oh sorry girlfriend. I love my sleep and hardly every get a good night.
Glad to hear that you survived. The property, that is. Kudos to you!
Does she have a night light? That helped us big time when mine suddenly started getting scared.
My nephew was having night terrors for months. I have the name and brand of a supplement they are giving him now which has helped them a lot and he's sleeping much better. I had them too, and it took me about a year to grow out of it finally. A year of no sleep... too long! Email me and I'll send you the info!
I am scared to have kids because of the lack of sleep. I need my sleep and am afraid that I will literally die from lack of sleep if I have children. Best of luck to you!
sorry, no tricks. But I certainly know what it feels like to be worthlesss and lying around all day long...this morning sickness is kicking my a**!
I hope the sleep issue resolves itself soon. I can totally relate, as my youngest didn't sleep a full night until 4!
Best of luck!
Move north! We're still using the heater--no a/c noise to wake our kids!
Sorry, that's all I've got.
my son won't sleep, either. i wish it was the a/c...or the heat, in my case. but nooooo...he's afraid that "a monster will eat him and he'll be gone forever!!" so...no advice from this tired mom!
i missed you but i'm baaaaaack!!
xoxo
Night terrors are the worst! I would just try to establish a bedtime routine and hope that works. Not a lot of help, from me, I know- sorry. Good luck
I got nothing for you...Just wanted to wish you well with the sleeping. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you:)
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