When our latest addition joined us last July, people said we would have a hard time adjusting to sleepless,nights....I just smiled, I dont think we have had children who slepy through the night since our first son was born in 1999...Zane was 16 months old when his brother joined us and in all fairness to Zane - we did get to rest fairly well when it was just him....Marcus deserves no such breaks. It has been 7 years now of sleepless nights. Although once he turned 5, I started allowing him to be up alone and watch TV. Marcus has ADHD. He will watch an hour of TV and go back to bed...so I figure, I know where he is, and he isnt going to burn down the house...
Not like is sister Eowyn, now 5, my escape artist, the child who at age 3 used a fridge magnet to trick our door security system so it wouldnt go off one afternoon and 10 heart stopping minutes later we found her in the pond behind our house....My little princess autism...who began sleep walking....the part that creeped me out was the sleep eating and drinking....anyways, then came the night terrors...so we went to her pediatrician about the sleep/not sleep thing...
He gave us melatonin...and I was a bit hesitant, because I am not anti-medication, I am just suspicious...so I read the study he gave me, and decided to be less of a "tree hugger" as he called me lol and ordered her some melatonin strips that desolved on her tongue. It isnt really medication anyways. It is a naturlly occuring chemical that helps your brain go fromlight sleep to deep sleep.
Well....WHY DID I WAIT...
now....Eowyn (and Marcus) get the strips 1/2 hour before bed...then they watch a short dvd of Dora or Diego etc to calm down...then I tuck them into bed....and ...I dont see them until the morning.
I'm not joking.
no more screaming,kicking, door slamming, tantrums to go to bed.
no more middle of the night all night movie nights
It is so so so wonderful to spend all night in my bed....and even better
Her speech has trippled since she started getting a good night's rest.
I swear, melatonin, is an all natural chemical that your brain makes anyways, if your child has sleep trouble, talk to your doctor about it...it has made a huge difference for us!!!