Precious Sleep

Precious Sleep
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Holly is refusing to go to sleep. Yesterday was Joel’s day with her and she slept in late, waking up around 10:00 she normally would be ready to go down for a nap about 2.5 hours later, so at 12:30 bottle in hand she came and laid down with me. She was so riled up, and she drank her bottle but then as soon as she finished she was trying to flop herself up and turn and sit and stand and she wanted to play. So Joel took her back and they played for a while. I tried to settle her down some more and we watched Baby Einstein, but it took her swing and over an hour for her to settle and fall asleep around 3:30. She only slept for 90 minutes and woke up around 5:00. So I figured she would be ready for bed around 10:00. We played, had dinner, watched the Oscars, and then began to help her settle down.

By 10:00 we laid down with a bottle and I attempted to get her to fall asleep, but again as soon as she finished it she was up and trying to crawl and climb around and refused to settle. We watched the Oscars a little more and then tried to put her in the crib. She climbed around for a while in there but after twenty minutes got upset and wanted to play. By 11:30 we tried another bottle and bed again, it almost worked but then she started to try and get up. I tried to bear hug her and keep her on her back but she got mad and had a fit and Joel was tired and really didn’t want to hear her cry. So I tried walking around with her and that didn’t work and then the crib again. Finally by 12:30 we were watching Baby Einstein and 2 ½ episodes later around 1:45 she fell asleep.

She was up this morning by 9:30 so she didn’t get much rest, but actually went down for a nap by 11:40. Katie arrived and we ended up doing paperwork and talking about her sleep issues and how she is fighting sleep. I read online that babies don’t fight sleep that it is separation anxiety but I am in bed with her so that can’t be it. I was tell Katie how she sometimes even hits and pinches herself to stay awake and will kick off the covers and anything soothing to fight the sleep. After a long discussion we think it may be related to Sensory Seeking behavior, and her not being able to self regulate. She can’t wind herself down and she is seeking sensory input to stay keyed up. At some point she gets close enough to sleep that all sensory input begins to irritate her and prevent sleep, so it is recognizing where she is on that line and knowing which thing she needs. But a routine and more time that normal to let her wind down before bedtime or a nap will be needed. We are breaking out excel to make a schedule and routine and see if we can at least try and follow it.

Tonight was a little better; I started to try and get her to wind down at 9:00 and then at 10:00 tried to put her to sleep. It wasn’t working; she drank her bottle and then wanted to play. So after reading some research on the internet Joel was more confident to let her cry more than 30 seconds and also be in her crib on her own. So we put her in the crib at 10:45 and said goodnight. She played for about 15 minutes walking around, turning on and off her blue toy, but eventually she started to call for us. I let Joel go in right away the first time, he didn’t pick her up just told her we were right here and then left but a few minutes later she was crying again. So this time I went it, I laid her down rubbed her back and put on her Sun Music toy and left, but then the third time she was really agitated, Joel actually waited 2-3 minutes before going in, but she wasn’t “upset” she was having a fit, I can tell the difference in her cries, after about 2 minutes it went from mad to upset so I sent him in. The 4th time I went it, it didn’t even sooth her because at this point she was begging me to pick her up pulling on my shirt and reaching up to me, so eventually I did.

Back to Baby Einstein, and another 30 minutes and it didn’t even seem to be working, she crawled off my lap and onto the floor and tried to go and play, so I picked her up and started another episode and she was almost asleep, but fighting it, so we gave her another bottle and she fell asleep. I was holding her and rocking her for the allotted 10 minutes (which is how long it takes for her to go into deep sleep and not wake up if I put her down) it was about 11:45 now, so not bad. But then she starts to scream, I hadn’t done anything and next thing I realized she was in my arms having a night terror. So it was 12:45 before she got down to sleep again, and she is so pitiful hiccupping now in her sleep I can hear her in the other room, and she vomited twice on me from the crying and I had to change her and the changing table and my closes both times and her blanket got all pukey, and well. I just don’t understand. Today she had a 2 hour nap in the morning and another 75 minute or so nap in the afternoon. She had only been awake for 5 hours, so she shouldn’t have been that over tired, and well she had only fallen asleep, in my arms 8 minutes earlier.

But it is what it is. She is asleep now and hopefully with the schedule and routine it will get better. While Katie was here this afternoon we researched Fragile X and sleep disorders and fighting sleep is actually quite common in Fragile X, but then again, here is her Momma up at 1:00 AM fighting sleep to blog, so I guess the apple doesn’t fall far.

Sorry about the bad picture, I am tired and Lazy and don't want to spend the time to find good ones at the moment. Plus - Dare I use a flash and risk waking her - I think not.