Gah! It's time to play "commiserate over how our kids do. not. sleep"

[St. Margaret]

Just a lil vent

How can this tiny person still be awake? This is where I come here to hear and reassure myself how common this is. She is not your average bear and this is one way in which that is true...

[Tigerle]

This winter, it would take DS two hours to fall asleep! Of course I'd then fall asleep with him, crawl out of the bed next to him at 10 pm and then try to get stuff done, knowing DD would probably wake up at 11.30 to nurse and then continue to wake up to nurse every two hours. Then DS would wake up sometime between 2 and 4 am and yell there was scary stuff in his bed or crawling up the wall...

At some point you are ready to drug them! Melatonin isn't available here, but magnesium and zinc (and Backrubs and a chewtoy) helped DS, and I am eying the iron-rich, vitamin B-fortified juices our local pharmacy peddles under the name of "Focus for kids" or something. And we are discussing a pacifier for the baby.

Summer helps a lot I find - exercise in the sun and wind, and easier parents. I hope things get better for you too...

[Annie Mac]

It's currently 3:41 am where I live and I'm here, typing on MDC. 'Nuff said?

[A-time-to-live]

How much do they typically sleep?  DD takes 1.5-2 hours to fall asleep.  Then she sleeps for 9-10 hours with 1-2 wake-ups.  The nights she wakes up only once don't seem so bad but most of my friends' kids sleep 12-13 hours.  I'd be happy if I could manage to get her to fall asleep faster.  I often fall asleep with her too and then try to get up around 9:30/10 to get work done.  Only then when I try to go to sleep around midnight I can't.

[leighi123]

Levi sleeps maybe 8 hours a night, and he never ever naps (quit napping, even in the car, by 15months).    It takes him 1-3 hours to fall asleep, but I've at least convinced him to stay in our room once I put him to bed.  He listen's to books on tape for a while and reads books and eventually goes to sleep at some point.   

 I need more sleep than he does with all the energy he has during the day!   

[St. Margaret]

Ahhh yes company

She doesn't nap except occasionally. I try to get her a minimum of 11 hours bc of some study I read about that being so vital, but ten is the norm, and lately it's been more like eight or nine. Typically good sleep once she's down but that is epic some nights. She did start sleeping in to seven or seven thirty some days but not often. More often round six. And yeah I fantasize about a paci for the baby...

[kgianforti]

My big girl tells me it's because her "brain doesn't stop moving!" She sleeps 8-9 hours. She dropped napping a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago!

[spedteacher30]

we started giving our son melatonin this winter because it was getting ridiculous. it definitely helps him fall asleep in a reasonable time frame, and makes all of us happier. He sleeps a lot once he is asleep--we can typically get him 10-12 hours of sleep a night with medication, but without it, it was down to 8-9 thanks to our morning schedules.

[heatherdeg]

Mine would sleep 6 fitful hours out of every 24... until FISH OIL.  *****AAAAAAAHHHHHH**** (see a bright light and heavenly clouds).

Fish oil, my friends... an adult daily dose of Nordic Naturals Omega 3-6-9 Complete to be exact.

Within a week, he slept 9-10 solid hours/night and added a 1-3 hour nap.  He was almost 4.  I almost died.

He's now 7yo and we've slacked off.  He is sleeping BETTER than he did before, but he still wakes at night and isn't sleeping solidly.  I feel certain he's now waking due to full bladder, but not positive.  We need to go back to being diligent about it.

I'm uncomfortable with melatonin.  But man--did I consider it.  The fish oil is fixing whatever underlying neurological issue was keeping him from sleeping.  The melatonin induces sleep instead of supporting the body to do it on it's own.  Subtle difference, but it mattered to me.

Oh... and epsom salt baths.  Especially near the ribs, where the skin is thin and it can soak in.  Supposed to work well, but I didn't get to try it.

[L J]

Originally Posted by kgianforti 

My big girl tells me it's because her "brain doesn't stop moving!" She sleeps 8-9 hours. She dropped napping a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago!

Mine, too. He said something the other night about having "too many exciting things" going on in his head to sleep. This was around 2am when I got up to pee after being asleep for a couple of hours and he was laying in bed playing with a string.

Its 12:33am right now, and he's still up. And I tried really, really hard to physically exhaust him today! At least I will sleep well tonight... until he wakes me up at 7am.

[St. Margaret]

Mine sometimes has the same thing, which she calls "thinking about thinking". We tried Nordic fish oil and something in Nordic gummies makes her CRAZY so I will have to try some other way to get it in her. I have been working on her skin issues but once we're done testing strawberries and citrus for making her itch I'll have to add the salt baths, I had been thinking of that.

Thanks!

Of course I'm up bc baby can't settle for more than five minutes tonight. Sigh.

[provocativa]

there is a correlation between elevated brain histamine and intelligence and less need for sleep.  here's a simplistic run down of abnormal brain histamine:  http://www.healthrecovery.com/HRC_2006/Depression_06/D_roller_coaster.htm#hhchild    if you ask me, it is likely that most children labeled 'gifted' have food allergies which are elevating their body histamine levels. 

[heatherdeg]

Originally Posted by provocativa 

there is a correlation between elevated brain histamine and intelligence and less need for sleep.  here's a simplistic run down of abnormal brain histamine:  http://www.healthrecovery.com/HRC_2006/Depression_06/D_roller_coaster.htm#hhchild    if you ask me, it is likely that most children labeled 'gifted' have food allergies which are elevating their body histamine levels. 

Mine has a lot of intolerances, that's for sure.  But we've eaten the same diet since before the fish oil and slacked off on the fish oil about a year ago and he hasn't gone back to the worst of it.  But that was after being faithful with it for 3 years. 

[Thing1Thing2]

My DS has allergies and sensitivities, but he has been on a strict diet and I have stopped playing "detective" to try and figure out what is keeping him up.

He wakes up 4 to 5 times a night, crying and getting out of bed (even though we sleep together).

Then he will say something like " I don't want to go to sleep" or "I don't want to go home"

Last night he was up saying "I don't want to go home, I want to go back in the car". He gets really upset when we have to leave somewhere to come home. But he hates the car too - so this statement has me stumped!

Any one have any suggestions? I would love to get some sleep, being as pregnant and tired as I am.

[OGirlieMama]

Originally Posted by heatherdeg 

Mine would sleep 6 fitful hours out of every 24... until FISH OIL.  *****AAAAAAAHHHHHH**** (see a bright light and heavenly clouds).

Fish oil, my friends... an adult daily dose of Nordic Naturals Omega 3-6-9 Complete to be exact.

Within a week, he slept 9-10 solid hours/night and added a 1-3 hour nap.  He was almost 4.  I almost died.

He's now 7yo and we've slacked off.  He is sleeping BETTER than he did before, but he still wakes at night and isn't sleeping solidly.  I feel certain he's now waking due to full bladder, but not positive.  We need to go back to being diligent about it.

I'm uncomfortable with melatonin.  But man--did I consider it.  The fish oil is fixing whatever underlying neurological issue was keeping him from sleeping.  The melatonin induces sleep instead of supporting the body to do it on it's own.  Subtle difference, but it mattered to me.

Oh... and epsom salt baths.  Especially near the ribs, where the skin is thin and it can soak in.  Supposed to work well, but I didn't get to try it.

How did you get him to swallow the adult capsules? Or do you use the children's ones and just double the dose? I've tried other fish oil supplements and they haven't liked the taste, so I'm twitchy about spending the money to try these and have them hate them, too. 

[joensally]

A great book is Kurcinka's Sleepless in America:  Is Your Child Misbehaving...or Missing Sleep?

Neither of my kids are great sleepers, but it's a family trait.  Both take melatonin, and fish oil.  You can get apple-flavoured that slips nicely into apple sauce.

[St. Margaret]

I guess I need to find some other clo to try w dd. She acts wild after any Nordic gummy vitamins. I should check out that book, too, I've heard of it for years here at mdc!

She's been staying up late but managing to sleep in some days, til seven or later, but still can wake at six. Six to nine thirty just seems unfair sometimes! Dh and I get no time. Ah well. We are working on her having time in her room at least and that's going well.

[EviesMom]

DD didn't sleep soundly as a baby or toddler, but now as a schoolage kid, she at least gets herself back to sleep! Or entertains herself by reading, as I discovered when she started describing the sunrise out her window one morning. She said she gets up and its still dark, so she sits by the window and reads til the sun comes up, then goes back to bed. Here I thought she was actually sleeping well at last, going to bed and staying in bed for 12 hours. She's apparently sleeping 6 ish hours, up for 3, and down for another 3. 

Just curious if anyone has found that their kids sleepwalk as well? If DD hasn't slept well or has had a hard day, not only do I hear her talking in her sleep, which she's always done, but she seems to sleepwalk more and more. I'm a little worried about the fact that she's going to overnight camp this summer in tents, and yet she sleepwalks.

[St. Margaret]

I know someone has mentioned sleepwalking, and I did a couple times as a (somewhat gifted) child. Dd sometimes doesn't recall nightwaking episodes where she might come in, but overall her sleep is good once it (finally!) starts. She's been up early again, before six, yet up past nine. The restoration work is almost done on her room so the blackout shades are going back up!

[whatsnextmom]

My eldest sleepwalks. It's a common development in kids who also had night terrors in the early years (which DD also had.) It was at it's worst around 11 and 12. It hasn't  happened at all since her 14th birthday. I know that I was a sleepwalker myself through middle school. It popped up for DD when she was getting too much broken sleep or was mentally exhausted.

I would give the counsellors a heads up that she sleepwalks. It might help to string a big bell on the zipper so opening the tent in the middle of the night will make noise. I probably wouldn't worry too much in the camp setting though. As a former camp counsellor and a current Girl Scout leader, I can tell you while they are restless that first night, they tend to be physically exhausted every night after that. She's likely to sleep hard after the first night.

Originally Posted by EviesMom 

DD didn't sleep soundly as a baby or toddler, but now as a schoolage kid, she at least gets herself back to sleep! Or entertains herself by reading, as I discovered when she started describing the sunrise out her window one morning. She said she gets up and its still dark, so she sits by the window and reads til the sun comes up, then goes back to bed. Here I thought she was actually sleeping well at last, going to bed and staying in bed for 12 hours. She's apparently sleeping 6 ish hours, up for 3, and down for another 3. 

Just curious if anyone has found that their kids sleepwalk as well? If DD hasn't slept well or has had a hard day, not only do I hear her talking in her sleep, which she's always done, but she seems to sleepwalk more and more. I'm a little worried about the fact that she's going to overnight camp this summer in tents, and yet she sleepwalks.