Author Topic: we are exhausted!!  (Read 1191 times)

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Offline latia

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we are exhausted!!
« on: September 19, 2006, 06:41:02 am »
Hi everybody,
I am new to the forum and I would like to get some advice regarding my son (1y 4 months) sleeping issues.
He slept  6 hours straight at night and needen only 1 feed during the night, since the beginning. At 2 month old he slept through the night.
but... At 3.5 mo he started teething and caught a lot of colds and his sleep patterns got disrupted.
At first, I thought it was the teeth, then the colds and then he just got used to wake up and cry until we come to him and put him the pacipier into his mouth and he falls immediately asleep.
He was with me at home until he was 6m and then with my mother until sept 1st, when he started being in daycare.
Before starting daycare, we were used that he will wake up twice, 1 am and 5 am approx, get his dummy and went back to sleep.
since he started daycare, he wakes up every 2 hours and we are exhausted. He is teething (the last molars) and he has cold also. I don't know what to do, he cries, until we come, he gets his pacifier, sometimes his pacifier is in his mouth, and after we lay him down, he falls asleep immediately.
Is it a behavior thing? how do you correct it? should we let him cry?
Maybe it is related to daycare and we should wait until he is more confident, like in a month or so?
any ideas will be appreciated.
thanks
Denise

Offline Florencia

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Re: we are exhausted!!
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2006, 19:48:10 pm »
Hi Denise and welcome to the forums!

Well it seems that a lot is going on in the life of your little one and I'm not surprised he's waking so much in the night. To ease your mind I must tell you that is perfectly normal that toddlers around 13-18 months are a nightmare at night because of the molars. The pain is really hard and disrupts even the most perfect sleeper. Some lo's are in such a hard pain that they lowen their defenses, hence a lot of colds and ear infections during this stage too. So yes, it is a tough age and sometimes pain medications before bed (and during the worst period, in the middle of the night too) and even homeopathic remedies, or teething gels rubbed in the gums are the best you have against this awful symptoms. Check with your ped for the right dosage and the prescription s/he thinks will suit your lo best.

Then, there's the daycare issue which is a main event in his life. The best you can do to help him ease his stress is provide a structured (and rigid when the times are tough) routine. That way he knows what to expect and what's to come next and will slow down his anxiety. Be sure to spend lots of quality/not stressing time with him once he's out of daycare. Sometimes all they need is extra attention cause they experiment some sep. anxiety because of the new changes. And they do it by crying cause they know that's the best way to get attention. SO instead of that, try and have a longer play time with him, establish a lovely and soothing windown routine for him where you get lots of opportunities tob e silly and reinforce him that he's not being abandoned. That should also help him relax and sleep better and deeper.

Post again with your routine to rule out other reasons like overtiredness but i think you'll start noticing great changes once you implement the suggestions. Hang on, it is such a changing age! we'll be here for you while you get through it.

Good luck and post back!
Mom to Manolo, spirited monkey and Jose Miguel, an angel cupcake

Offline latia

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Re: we are exhausted!!
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2006, 05:21:39 am »
Hi,
Thanks so much for the answer.
His routine is something like this:
6:00 - 7:00 - wake up + bottle
7:30 - daycare starts
8:30 - breakfast
11:30 - lunch
12:00 - 14:00 - nap
16:30 - we pick him up from daycare
17:30 - dinner
18:30 - bath
bedtime story
19:00 - bottle and sleep

Denise

Offline Florencia

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Re: we are exhausted!!
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2006, 18:26:39 pm »
By looking at his schedule I don't think he's facing overtiredness. He seems to be doing OK with his naps and night sleep so there's only the night waking issue which I'm sure is due to the teething along with the separation anxiety spurt because of the daycare implementing.

Just try the suggestions I made in my first post. keep consistant at them and you should be seeing some results at the end of one week. Keep us posted!
Mom to Manolo, spirited monkey and Jose Miguel, an angel cupcake