Everything Changes

We are going to start some changes around here to help Maddox learn how to sleep. I've been taking a look at our schedule around here and his sleeping habits and such. I also started reading "Sleepless in America" by Mary Sheedy Karckina (I think I spelled that wrong). I really liked her book "Raising the Spirited Child" and I like the sleepless one too.

Some observations of mine: Maddox does not have a regular wake-up time. Sometimes it's 6:30, 7:00, 7:30. 8:00 or 9:00. It's all over the board. I have been too tired to get up before him and wake him up at a regular time each morning.

He doesn't seem to have a regular time that he is hungry and we have a pretty regular eating schedule, except his hunger doesn't always fit with our schedule.

If he doesn't get some good exercise in the morning and afternoon he has a hard time falling asleep.

He has been watching an hour of TV from 4:30-5:30 while I get supper ready.

Craig and I have been talking about getting a regular wake-up time for Maddox and waking him up at that time no matter what. After reading parts of the book, it confirms what we have been thinking about that. SOOOOO that means that no matter how tired I am, I MUST get up at 6:30 to get dressed and then wake him up at 7:00. (that is the time we came up with). When Mason was this age, I was working everyother day, so he naturally had a regular wake up time and I kept up with the wake up time so it wouldn't be too hard for him on the days I worked. (It was 6:30). So, being a regulated child to begin with and having a regular schedule helped him to fall asleep and stay asleep.

The book also talked about not "lolling around in the morning" The body needs to know that when there is light, it is supposed to wake up and get moving. We loll around all the time, unless we have to be somewhere. We really don't have a "schedule" for the morning and I have noticed how badly it is hurting him. I just need to get over being tired and get moving.

SOOO that means I am coming up with a morning schedule. We tried one out today and it went pretty well....hold on. He's screaming upstairs, I should check this one out.....OK. He had taken his pj's off and couldn't get them back on and was freaked out. Hopefully he will fall asleep soon.

the a.m. schedule went pretty well. I am going to make pictures for the schedule so he can follow along. i think I did this when Mason was around this age with him and that worked well. for both of us.

Our other big problem is he is not eating much at supper and then as we get him ready for bed he says he's hungry and cries. If we don't feed him, he will stay up for hours crying off and on about it. If we feed him, he gets revved up and stays up for hours but doesn't cry as much. You see the dilema. How do we get him feeling hungry at supper? I am going to try and make his nap a little earlier, make sure he is awake by 2:30, snack by 3:00 and maybe he'll be ready to eat at 5:30.

I don't know if this is going to work. I am going to try it for 3 weeks. I am also going to stop letting him watch t.v. (gulp!) to see if that will help too. It doesn't affect Mason, but maybe it is Maddox.

I really think that because he was so incredibly miserable for so long and couldn't sleep that he never really figured out how to sleep and his body never really got a body clock going. It's all a mess. Although, before he got that cold at 3 weeks old and the allergies kicked in, he was regular. He could put himself asleep and did. He went down at the same time each night, and for nap and got up to eat every 4 hours and went right back to sleep. i would put him in the bassinet awake and he would fall asleep on his own.

I think the eczema and allergies make it hard for him to settle down. Which makes me angry and sad. (I realize this is a pretty boring post. I just needed to get it all down and know that others know what I am going to try so I actually do it.) I am hoping that if he is able to actually sleep, he will be a happier little guy.

I really think he is happy by nature, but being tired all the time makes it so hard for him. Yes he is 2, and 2 year olds can be really tough, but this is beyond that. The meltdowns and tears and frustration and irritation are so much more. I feel like I have more negative interactions with him than positive ones, and it has been that way most of his life.

The other thing is that he has had a cold for a week now. No runny nose or fever, but he has been plugged. He hasn't been able to drink from a glass without coming up for air, or use his pacifier, so we have had to rock him to sleep and get up with him several times during the night and hold him upright so he could be comfortable and sleep. This is not helping the sleep issue. Tonight he is breathing out of his nose, so hopefully that will help. Yesterday I tried nose drops and it seemed to help break up the snot.

Tomorrow is the 1st day of me getting up at 6:30. I'm a little scared. I do get up at the time and earlier if I fill in for work, so I know I can do it. This is my job, and right now the priority is getting Maddox some sleep and the rest of us sleep. I pray this works.