Another sleepless night...

[DreamsInDigital]

I think a lot of my DS's nighttime sleep woes are caused by his extremely itchy eczema, so this problem is partially a sleep problem and partially a skin problem.
At issue here is that I am getting next to no sleep on most nights, I have to return to work in 9 days and I'm a freaking zombie.
Yesterday, our day went like this:
Woke at 10am (after sleeping from 2-4, 4-6, then 8-10)
Slept from 3:30-4pm
Slept from 5:30-7pm
Slept from 7-9pm
Slept from 11:30pm-12am
Slept from 2:30-4:30am

and he has been wide awake since 4:30. He will probably go back to sleep in the next hour, but what I really need is to get 6-8 consecutive hours of sleep, waking to feed him every two hours of course. My body and brain are not able to adjust to such an erratic pattern.

He takes this huge cluster of naps in the late afternoon/early evening but every time I try to keep him awake he falls asleep even with music or the tv on, bright lights, lots of stuff going on.
I think I'm going to keep a sleep log so maybe I can try and identify a pattern or see anything that might help at all. When it's a time I'd like him to consider night time, I stay in bed and try to soothe him but if he's ready to be awake there really isn't any convincing him otherwise.
Any advice, been there done that stories, would be appreciated.
And, yes, I have read the No-Cry Sleep Solution.

[HonestMom]

My son has had severe eczema since he was 4 months old. It started on his cheeks and then spread to the rest of his body.

He is now 18 months and we finally have it under control and he doesn't wake up at night from itching anymore, but it has been a very long and sleep deprived road !

I would recommend 1 thing first. See a doctor and have him tested for allergies. He may have a sensitivity to something your eating (if your BF) or something in the formula you are feeding him. Once this is ruled out, the most important step is getting him comfortable otherwise the eczema will get worse and your patience will be completely gone.

These are a few things that helped our situation:

1. Warm baths with no soap or shampoo (we now use basis soap and it doesn't make him itch !)

2. Don't use any creams that have fragrance or lanolin...(I have tried everything, even stuff from the dermatologist and everything made him itch except "PURE BABY" you can go to purebaby.com.)

3. Use an environmentally friendly laundry detergent and rinse the clothes twice.

4. Have him wear only cotton no wool

5. Keep a journal identifying the foods you are feeding him, the weather and what triggers the flare up.

6. Try not to use feeding as a means to comfort or distract the baby at night (this causes MAJOR sleep association problems!)

We have a regiment that works great for us now and I stick to it like glue:

Everymorning and evening he takes 1/2 tsp of zyrtec and gets covered in pure baby cream. On the areas where his eczema has flared up I only use Elidel cream.

Good luck and I hope you find a routine that allows your baby the comfort he deserves ! Once the itching is under control you will find the sleeping will get better !
Stefanie

[Yin Yang]

My DS is only few weeks older than yours and we too are fighting odd sleeping patterns. But compering to yours, our is better :)

My son goes to bed at 6 pm and gets up around 5-6 am. Sounds good I know, but he nurses every 1-3 hours! only recently I started to ignore him when he wakes up and pretent I am sleeping. He does not ususally cries, only wakes up, makes some noise ans if I don't offer breast, he goes back to sleep. Sometimes I have to leave the room for him to fall back to sleep. 5 minutes was usually enough and I went back to bed. Now he is starting to sleep 4-5 hours in a row! :D:D Finally.

But I know exactly what you mean by trying to keep him up longer! If they decided it's sleepy time, you can do ANYTHING and it won't help..lol. Our son was upside down and still sleeping :eek

Anyway - I was going to suggest something for the eczema. It does not have to be allergy. My son had some eczema too and I fought it with homeopathics. I have not had ANY drugs in past year and half. I mean ZERO, nothing. Last month I have taken Tylenol, twice. And I noticed few days later eczema on his face. It was getting pretty bad, openning up with some orange pus coming out! So I gave him homeopathic and few days later it was totally gone! Then I had a fever and felt sick so I took one more Tylenol and again, few days later the same eczema appeared on his cheecks. So I started the same homeopathic remedy immediately and it was gone in one day.
My theory is that his healthy little body isn't contaminated with any crap yet (we don't vaccinate either) and I passed the crap Tylenol onto him and his body was trying to get rid of it of course. It's totally natural reaction. We WANT their bodies to do that. So anyway - I just wanted to suggest you to try out the homeopathic remedy I used.

It's for general eczemas, rushes, skin problems, itching, and similar. It's called Sulphur 30H (Boiron is the best). Put about 5 pelles into about 20 drops of water (not tap water!) and let it desolve. Then give it to him several times a day - few drops at the time, until you run out. Make new one next morning.
Sulphur is in every single body cell and is plays very important role in our body. You will definetly see good results from doing this! They should have it in every health store fro abour $5! It should last for about 3 weeks. It's totally safe for babies, and I think it's worth trying.
Than you can work on sleep problem.

Good luck!

[DreamsInDigital]

No improvement in the last few days. His eczema looks better but apparently it doesn't feel better. I treated it with hydrocortizone and ShiKai borage dry skin therapy. Last night I slept from 4am-5am, 5:30am-6:30am. That was it. He's fallen asleep a couple of times but when I go to lay down with him he wakes up. So if I want him to sleep I have to hold him and I CAN'T FRICKEN DO THIS ANYMORE. I am exhausted and I have to go back to work in a week. How am I to function at anything if I am running on 2 VERY BROKEN hours of sleep and that is all?
And another thing.
I HATE SNOW.

[Yin Yang]

I am sorry :hug i could not function on 2 hours of sleep either! Well, who could?

Throw away the crapy hydrocortizone - it's not doing any good to your baby! It's stereoids, that only hurt liver and only supress symptoms. Does not heal anything. Eczema is sign of imbalance in liver in the first place, so stereoids aren't very helpful.

Go to yoy local healthstore and by these homeopathic remedies. (If you don't have one close, you can always buy it on-line):

For yourself to help you deal with fatigue:

http://www.ehealthland.com/Ginsenique.asp

And try that Sulphur 30C for your son! You have nothing to lose! If it does not help, at least it does not harm him! It SHOULD bring him relief! The description for Sulphur is this:
itchy or burning skin eruptions, rashes, ecxema, diarrhea, recurring styes.... You cal also buy it at www.ehealthland.com

You can also try these, by King Bio - I love these products!:
http://store.yahoo.com/kingbio/noname.html for eczema and itching.

and this one is FANTASTIC for sleep! I bought it for myself but gave it to my DS as well and he slept so hard after it! It's again, homeopathic, with NO side effect, totally safe with babies and nursing or PG mamas! I really reccomend it:
http://store.yahoo.com/kingbio/sleepaid.html

Check out all their products:
http://www.kingbio.com/product_listing.html

Good luck! :hugs

[DreamsInDigital]

OMG my DS must have known I was at the end of my rope. He and I laid down together at 3pm and I woke up at 10! :jaw My DSO stayed home from work because of the snow and he took care of our 4 year old while we rested.
And he's asleep again now. :eek I think the ShiKai borage lotion is starting to help a lot.
And I would go out and buy more things but I literally have like $2.00 left until February. That's why I'm selling things on the trading post but no one is buying. :(

[Yin Yang]

Good for you you got some rest!!

Sell your stuff at ebay! It's the best!