Wednesday, February 06, 2008

le sigh

I changed the background color on the blog to yellow, cause although I like red, that color was too much. Ketchup is tasty to eat, but not so much as a visual site, you know?

Plus the world is gloomy and dark and cloudy and snowy. Not helpful. So we need some sunny yellow.

And then there was the morning battle with my oldest. We had a huge fight this morning to get him out of bed, and then he just had a crying screaming tantrum. Not good when the kid is almost as tall as you. It turns out he's been up, wide awake in his dark bedroom, unable to sleep at midnight, & one a.m. and of course, can't get up in the morning, and since he has to get up for school, that means he gets no sleep at all. His whole circadian rhythm is messed up. Even when he is off his ADD meds, he is now unable to sleep, which tells me that this isn't about ADD meds, but about his messed up sleep patterns.

I'm hoping his pediatrician has some solutions because that stupid sleep clinic at the hospital had nothing. You know what they do? Teach parents to put their kids to bed at night by 8 or 9 pm. (Duh?!?) and teach them not to give their 3 year olds coca-cola in a bottle at bedtime and Timmies frozen iced cappucinos for dinner. Well, since I'm not a crack addict---sorry not sure I need to be taught things like that. I kind of already know them.

I was hoping for maybe---medical advice? Another light box? Medication help? Note for school?

Or maybe that we could avoid all this until the teen years. If this is him without hormones, oh I don't even want to imagine what comes next.

Puberty was no fun for me, and menopause was worse, the thought of going through puberty with each of them is scaring the shit out of me.

11 comments:

  1. No suggestions for sleep but i am glad the red is gone. I couldn't hardly read the blog. Hope you figure out the sleep thing and glad to hear all is well with the baby. He has plenty of time to turn, you know. Don't worry about breech yet!

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  2. Personally, I am a complete disaster without sleep. I feel sorry for him (and you).

    Liking the yellow - I feel like I haven't seen or felt the sun in 20 years. This winter really sucks.

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  3. Aaaaugh!

    The weather here has been snow, then rain...snow, then rain... for what feels like MONTHS.

    I look at the garden catalogs and cry piteous sobs, then I go and hump more wood to the woodbox.

    Spring's coming, RIGHT?

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  4. Oh man you went to the sleep clinic?
    They had better be willing to give my kid meds if she won't sleep. In their book they write about melatonin.
    Gawd who did you see?

    The yellow is a nice change.

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  5. Our oldest has been a night-owl since he was about 7. While the rest of the house was blissfully sleeping he was up all night reading. We went round and round with him for YEARS and at one point he was fairly turned back to the right schedule but then vacation came and off we went again. He is in college now and can do an all night study session without batting an eye.

    Oh, and puberty...don't even get me started. I currently have 3 teenagers and that is a whole blog post in itself :)

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  6. I know it sounds white trashy, but have you considered benedryl? Not a humungo dose, just enough to make him sleepy, to help him relax into sleep?

    Maybe a few nights and his rythems will be back to normal.

    Also, it sounds counter-intuitive, but maybe let him stay up an hour later then usual, maybe he can't sleep becuase he is going to bed before he is actually tired. I went throuhg the same thing as a young teen and I would take walks in the evening to wear myself out before going to bed.

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  7. You don't think this might be the first teenage hormone stirrings? I had similar problems with not being able to sleep at bedtime and not being able to get up in the morning as a teen. Apparently (you probably already know) this late-night sleep pattern is "normal" for teens.

    I had to battle through doing the best I could til my twenties arrived and I got a more adult sleep pattern. My parents never pushed terribly and started letting me set my own bedtimes (subject to quiet reading time etc) and what with all those forced early mornings for school I did fall into a pattern, more or less. It was a matter of, I knew my responsibilities for the next day, and I had to find my own way to meet them.

    Bea

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  8. Oh no, I'm so sorry, not knowing how to fall asleep is a dreadful thing. I hope he still learns it, it is the one thing I'd make mandatory were I god, everyone sleeps properly.

    I'm not sure this helps but maybe you could write Ask Moxie? She's dealt with slep issues in babies a lot and maybe some of the commenters have experienced it in older children and will be able to offer useful suggestions. Other than not drowing child in caffeine bcs really, THAT helps.

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  9. Ugh... I feel your pain, babe!
    My boy seems to take strongly after his father (rather than ME, who needs her 8 hrs or feels like K*R*A*P) in requiring FAR FAR less than the recommended daily allowance of sleep...
    Melatonin doesn't seem to help at all -- even those few occasions when in desperation, I've given him a dose of Benedryl, he STILL DOES NOT SLEEP!

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  10. I'm glad your pregnancy is going well.

    Does he play sport or would he be willing to do yoga before bed (probably not) or meditation to relax enough to sleep? I wonder if there are any good books about how to sleep more deeply.

    Obviously it's a sign of not feeling relaxed and not being able to slow down.

    And obviously you've thought about loads of possible solutions.

    Meditation music, lavender oil burning in the room, soothing music, I don't know. I used to suffer from insomnia as a child, it's really awful.

    And I want to say hi anyway!

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  11. One thing I despise about most physicians - they assume everyone is ignorant. That they need to be told stupid things like don't let your kid consume sugary snacks with caffeine at night.

    Any chance you have a friend who can refer you to someone better? *Sigh* I know they are hard to find.....

    I hope he gets some sleep soon so that you can sleep better, too!!

    XOXOXO

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