What's new

Sleep Issues | Pad Patter 1.9.16

scrapsandsass

scrapsandsass

Oh Ricky you're so fine ...
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
8,908
So I'm heading out on an hour-long drive to get to the Children's Hospital sleep study center with Kennedy. We have to check in between 6:30 and 7. His mom has to work until 8, so I was the designated responsible adult to be with him overnight. *le sigh*

I had to have a sleep study two years ago. I think sleep problems run in our family. And I know Jessica definitely has sleep problems (that have yet to be diagnosed). I have chronic fatigue and sleep apnea. Jessica and her dad both have sleep apnea as well. It will be interesting to see if Kennedy does. I know he has something going on. He's had night terrors for years, and he wakes up crying with pain in his legs. He has a queen-size bed in his room, and he uses every inch of that geography each night. I've heard him fall out of bed, and I've seen him sleeping with his feet on the floor and bent over on the bed. He snores like crazy. He talks in his sleep on occasion, and he gets up and walks into his mom's room too.

What about you? Any problem sleepers in your house? Do you have sleep issues? Do you have to have things a certain way before you can sleep? Is there a special blanket or toy that anyone in your house has to have?
 
Bless his heart! Hope everything goes well with the sleep study!
I've had problems sleeping for the last few years, but that is age related LOL Night sweats are the worst! I also have to make sure I go to bed and get to sleep before DH. I have to have a dark, quiet room...no noise, and he likes something going in the background. So if I'm not asleep before he comes to bed, it takes me forever to fall asleep. I don't think my 10 year old has completely slept through the night ever! But, that is more related to him not wanting to sleep and deciding he needs snacks in the middle of the night.
 
Oh my! I go for times with sleep problems that are stress related and then I am times that I can't seem to catch enough sleep even sleeping 10 hrs a day.
 
IntenseMagic said:
I've had problems sleeping for the last few years, but that is age related LOL Night sweats are the worst!
Click to expand...
Ain't that the truth!! I've never had trouble sleeping - and I know I should be very grateful for that - but this business of waking up every hour through the night is seriously debilitating!! Getting about one reasonable night in three at the moment.
 
Poor guy! Hopefully they are able to find something out from the sleep study.

My hubby suffers from night terrors/sleep paralysis. I remember the first time he had one after we started dating. I kind of freaked out. I didn't know what to do for him or if there was anything I could do for him. It was awful. He yells for me in his sleep and his whole body is paralyzed. I hate it for him. I diffuse Juniper Berry (essential oil) for him.
 
omgosh poor guy. We don't have any sleep problems here anymore.
When the lit'l guys were younger we had lavender essentials oils going in a diffuser 24/7.
We could tell days we didnt have it going, they didn't want to nap and argued more.
Our grand daughter had night terrors till she was 9, her mother didn't want her on meds.
 
Oh, good luck. Hopefully they will be able to find what is causing theproblem. I do not sleep. at all. It is terrible. I have had insomnia all my life. i can literally recall being a child and lying awake at night not being able to sleep. I just stay up now, and when I am super tired I go to bed. It sucks
 
Poor guy. Hope the sleep study goes well and you get some answers.

When my daughter, Serenity, was small (literally from age 5-11 or 12) she wouldn't sleep for days. She literally would stay up all night, reading and eating or getting into things around the house that she shouldn't. Her dad and I used to take turns trying to stay up with her as much as we could but of course we would reach a point where we HAD to sleep. She would go in the pattern of no sleep for 3-4 days in a row, then one day she would come home from school and fall asleep straight away and sleep until the next day. It was a pattern like that, that lasted years. She's almost 15 now, and has been sleeping well and on a regular "normal" schedule since she was around 11 or 12.
 
I hope they are able to help him! Hugs to you too!

I have stories very similar with Nikolai and sleeping. My son is high functioning ADHD/Asperger - super smart & a very active imagination. He also sleeps all over the place and can have night terrors too. He has to have a story or music on all night to sleep. And just when we think we have chased away all the monsters and moved things so that shadows don't "facilitate the impending darkness" a new thing happens. I just have to be creative - it is never boring!!

AND Hugs to everyone else that is having sleep problems.
 
My daughter had sleep issues when she was little. She would fight going to sleep, have accidents (past the age she should have) and some days we'd wake up to find that she had rearranged her room or cleaned her closet at some point during the night. She'd have nightmares too... always along the same line of someone breaking into her room (once it was Yogi Bear).

A friend of mine pointed me towards a book, Starbright... a bedtime meditation book for kids. Worked wonders, it really helped her mind settle. All of the stories set up a very vivid, yet calm world and conclude open ended so the kids can stay in that world. I even used them on other people's kids when Clara would have a friend over and they would have a hard time settling down. BUT... it didn't really solve the problem. She ended up going to a therapist and we found out that she had severe nighttime anxiety issues stemming from her breathing problems when she was little. When she was in the hospital, they would try to sneak in breathing treatments while she was still sleeping and she would always wake up and freak out when she found someone standing over her with something covering her face. She HATED her breathing treatments and we always had to do one right before bed... so she began to dread bedtime and that kick of steroids always made it hard for her to settle down (not to mention that we would still have to do middle of the night treatments sometime as well). She hadn't had a treatment for years, but the issues were already pretty set. She was in therapy about 6 months and they worked through it all and it hasn't been an issue since.

Oh... and the rearranging and cleaning in the middle of the night was her trying create order when feeling out of control (according to the therapist).
 
Last edited:
We have sleep problems for the last year or so with our almost 8 year old. She goes to bed fine, most days, but if/when she wakes up in the night she cannot get back to sleep. She sleeps with 2 nightlights (big ones), hallway light on, has to have the house alarm on, and one closet door open and one closed. We've tried everything to try and get her to stay in her own bed all night, but more times than not she sleeps from 1-3 am until it's time to get up on our floor (we don't allow her to sleep in bed with us, but we have these giant pillows she can sleep on on the floor). I'm going to try that Starbright, Tracie, thanks!!!
 
I come from a long line of insomniacs. My son gets it from me. I am finding a nice routine with him works. Simple is best. If i can get him to slow down he will sleep pretty well. And he likes to be warm. If he is cold he wakes up. No particular lovie which is good I would have nightmares about losing one!

For me, 30-60 minutes of silence before bed is the best thing. My ears get so tired during the day!

I am going to check out that book, too.
 
I did not used to have sleep issues until my accident and now because of my back and leg pain I tend to not sleep sometimes at all at night. I find what happens is even if I try reading a book to put me to sleep what will happen is a I fall asleep for a second reading. The book will fall out of my hand hitting me in the face and of course waking me up. I will put the book down and lay down and then cannot go to sleep. So i start the whole process over again. I woudl say i get rest but not sleep. LOL No deep REM sleeping here.
 
Day kate, and several dollars short... but how did it go?

I just got a fit bit, and have been happy to see my sleep is good quality sleep. I wish I knew why I still feel tired half the morning. Lol (probably has to do with all the other poor habits I have lol)
 
Yes, how did the sleep study go? How soon will you get the results?

My husband had a sleep study, and he has to sleep with a CPAP machine at night. Me? I have really bad sleep habits! Sometimes 4 hours is all I can sleep, sometimes 8 hours. I'm a sometimes insomniac, and quiet often when that happens, I'll end up switching my nights and days.
My son prefers to fall asleep listening to a Curious George audiobook, or Primary (church) music. He went through a long period where the only way we could get him to settle down at night was to use melatonin. Otherwise, he would wind himself up and be up until midnight!
 
tkradtke said:
A friend of mine pointed me towards a book, Starbright... a bedtime meditation book for kids. Worked wonders, it really helped her mind settle.
Click to expand...
This sounds promising, but the description makes it sound like it's only for younger kids. Is 7 too old? My DD gets to sleep eventually and is fine once she gets asleep, but she spends a long time lying in bed complaining that her "brain doesn't want to sleep" and her "eyes don't want to close" and I think she needs to learn how to wind down better.
 
lorryfach said:
This sounds promising, but the description makes it sound like it's only for younger kids. Is 7 too old? My DD gets to sleep eventually and is fine once she gets asleep, but she spends a long time lying in bed complaining that her "brain doesn't want to sleep" and her "eyes don't want to close" and I think she needs to learn how to wind down better.
Click to expand...

Clara was at least 7 when we started that book with her. I'm actually surprised by the number of people who say they used it with 2-3 year olds. Not for any other reason than I thought it was perfect for the 5-9ish range. I think these books (there are several in the series, but this one was our favorite) are great for kids whose brains have a hard time shutting down. It gives their brain something calm and peaceful to work on, which leads to sleep. It sounds crazy, but I would read it her room with the lights off (with a flashlight) and then leave the room when it was over without saying good-night or anything (we did all of our good night stuff before I started reading). The stories are open ended, such as setting up this detailed fairy world and then ending with something like "one of the fairies would like you to come to her house..." Leaving your child with an adventure they want to continue if they aren't asleep already.
 
yes! it runs on my husband's side of the family (sleep apnea) and your description of Kennedy's issue sound a lot like my son when he was young. he had the study too - i'm happy to report he has outgrown all of the issues. and sleeps pretty much in the same position all night now. he was a super energetic child - he did have huge tonsils/adenoids and they took those out - did it help? hard to say honestly. i think the biggest thing was that he was so active and it was really hard for him to wind down. the book suggestion sounds like a great idea to try ... and of course your Drs will direct you as you work through the study results, etc. good luck! it's not easy!
 
The study was crazy. They said they were able to get lots of data, which is good, but neither one of us felt like we slept at all during the night (even though we did at some points), and then they came in to kick us out at 6 am. He was a trooper though. I lost track of how many times the tech had to come in and reset the wires on him. He'd thrash around, or sit up and cry, or just try to get up, so it was a challenge. It will take them a month to finish the results, so we have an appointment set for February.

He had his adenoids and tonsils removed two years ago (they were huge), and we'd hoped that would help his sleeping, but it didn't. LOL. Ironically, he even had night terrors when he was coming out of the anesthesia. With his ADHD, he used to be up until 10:30-midnight each night and get up early each morning. His occupational therapist suggested melatonin, which has been like a miracle. For awhile, that was the only way we could get him to sleep. Being in all-day kindergarten has helped, and limiting his screen/tv time has helped too... at least with the wind-down process, but not with sleeping through the whole night. I'll definitely have to check out that book. It sounds like a cool book even if they don't have sleep problems. :)
 
Back
Top