Will he ever sleep better??? Or should I give in???

[Francy&Ricky]

I give him a thing called Camilia. It's a homeopathic remedy, especially for teething, but I am not sure it really works for Ricky.
And when things get really hard I also give him paracetamol.
He hates all those gelly creams they sell at the chemist's. And, what's more, they are full of sugar....
If I remember right you told me about some tablets but I am not sure we can find them in Italy.

[deckchariot]

The tablets I use are similar to the Camilia that you use.  I've found I have the most success with them when I give them regularly throughout the day when dd's teething.  {{{{{{hugs}}}}}}

[Francy&Ricky]

Ok! Massive use of Camilia, through the all day! 

One more concern. Now that the weather is so hot here in Italy and bedtime is earlier we have some kind of problem with dinner.
He eats wery well during the day but in the evening most of the times he refuses to eat properly and wants almost only yoghurt and milk. Is it good enough for him? Can food affect sleep?

[deckchariot]

his eating may be off because of the teething.  If he's eating well during the rest of the day, I wouldn't worry about it.  It's really, really common for toddler's eating to be all over the place.

[Francy&Ricky]

Great!

Thanks for the reassurance and the big support!

I am trying to be positive again, in spite of last night...(NW every 45-60 min, big pain due to teething and also a bit of fever...).
I am sure things will improve and we will get some rest and will see better sleeping days...someday. meanwhile, we will stick to early bedtime and WI/WO for EW and NW.

 

[deckchariot]

{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}  teething is awful!  It will get better!

[Francy&Ricky]

Ehi!

We had very bad long weekend (here in Italy the 2nd of june we celebrate the Republic's day..).
NWs every 45-60 minutes. 
But,.........last night was really better. Only 1 NW and Wake up at 5.45 am.
(I perfectly know this can be an isolated episode and therefore have no illusions about it)

We decided to quit medication (by regular decrease-it will take about a month) and stick only to sleep training (WI/WO and Early Bedtime).

The only problem is that I must find a way to persuade my husband to listen to the cry and try to avoid rushing to DS room at any sound......I say "Just wait a moment and try to interpret the cry". But, nothing, he doen't want to listen to me. He says he can't hear his son crying, that this is cruel and that he thought I would not let him cry out. I tried to explain that what I'm doing is not letting DS cry out alone....but this is DH's weak point, too sensitive to his son's cry......

[deckchariot]

{{{{{hugs}}}}}  I'm so glad you're reducing the medication.  Good luck with the sleep training.  And I want to encourage you to encourage dh that wi/wo is not the same thing as crying it out.  It's important to listen first to your bub's cry to determine if you need to intervene, and then to intervene appropriately.  Hang in there!!!

[Francy&Ricky]

Hi!

I hope all the mess we have now in sleeping is really due to teething (we have only 12 teeth, so I guess we still miss 8!!!)  )...

Otherwise I really am lost, desperate...

During last week nights were really owful. NWs every 30-45-60 minutes. I don't know if it is due also to the fact that we are quitting medication (we are half-way now; it will take two more weeks to stop), but all the situation is really messy now.

He needs a lot of time to fall asleep (30-60 minutes), so the early bedtime plan is kind of messed up too.
He is now asleep by 7.15-7.30 and sleeps for a couple of hours, sometimes 3 and then the NW ballet starts...
And, last straw, he wakes up at 5 am!! And we fight against sleep for one hour (WI/WO) untill we definitively get up at 6 am!!
At that moment we are all tired, nervous and irritable.

My chemist (she is expert in natural remedies) gave us a patch medicated with Bach's flowers (Impatiens) to be changed every 24 hours. We've used it for 10 days and the second night seemed to start working: he slept through the night and woke up rested and very happy. It was wonderful, I was almost moved to tears...,but then....nothing, things got back to the start. But maybe those things need more time?

[deckchariot]

{{{{{hugs}}}}} if he's teething, that could definitely mess things up.  With my dd, we give her a homeopathic teething tablet during the day, but use ibuprofen at night.  Waking at night after a few hours of sleep can often indicate OT.  If he's waking at 5, what time is he napping and how long is his nap?  Have you thought about trying w2s for the 5 am waking?  You could go in at 4/4:30.  If he's always waking at 5, that could be habitual.

[Francy&Ricky]

This morning woke up at 4.30 and refused to go back to sleep.

I will try with some medication such as ibuprofen or paracetamol for teething.

Most of the times he refuses to nap in the morning, especially at DC. But takes a good 2 hours nap in the afternoon (1-3 pm) at DC and 1-1,5 hours nap at home during weekends.

I analised the past few weeks and am not really sure 5 am wake up is habitual anymore. It changes a lot from one night to the next (5-5.15-5.30-5.45....) and he also had some episodes of 6 am or even 6.30 am wake up.

OT is absolutely involved, but seems like a vitious cycle now.
Moreover, he is reaching those "terrible twos" and his behaviour is changing everyday, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse: many good developments, but also lots of tantrums and misbehaviour...

[deckchariot]

If he's taking a 2 hr nap in the afternoon, he may not need a morning nap at all.  I might try moving his nap a bit earlier and moving his bedtime earlier to ward off the OT from those EWs, and that might help eliminate them.  The molars can actually cause the terrible two's behavior - the tantrums, even personality changes.  And they are SLOW in coming in...so hang in there!!!

[Francy&Ricky]

Some updates from the battlefield.

Now we have wake up between 4 and 5 am.
3-5 NWs.
Difficulties to fall asleep with throwing paci out of the cot and then calling for mommy to give it back to him (takes 30-45 minutes to fall asleep and several WIs)
Someday refusal to nap at DC too.
So, basically we have (not every day, but pretty often) a day that never ends and a total of 8-10 hours of sleep per day.
JUST CRAZY. 

Could it be only teething??!!??...................

[deckchariot]

it could be teething - are you medicating for the pain?  If the paci is becoming an issue with NWs, you may want to wean it.  he also is probably chronically OT now which isn't helping.  With all the NWs and the EWs, I'd try for 2 nap days if you can to try to get him caught up.  If he's waking between 4-5, when are you trying for a nap?  When are you trying for bedtime?

[Francy&Ricky]

I was thinking about the paci too...maybe became a prop?

During weekend we were so tired and discouraged we decided to reset everything and go back to the beginning.

We tried to relax and start again from page one.

- First of all, we dropped all the medications and natural remedies we were using (I am afraid that sometimes these things can backfire).
- Then, we tried not to be anxious about sleep and bedtime (jut to avoid transferring anxciousness to DS) and be very positive about nighttime.
- Third, we decided to start a new routine, without bath (I've been doubtful about the relaxing power of it for long).
- Fourth, as here in Italy is summer, DC is going to end, days are longer and our schedule hasn't work at all till now, we completely changed it and set new timetables for the day, trying to move things forward.
- Last, but not least, WI/WO every time he will wake and at bedtime.

We will try for a couple of weeks and see what is going to happen.

Wish us good luck!