I know that this is probably not applicable to everyone, but I wanted to share our story here.
My dd was a terrible sleeper. There is just no other way to describe it. She never slept more than 4 hours at a time, and that was when she was 4-6 months old, and was in her car seat because of her reflux. Once she outgrew her reflux and we moved her to bed, she stopped sleeping. The only way she would sleep was if she was being held. She needed to be rocked and nursed to sleep, and never napped on her own. I was literally holding my 20 month old dd for her naps. If I didn't hold her, she didn't sleep.
Dd's sleep got progressively worse as she got older. Which was so depressing, because the one thing that dh and I always held onto was that it would get better as she got older, and that CIO was not the solution. By the time dd was 20 months old, we could not get her to sleep for more than an hour at a time. When she slept in bed with us, she tossed and turned and twitched all night long. I didn't sleep at all.
Everyone kept telling us to let her CIO, but we couldn't. Something was wrong. Her sleep was so awful that there was no possible way it could be because we held her or didn't let her cry or whatever else people threw at us. We were so lost and had no idea what to do. Our entire family was beyond exhausted. No one had slept in over 20 months.
Dh and I spent countless hours researching what could be wrong, and we tried every no-cry solution we could get our hands on. Nothing was working. Until one day DH found a blog written by a mother who had a child just like ours. She went through everything we went through. And she found the solution. Her daughter needed cranial osteopathy.
I was seriously skeptical about that. It sounded so weird, but the more research I did, the more I started to believe in the theory behind it. I looked into our area, and it turned out that a Doctor of Osteopathy that actively practiced osteopathy had a practice just a few miles from our house. We were desperate, so we made an appointment.
The doctor met with us and went over dd's entire history, including her birth, her medical past, and her personality. We told him about all the books we'd read and that dd's personality lines up with the personality of kids who are "bad sleepers", and that might be why she wasn't sleeping. We got the list from many non-cio ap-friendly sleep help books, so we trusted it. Then he said something that really made us think. He said, "the real question is, are those the personality traits that prevent sleeping, or does dd have those traits because she isn't sleeping?"
He told us that babies that had birth trauma are more likely to need osteopathy than others (dd was crowning for over 2 hours and was born with a bruise that covered half her skull). Dd was labeled as an "extreme teether" by her pediatrician, because she looked like she had the mumps every time a tooth was coming in. It was also extremely painful for her. The DO told us that reflux can be a symptom of needing the skull plates loosened, and that he can usually treat reflux in less than 5 treatments. After feeling dd's head, he told us that dd's skull plates weren't properly aligned, and that her skull plates were compressing a nerve at the base of her skull that kept her nervous system in a constant state of "alert". She couldn't sleep because her nervous system was literally incapable of relaxing. This was also the likely cause of her extreme teething and reflux. The reason she slept when she was being held was because the incline took the pressure off of her skull, but when she was laying down, the nerve was compressed again.
We started treatments with the DO, and after the very first treatment, dd started sleeping better. She was sleeping for nearly 2 hours at a time, and wasn't thrashing about the entire time. By the fourth treatment, dd started sleeping for 4-6 hours straight, sleeps peacefully, and is a completely new child. She naps on her bed, and starts the night in her bed before coming into ours later in the night.
Her sleep isn't perfect, but we have nearly 2 years of "bad" sleep habits that we need to work through. What most parents work through with a 6-month old, we are working through with a 24 month old. For instance, when dd sits up in her sleep, she doesn't know how to lay herself back down and go back to sleep.
But we will get there! Now, we are simply working on gently teaching dd the sleep habits she needs to know to sleep better. But her sleep is so much better, I know that we will figure out how to get dd to sttn (someday). Maybe with some help from you ladies
I told one of my friends about this, and she told me that she has a friend in London. When her friend went to the pedi to ask about reflux and bad sleeping, the pedi referred her to a cranial osteopath, and told her if that didn't work to come back. Cranial osteopathy is extremely popular in England, and is used to heal a variety of ailments in people of all ages.
Anyway, I just wanted to put this out there for anyone that thinks things are beyond help. The truth is, sometimes they are beyond what you can do. Dh and I *knew* something was wrong with dd. It wasn't just normal sleep issues. Something seemed so wrong with her when she slept. But no one could help to tell us what it was. I am so grateful that dh and I never let dd cio. No amount of crying would have made dd sleep.
If your dc is a really restless sleeper that wakes up constantly, it can't hurt to see if there is a cranial osteopath in your area. I wish we would have known about that possibility 20 months ago. It might not be the case for your dc, but it might be.
My dd was a terrible sleeper. There is just no other way to describe it. She never slept more than 4 hours at a time, and that was when she was 4-6 months old, and was in her car seat because of her reflux. Once she outgrew her reflux and we moved her to bed, she stopped sleeping. The only way she would sleep was if she was being held. She needed to be rocked and nursed to sleep, and never napped on her own. I was literally holding my 20 month old dd for her naps. If I didn't hold her, she didn't sleep.
Dd's sleep got progressively worse as she got older. Which was so depressing, because the one thing that dh and I always held onto was that it would get better as she got older, and that CIO was not the solution. By the time dd was 20 months old, we could not get her to sleep for more than an hour at a time. When she slept in bed with us, she tossed and turned and twitched all night long. I didn't sleep at all.
Everyone kept telling us to let her CIO, but we couldn't. Something was wrong. Her sleep was so awful that there was no possible way it could be because we held her or didn't let her cry or whatever else people threw at us. We were so lost and had no idea what to do. Our entire family was beyond exhausted. No one had slept in over 20 months.
Dh and I spent countless hours researching what could be wrong, and we tried every no-cry solution we could get our hands on. Nothing was working. Until one day DH found a blog written by a mother who had a child just like ours. She went through everything we went through. And she found the solution. Her daughter needed cranial osteopathy.
I was seriously skeptical about that. It sounded so weird, but the more research I did, the more I started to believe in the theory behind it. I looked into our area, and it turned out that a Doctor of Osteopathy that actively practiced osteopathy had a practice just a few miles from our house. We were desperate, so we made an appointment.
The doctor met with us and went over dd's entire history, including her birth, her medical past, and her personality. We told him about all the books we'd read and that dd's personality lines up with the personality of kids who are "bad sleepers", and that might be why she wasn't sleeping. We got the list from many non-cio ap-friendly sleep help books, so we trusted it. Then he said something that really made us think. He said, "the real question is, are those the personality traits that prevent sleeping, or does dd have those traits because she isn't sleeping?"
He told us that babies that had birth trauma are more likely to need osteopathy than others (dd was crowning for over 2 hours and was born with a bruise that covered half her skull). Dd was labeled as an "extreme teether" by her pediatrician, because she looked like she had the mumps every time a tooth was coming in. It was also extremely painful for her. The DO told us that reflux can be a symptom of needing the skull plates loosened, and that he can usually treat reflux in less than 5 treatments. After feeling dd's head, he told us that dd's skull plates weren't properly aligned, and that her skull plates were compressing a nerve at the base of her skull that kept her nervous system in a constant state of "alert". She couldn't sleep because her nervous system was literally incapable of relaxing. This was also the likely cause of her extreme teething and reflux. The reason she slept when she was being held was because the incline took the pressure off of her skull, but when she was laying down, the nerve was compressed again.
We started treatments with the DO, and after the very first treatment, dd started sleeping better. She was sleeping for nearly 2 hours at a time, and wasn't thrashing about the entire time. By the fourth treatment, dd started sleeping for 4-6 hours straight, sleeps peacefully, and is a completely new child. She naps on her bed, and starts the night in her bed before coming into ours later in the night.
Her sleep isn't perfect, but we have nearly 2 years of "bad" sleep habits that we need to work through. What most parents work through with a 6-month old, we are working through with a 24 month old. For instance, when dd sits up in her sleep, she doesn't know how to lay herself back down and go back to sleep.
But we will get there! Now, we are simply working on gently teaching dd the sleep habits she needs to know to sleep better. But her sleep is so much better, I know that we will figure out how to get dd to sttn (someday). Maybe with some help from you ladies
I told one of my friends about this, and she told me that she has a friend in London. When her friend went to the pedi to ask about reflux and bad sleeping, the pedi referred her to a cranial osteopath, and told her if that didn't work to come back. Cranial osteopathy is extremely popular in England, and is used to heal a variety of ailments in people of all ages.
Anyway, I just wanted to put this out there for anyone that thinks things are beyond help. The truth is, sometimes they are beyond what you can do. Dh and I *knew* something was wrong with dd. It wasn't just normal sleep issues. Something seemed so wrong with her when she slept. But no one could help to tell us what it was. I am so grateful that dh and I never let dd cio. No amount of crying would have made dd sleep.
If your dc is a really restless sleeper that wakes up constantly, it can't hurt to see if there is a cranial osteopath in your area. I wish we would have known about that possibility 20 months ago. It might not be the case for your dc, but it might be.
