No respite until next year.....

[Lulu]

If you can believe it, things have gotten even worse with Beths sleep.

Our bedtime routine is perfect. She is sleepy and will fall asleep on the boob , the moment she realizes she is in bed all hell breaks loose. I've tried everything, putting her to bed awake and reading 10 stories, quiet times every night etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc. She IS tired, she needs sleep and she will sleep till 9-10am next morning. I was letting her sleep in to catch up but I see thats making things worse as NOW she won't go to sleep until 11PM at least.
Once she realizes whatever we are doing is heading to sleep time, she goes batty - kicking screaming, pulling my hair, flying headbutts THE WORKS.

She sleeps fine during the day, she puts herself up on the couch with a blanket and off she goes. When I stop her sleeping she goes rancid. When she wakes up she is rancid, because I cant let her sleep for 4 hours during the day. Actually she only had 30 mins yesterday and she is still going nuts despite being up till 12.30am the night before
If she sat up quietly reading books or something it wouldn't be so bad, but you can see her synapses are totally misfiring and she trashes the place, jumps on her sleeping brother aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Last night Mitch had a temp of 40.3 and I couldn't bring it down, all the while Beth is running amok and carrying on. Belle was here and helped out but I didn't know what I would do if I had to race him up to the hospital.

So I called the Queen Elizabeth Centre and I can't even get an assessment phone interview until 20th January! OMG. I've run out of ideas, we are in the middle of a vicious cycle that I am unable to break. I'm ok once the sun rises even if I haven't slept enough but once evening falls I'm a zombie. I'm even more sensitive to noise when I'm overtired so even a slightly raised voice does my head in though.

I am taking Mitch to the Drs today and will ask for a Paed referral for her, then I'm off to the shops for a little cd player, some headphones and some story/music cds AND some calm drops (Yes, I even tried the dreaded Phenergan once or twice and it make NO DIFFERENCE to her). Please, please work.....

Just needed to get this out - I know there are no answers.

[Ginger]

ohhh lulu, sounds bad. if you're thinking of going to a sleep school have you tried the koo wee rup one?

[Epacris]

Lulu, massive hugs I wish, wish, wish I could offer you something to help (you always have so much to offer other people). I've got nothing. Just, thinking of you, it seems so inadequate.

[LaDeeDa]

Big Hugs Chick
I wish I could help but wanted to let you know I'm thinking of you!

[Trillian]

Oh hun. I can sense how much this is wearing you down Can you get xDp over on the odd night to help out with the night routine, even if just to keep Mitch amused and get him to bed while you deal with Beth - or could he even help out with Beth? Next year is such a long time till you can get anything done, and they will all be closed for most of January anyway I suppose too.

[Arimeh]

Yeah I got no ideas either

And even if I had some suggestions - you would have tried them already.

I hope you can get in to see someone sooner - and I wish I was there so her and Aricyn could run amok together and we could have some.. drinkies...

[Lulu]

Trill, he is half the problem. He is just LOUD LOUD LOUD, totally doesn't understand about the need for a tight routine. He does help all he can and often ends up walking her in the pram at 10.30pm. We are both at wits end and I've asked that he doesn't come over for a full week so I can tackle it on my own *sob.

[Jennifer13]

Trill, he is half the problem. He is just LOUD LOUD LOUD, totally doesn't understand about the need for a tight routine. He does help all he can and often ends up walking her in the pram at 10.30pm. We are both at wits end and I've asked that he doesn't come over for a full week so I can tackle it on my own *sob.

You can do it. Lulu. Night time does not sound like the right time for him to come and help. But it must be tricky as I'm guessing he doesn't have a stack of free time during the day. He needs to respect your rules, otherwise, how can you expect Beth to? Sounds like you've already tried to sort out some aspects of the problem.

[Jennifer13]

Lulu, you must be at the end of your tether.

Can you have a nap in the middle of the day if she has a nap? I know it's not a long term solution, but just to help you get through the day with your own lack of sleep.

I know you say you've tried everything, but you're a smart cookie - what do you think has the BEST chance of working? How long did you try it for? She sounds like she is winning this bedtime war, hands down. I think you can do this, and I think you have a better chance of getting it right than you have of making it to the end of January sanity-intact with this still going on!

And just one point - it sounds like she doesn't want to sleep in her room for her daytime nap either. Can you change that? It sounds like her sleep association is not in her bed.

Sorry you're dealing with this Lulu, whinge away! Let us know how you're going.