Sleep Issues

Oh man. We are so tired....

Isaac has been a pretty rotten sleeper his entire life but since his accident, things have gone far south and they were kind of improving but the surgery has put us back to stage one!

After the accident, one of the first things the psychologists told us that parents came to regret were the post-accident sleep issues. Having such a traumatic incident made it easy for parents to become lax on the whole sleeping in your own bed thing with your child. Immediately after returning home, falling asleep became much worse so the neurologist prescribed melatonin - a natural aide to help kids/people calm down for a restful nights sleep. It worked to get him down easily but didn't help at all with sleeping through the night.

The rule at our house has been to always start in your own bed....and if they wake up, then fine....snuggle up. That was working alright for us we thought, but honestly we aren't getting restful nights of sleep. We work so hard to get Isaac just to fall asleep in his own bed. Like it takes an hour. We read a book then rub his back, or hold his hand or cuddle as much as we can and if he falls asleep, then great. However an hour or two later, he's up again and we put him back and try to get him to sleep and we repeat the whole rub his bad, hold his hand or cuddle thing.

Well, after the accident, things changed....obviously. Hearing Isaac cry has taken on a whole new meaning. We simply can't do it. Can't let him wail in his bedroom. We have tried everything and we do what we can to survive. The whole tough love thing just doesn't fly here anymore. Anyone ever read Baby Wise??? I did. It worked with the first, but not the second. So we adapt. We do what we feel most comfortable with.

Since the accident he definitely has not gone a full night in his own bed. And lately, Sydney's an issue too. She wakes up and comes in bed. I work full time and waking up and dealing with their sleep issues truly makes me so tired the next day. So I've been scooting over and making room in our king size bed. But it's wearing on me. There's not enough room and I know it's best for us all to get a good nights sleep in our own bed. But Isaac just will not sleep. He wakes up multiple times during the night if he's in his own bed but if he's in our bed, it's less work. Selfish...I know.

So now we're figuring out that something has to be done. What, I don't know. We have a king size bed so can't go up there, crying out just isn't an option for us. Maybe it's medical? Do they make an ambien for kids? Well we're going to have to find out for sure!! I hate to do it medically and of course we'll see what the doctors say but if anyone has any advice....I'm all ears!