Since we were in Florida, the sleep happening (or NOT happening) in my house has been very shoddy. My youngest came back from our vacation with a new penchant for night waking several times and having difficulty going back to sleep.
She went through a phase like this before, about two years ago. It's difficult because she's overtired and grumpy, which then causes her to make no darn sense. She'll cry and ask to be tucked in again, and yet when I do, she says she doesn't want me tucking her in. So, I begin to walk away and then the tears and yelling start that she doesn't want me to GO. Ugh.
Consequently, my husband has taken to giving her three chances to settle or he takes her to the basement, where he sits with her in the dark, in the hopes that she can cry and get it out of her system without keeping the rest of the house awake. This sometimes works, and sometimes escalates the situation.
The last week or so has calmed down in the crying freak outs, but now it's consistent one a.m. wake ups. This is followed by my waking up, squished and sweating, around four a.m. with her in our bed. I then move to her bed.
Obviously, this musical beds and no REM sleep has got to stop, but I'm not really sure how to do that. We've put her to bed earlier, let her listen to quiet music in the dark first, stay up a bit later-all with no luck.
So, I'm putting it out there Sleep Whisperers!!! Give me your no fail, get 'em back to bed techniques! I'm truly desperate! I'm also really, really tired.
HELP!
What about putting her to bed earlier? Kate never sleeps in, so putting her to bed early is the only way I can count on her getting the required amt. of sleep. When she is over tired, I can guarantee that she will be up during the night. She always seems to wake up precisely at 2:00, just b/c. No rhyme or reason. If it is earlier or later then I know something is really wrong. The other thing that my girls do is sleep with a white noise machine. It blocks out all of those "creepy" noises and keeps things constant in their rooms. IT doesn't even have to be terribly loud, just enough to filter background noise. Not sure any of this will do the trick, but wanted to offer some suggestions.
ReplyDeleteWhen my oldest has difficulty sleeping, it's often combined with a whole heap of anxiety about not being able to sleep in the first place, being tired in school, etc. When she struggles, we've found one dose of the homeopathic preparation Calm's Forte does the trick. Honestly, quite often I think it works because she THINKS it will work but either way, it does the trick and often seems to break the cycle.
ReplyDeleteNight waking isn't cool. I hope everyone is resting easily soon.
Thanks for the comments, ladies!
ReplyDeleteWe've tried the white noise Chauncie-and guess what? My girls are SCARED of the white noise. LOL They hate fans or anything like that. Maybe a machine would be different though?
Laura-Does it have chamomile in it? If so-it's a no go. We have hay fever and react to anything with chamomile-like hives and asthma attacks-if we injest or inhale it. Same with lavendar! If it doesn't-might be worth checking! (even if it's for the placebo effect!) :)
Oh-and Chauncie-getting to bed on time or earlier is DEFINITELY a big help. THe later or more off track she is-the worse it is. I think she's been off track since FLorida and that's what is making it worse.
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