Wont sleep!

[mrsrobbo]

My little mosnter is 13 months, he has always been a good sleeper, going 12 hours from 6 weeks old, but the past 4 weeks have been a nightmare. He wont go to bed, he just screams, I tried letting him cry it out because i could see he was tired, but he has epilepsy so i cant do it for too long as it could trigger a seizure. Its getting close to 10pm when we finally get him to bed then he has started waking every hour. We have tried moving his cot, his room as dark as its always been, tried a night light, extra warm milk but nothing. he will go to sleep on our bed, so last night we took the side off his cot, he didnt fall out once but still woke 3 times. I dont know what to do. He has had a bad few weeks, 2 weeks ago he had a bunch of blood tests for his epilepsy, then he had all his immunisations (MMR, chickenpox and a pnuemonia), then 4 days later he went in to have a CT scan, they were trying to sedate him but they couldnt get the IV in after 40 minutes of trying, then a last thursday he was prodded about again when we saw the neurologist. Do you think he could be having nightmares? I dont know what to do now, Its awful, we can see he is so tired but he wont sleep. he has had a fever for a few days which i think is just the side effects from the imms. He isnt botherd about eating much, he only wants to drink milk. What should I do??

[imsmum]

Definitely sounds like you have all had a few rough weeks and he needs some reassuarance.  He may now be pretty overtired so you'll have to consider that when you deal witht these sleep issues.  In fact his night waking may be as much from the overtiredness as the upset. 

A few things: 
1)  What was his schedule before and what is it now?
2)  Where is his cot now?  Does he sleep in it?  does he sleep in your bed? 

It sounds like you've tried a bunch of different things which may in fact be more upsetting to his routine, although that was certainly not your intention.  Let us know what his old routine was, where he would sleep, etc and what changes there have been so we can maybe address those a bit better.  hang in!   

[mrsrobbo]

His day before looked like this

7.30 wake and have milk
8am Breakfast
9am kiddikare/babygroup/swimming
10.30 am snack (usually while at activity)
12 noon Lunch
12.30/12.45 nap
2/2.30pm wake up
playtime, reading etc, usually walk the dog too
4.30 dinner
then dad comes home so its playtime for a while
6pm bathtime
6.30/6.45 bottle
7pm story and bedtime

By 7.15pm every night he was asleep

Now he wakes anytime, usually its 6.30 when he ants to get up. he still has his activities because i work every morning, so its only the afternoon that i can change and thats usually pretty relaxed. he is fighting all his naps, occasionally he will have a short nap in the morning but not very often. I find now that if he has 2 short naps he is v. grumpy and has trouble staying awake. well that was before this madness started. Im totally lost. I am trying to get him back into his routine but its just the sleep thats the problem

[*Nicola*]

Poor Bradley and poor you!

It sounds like all of the disruption (hospital, immunizations etc) has maybe got him off track a bit.  If his sleep has been disrupted for a significant amount of time it is likely that he is overtired which just ends up in a viscious circle 

Ciara was in hospital for a week when she was 2, and it disrupted our routine a bit when we came home.  The things we focused on were;

Giving her lots of love and attention - making sure that she was confident in her surroundings and happy in her bed.  It might help to introduce some play time in the bedroom/on the bed for Bradley to help him feel safe and secure there again.

Find a consistent approach and stick to it.  So if you want him to sleep in his bed then perserve with this, no matter how difficult!   

Wind-down time/bedtime.  If he is overtired it might help to have an early winddown time/bedtime?  Does he know when nap time and bed time are coming?  Making these really obvious may help with structure and with his comfort in what will be happening.

OOPS ... just seen the time, going to be late for nursery pick up ... check in later 

[imsmum]

Nicola's given you some great advice.  He's had some upset so just be as loving and consistent as possible and try a few early bedtimes to help with any cumulative overtiredness.  It may take a couple of weeks but hopefully you'll see improvement soon.

[mrsrobbo]

thank you for the advice, last night he slept all the way through, we were happy but it seems there are complications due to the amount of medication, he has only been awake for an hour all day. he has been in hospital and had even more tsts

[*Nicola*]

(((HUGS))) what a worry for you... sending big get well hugs to bradley.  let us know how he gets on 

[mrsrobbo]

i think someone is trying to send me over the edge! He has too much medication in his body, its caused adverse side effects, they are doing a scan later to check for blood clots. They were the ones who increased it! Its only 8am but i could do with a large drink!

[*Nicola*]

Vodka?  Wine?  G&T?  What's your poison?  Step on up .... 

We do it all here .... advice, laughs, shoulders to cry on, drink, drugs 

[mrsrobbo]

a v.large glass of wine would be good, but its only 1.20 pm  I guess it could be classed as an emergency!