ok, quick update from me...
we had the mothercraft nurse come on Tuesday night. She was lovely, and really helpful. Complete opposite to sleep school "nurses"! She freaked out about us having Aadi in a bed though, but understood that it was a last-ditch attempt by us to get him to sleep, and not in our bed. So we have tried to get him back into his cot, in his own room. We're "camping out" in there at night until he learns how to resettle without so much help. Tuesday night he took 45 minutes to go to sleep with us constantly taking it in turns to comfort him, patting, shooshing and singing with the radio on too. The nurse could see immediately that he is a full-on high-needs kid, and suggested we try medication like Pain-Stop, phenurgen, valergen (sp?), or anything we can get our hands on! And a couple of nights a week we have a "sleep medicine" night where we all get some sleep. Yes, it's that bad! Especially since Aadi suffers so badly when he's teething and things like Panadol and Nurofen don't seem to do much at all. Also, DP and I are taking it in turns to sleep in the bungalow so we can get some much-needed uninterrupted sleep.
Anyway, Aadi slept from 8-1.30, but woke up and banged his head on the bars and wouldn't resettle for me, so after an hour I got DP to try. Half an hour more screaming before he went back to sleep, then woke up every hour after that until needing a nappy change at 5.30. He was so hysterical he couldn't even tell me "doddy" (potty) like he normally does. Blah. Wednesday was a shocking day, and he wouldn't sleep because he knew I was going to put him in the cot. He was horrid to me. Screamed all day. I caved and lay down with him and fed him to sleep just so I could rest for 5 minutes. He only slept 25 minutes anyway. By 5pm he still wouldn't relent and nap again, and the nurse rang to check up on me while he was screaming at me. I told her I was going to put him to sleep the only way I could, and call her back. I was a mess by then, and she was telling me I was - in her opinion - borderline PND and needed to go to a hospital. That really pi$$ed me off, so I went and cried with Aadi for a bit and fed him off to sleep again. Then composed myself and called her back. I explained to her that I am not depressed, I'm just frustrated and exhausted and this is the first time I've lost it like that. She understood, especially since I have NO support or assistance here and it's been just me 24-7 dealing with this high-needs kid. She still wants me to try and get into one of the other sleep schools before we go away, but there's nothing available until July/August anywhere. And none of them are covered by my health insurance. The system has let us down yet again...
So anyway, after I put Aadi to sleep at 5, I had to wake him up at 6 to feed him and try and get him back into the routine... He ate some dinner, and had a bath, but was so tired and upset. I gave him a BF and then DP came to try and put him to bed. He was falling asleep in our arms, but as soon as DP put him in the cot he cracked it and then vomited everywhere. DP got him out of the cot and Aadi immediately vomited again, all over DP! Then I copped it while trying to clean everything up. He hasn't been sick like that since starting solids, so it was pretty disgusting even though I'm well and truly used to chucking! Aadi was so miserable. After I cleaned everything up, DP put him back to bed in the cot and he slept, but woke up every hour from midnight again. At 5.30 DP brought him in to me for a BF, but he was carrying on and kicking me again, so he went back in the cot and slept until 7.
I tried to get him to nap in the cot yesterday, and he was so tired but he wouldn't stop throwing a tantrum and screaming. I just couldn't listen to it anymore so I popped him in the pram and went for a walk. He finally fell asleep at about 10.30, after about a kilometre. And stayed asleep for an hour without stirring. I had to go out again in the afternoon, so put him in the sling. Right on 2pm he fell asleep and napped for 45 minutes. I was walking the whole time, and then he woke up right when I got to my appointment with a FDC company. Wreaked havoc in their office, then back in the sling to walk home. Another 2km. My shoulders muscles are like golf balls...
So last night Aadi was exhausted and DP put him to bed without a problem. He woke every hour from 10pm, and by midnight DP couldn't do it anymore and put him to sleep with him on the mattress on the floor. It probably is a really bad time to be trying this big change since Aadi's TEETHING like crazy again. But we're persisting. It's really hard, since Aadi WILL NOT settle for me, and that means weekdays are going to be hard, but I'll keep trying over the long weekend while I have DP here to support me, and see how we go.
OK, I'm done. Hope you're all doing well! Enjoy your long weekend.