Dream a Little Dream
I know from what I've read that it is very common for children with WS to have sleep issues. Just when I think we are making some progress and Emerson just might start sleeping through the night, she starts to get up 2-3 times a night again. This past week for some reason Emerson is getting up once in the middle of the night, but it is taking me up to an hour to get her back to bed. It is as if she is suddenly wide awake in the middle of the night. Tomorrow we get her blood pressures checked since she started her propanolol. If her blood pressures are normal, I am going to start thinking about letting her "cry it out". I am a big believer in the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child", unfortunately there is no section in the book for kids with WS. :) Dr. Weisbluth, who authored the book, is big into scheduled naps, early bedtimes and letting the baby "cry it out" if they are still waking up after 9 months old. It makes sense to me, if I keep going to her in the middle of the night, how will she ever learn to put herself back to sleep, on her own. Ella is a great sleeper and always has been. I put both to bed at 7pm, both take great naps, SO WHY WON'T SHE SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT!!
This is a post to seek advise. Are your kiddos sleeping through the night? If so, how did you do it? My trepidation with letting her cry it out is that she gets incredibly worked up to the point where I swear she is hyperventilating. If I do let her cry it out I swear I will have to sleep in the basement.
If Emerson were a "typical" child and was not diagnosed with WS I would let her cry it out in a second. Like I said, I am a big believer in that philosophy and I've already had success with it. Do I need to be handling this different? Anyway, any suggestions or thoughts are appreciated...I need some sleep.
This is a post to seek advise. Are your kiddos sleeping through the night? If so, how did you do it? My trepidation with letting her cry it out is that she gets incredibly worked up to the point where I swear she is hyperventilating. If I do let her cry it out I swear I will have to sleep in the basement.
If Emerson were a "typical" child and was not diagnosed with WS I would let her cry it out in a second. Like I said, I am a big believer in that philosophy and I've already had success with it. Do I need to be handling this different? Anyway, any suggestions or thoughts are appreciated...I need some sleep.
posted by Nicole | 5:55 PM
12 Comments:
Is she ready to play in the middle of the night? Does she want to eat? If you give her the bottle, burp then put her down in the crib will she just keep crying? Playing is one thing, eating you may have to feed her based on her needs.
Brady at one point got up every four hours to eat (which I had to feed him, being underweight) then would fuss as if he was uncomfortable (thought it was gas). I realized later on (ugh!) he cried to go BACK to his bed... when one night I finally gave up and put him down in the crib when he was fussing he shut right up and went to sleep. Coulda kicked myself for not realizing that sooner :)
Brady sleeps pretty good, but 1- 1/2 months ago he started to wake up again... coincided with an ear infection (no other symptoms) and then molars coming in. He sleeps very well at night (knock wood) and takes two long naps during the day (about 3 hours each).
Even though his cardiologist says Brady can cry it still makes me nervous... do what makes you feel comfortable. If you are ok with it, it would only take a short time of her crying it out to get the point. However, she will not be 8 years old waking up every three hours just because you are picking her up now. :) Good luck - I hope you get some sleep!!
I could never in a million years get my kids to bed by 7...I am so jealous...Emma is actually the one having sleeping issues...I am fiding if she gets up in the middle of the night to potty she end up in our bed...it is frustrating because if Tatum wakes up they both think it is play time... Tatum has been sleeping from about 8:30-9 untill 4:45...we can usually get her to sleep a bit more while we get ready for work.
Tatum takes a short nap early and a mid day long nap...do you think going to bed later would make a difference?
Having gone through the same stuff, I approached sleep issues for Avery like she is a typical kid, because she is a kid first and a person with WS second. I have read the same book and agree with the methods, and have used them, and still do. Avery cried it many a nights, even younger than Emerson when I got rid of her 1 a.m. feed and we were both miserable, 1.5 hours - and it worked. BUT I also believe that you need to "listen" to your child and determine if it is the right thing for her right now. I also wonder if her calcium is bothering her or ears or teeth. I find it unusual that she went from great sleeper to waking up several times a night. If you feel the time is right to let her cry it out, just understand that more than likely she won't hurt herself in the process it is just going to be very hard on you both and you should prob. check on her (that is the one thing I don't like about Wiesbluth, not checking because one time Avery was in a pool of spit up and I cried I felt so bad). It is a method that works on WS kiddos. I know it is hard, I am going through sleep issues all over again with Avery. I even called the pediatrician on Monday because it was so upsetting to me. They basically concurred with me that she is going to have to be "retrained" because over the holidays she got out of wack, then she got sick, then we had company stay with us...and it totally screwed her up. Maybe Emerson is having the same problem?
P.S. Just remember that developmentally your child is not of true age as it relates to typical developmental, so this 9 month mark Wiesbluth gives is not the same for WS kids developmentally, that is my opinion, and she may still need a night time feed for the calories...but I feel pretty confident she has the other skills at this point to handle a cry out.
Thanks for the advise. By no means has Emerson ever been a great sleeper. She has always gotten up in the middle of the night except for a handful of times. I think her issues with getting up definitely stemmed from her being such a colicky baby. I have always gotten her to sleep with a bottle, which I know is a no-no, but it worked and gave her some extra calories. Now, she eats great during the day and her weight is good so she does not need the middle of the night feedings.
One of the reasons I waited until now is figuring that possibly developmentally she is around 9 months. I will definitely check on her because I could see her getting worked up and throwing up. I did the "no check" with Ella, but she was such an easy baby. If her blood pressures come back good today I may give it a go this week since Brian is out of town (although he is good at holding me back from running into the baby's room). I will keep you all posted and wish me luck. Love, Nicole
Actually, really thinking about it, Emerson is probably closer to 7 months developmentally. I just looked at pictures of Ella at that age and Emerson is not babbling, not crawling, and not pulling up. Maybe we will have to wait a little bit longer.
We let Erik cry...but he cried nonstop for 6-7 months, so we didn't have much choice. After he got out of that phase, he was pretty used to us letting him cry.
What I do is make sure he's dry and clean and comfy and then note the time. If he hasn't stopped crying in 15 minutes, I go in and pat him and turn on his crib music. I keep repeating that until he falls asleep, and it usually only takes 1-2 times. If he is crying now, it's usually because he is tired.
These days Erik goes to bed and usually wakes up about an hour later screaming. We pat him and he's usually down for the rest of the night. We're not sure what that is, but it's a routine for him.
We also put him down at 8 p.m. every night with only a rare exception (if we are away from home).
Hope that helps. I missed you, too.
I am all about the bottle... Emma went to bed with one untill she was well over 2...oops...I lrt ztste do it too... I think Tatum is around 7-8 also...I can not really compare with Emma she walked at 10m
I love the name Emerson and we considered using it, but, ended up going with Jewel.
I don't know about doing CIO in regards to WS, but, I do know that it is very common for a baby to NOT sleep through the night at this age. And it is a very short period of time, historically speaking. ;) I like some of Dr. W's advice, but, I think what rings more true for me is what Dr. Sears has to say.
I have had this fight with Daven since day 1. He has never slept through the entire night and I don't anticipate him sleeping all night for a very long time. I have read every one's suggestions and I will be taking that to heart as well.
We put Daven to sleep with a bottle or paci. Then we gently lay him in his crib. He is good there until 1 or 2 am. At this point, he comes to bed with us.
Will I ever have a night of full rest again? I feel your pain!
As long as Emerson's doctors have okayed "crying it out," do it. Clare's cardio nixed that for the first nine months of her life (plus Clare needed to eat every 1.5 hours due to hydration issues because of the condition of her blood vessels), but once we got the green light, we tried it. I am a believer in doing things gently and letting your babies tell you when they're ready to sleep through the night. But after nine months of never getting more than an hour's sleep at a time (because Clare was nursing), it was time to buckle down! I didn't cut her off cold turkey, but started by eliminating one waking at a time. It took a couple weeks, but soon Clare went from waking up 6-7 times a night to 2-3 times. A huge improvement! Since I knew she no longer needed to nurse during all those wakings and it was just habit for her (plus her heart could take it), I felt more comfortable doing it. The other wakings, I let her dictate when she was done. She finally slept through the night (10-12 hours without waking at all) at 13 months old. And she has been sleeping through ever since.
Szabi slept through the night when he as 3 months old...everybody envied me... we put him in his bed at about 8 pm and only woke up at 5:40 when his dad wakes up. He got his bottle and slept back till 7-8 am. BUT: this didn't change anything!!! Although we put him in his crib he is able to play with himself more than an hour, too. He is in shut-up mode, no cry, but doesn't sleep....
We let him cry when he was 1 yr old, before we used to rock his bottom, because he always slept on his belly. We went back to his room in every 5-10 minutes, and tried to make it understand that if he is not yelling I stay with him but in that second when he starts to cry I go out. I think it it the opposite of the well-tried way, but it worked for us.
Don't give up! Keeping my fingers crossed for you!!
Love, Kati
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