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Sunday, November 18, 2007

The dark side of the gnome


I am begging no pleading with you and any friends you may have for help and advice. Lily does not sleep. I am not talking gets up once or twice a night I am talking 12 to 20 times a night. We are tired, sick and cranky. Here's the low down. Lily sleeps in an Amby bed designed for baby's who do not sleep well and crave motion and who also are preemies and have Gerd. We keep a cool mist humidifier on at all times in her room running on low. We also play a CD of the Ocean on repeat. Lily sleeps with a pacifier that she can not manipulate on her own ( has sensory and fine motor skills issues). She gets up and wants her pacifier and then falls asleep for 15 min and the repeats the above. Sometimes she just wakes up and that's that for an hour or two. So what do we do now? The experts who work with Lily on a weekly basis do not suggest crying it out. Not that I could do that anyhow. So HELP ask everyone you know. We are desperate for sleep.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's tough. Have you tried letting her sleep with you? I mean, it may cause problems later, but it might help now. Finn slept with me until he was about eighteen months old, and he would sleep all night. He still gets up and into my bed most nights, but I don't care as long as we're all sleeping.

Just a thought. Other than that, all I can suggest is to start finding books and reading as much as possible.

Anonymous said...

I think you should let her cry it out. Why do the "experts" say not to? I let Alexander and Reagan BOTH cry it out and it worked just fine. You know I'm here if you need anything, girl.
Love ya,
Cristie

Just Jac said...

I agree with Dadamama...my son slept with me for various reasons but he would sleep longer and since I was single parenting, it was the only thing that worked for us! It can cause problems down the road but for your sanity sake I would try it out a few nights and see how it goes and then worry about breaking the habit later!
Best of luck....sleep issues are the worst!

Anonymous said...

sounds like amby not working - how about aher crib - mom

JBTW said...

I knew that was your mom talking even before I read "mom!"

I already spoke to you before & my thoughts haven't changed... I think her main issue is not being able to put the pacifier back in her mouth. Have her OTs keep working on the motor skill & in the meantime have her close enough to you so you can put it in her mouth in your sleep. No crawling out of bed & trying to console her, just pop it in & roll over. (You do the rolling over, not her.)

But that's just my perspective on it. I'm not the one actually dealing with it. Hope you find a strategy that works... Perhaps train the cats on pacifier pushing -- they can work on rotational shifts. :)

JBTW said...

PS - That's quite the evil stare she's got going on!

Tan said...

If she is crying, then she obviously has a need and she wants you to fix it. Maybe its the dummy or maybe she hasn't learnt to go and stay asleep by herself. I know Ewan was one for that. Try a routine, it worked wonders for Alicia. The only problem with advice is that it can work for one child and not the other. Slightly painful in that regard. Keep you chin up, it will get better. Everyday she gets a little bigger and gains more skill.