Deep in Sleep Hell August 20, 2007
We’ve been here before, this frustrating place called sleep hell. Things got better for a while there, though. Adam was consistently taking two naps a day in his crib and sleeping pretty well overnight, waking a couple of times to nurse but going back down easily. Now the new helmet and the fact that we can no longer swaddle him are screwing things up again.
Fortunately we’ve seen some improvements in Adam’s night time sleep over the last week. However, naps seem to be getting worse instead of better. He just will not go to sleep. Once he finally (and I mean finally) does, he sleeps ok, but getting there is the hard part.
I just don’t know what to do. Sometimes he’ll nurse down and sometimes he won’t. It doesn’t seem to make a difference, though, because within 10 minutes or so he’s awake again. It doesn’t appear to matter if I try to move him to the crib immediately or wait and let him doze on the nursing pillow a while. He wakes up whether I move him or not.
When we could use the Miracle Blanket, he’d go right to sleep even if he didn’t nurse down. Now he rolls around in his crib and will not settle down. I hate just leaving him in his crib forever and a day until he finally conks out, but I don’t know what else to do. I just wish I knew how to get him to fall asleep. He won’t rock to sleep. Nursing to sleep isn’t the answer anymore. I just don’t know.
I’m sure the helmet isn’t helping matters. I am so ready to run that thing over with my car. I don’t even care that we paid an arm and a leg for it. I know he needs to wear it, so on it stays, but I still hate the darn thing.
I’m hoping things will improve at some point. It’s just hard right now when he’s so tired. Oh Adam, won’t you please go to sleep? Pretty please?
My 7 Month Old Helmet Wearing Swaddle Addict August 10, 2007
Adam is 7 months old today. He’s been wearing his new hat for about a week now, and I don’t know who hates it more, him or me. I know he needs it. One look at his wonky head confirms that for me every time, but it’s still really hard.
Things are better now than they were when he got it last week, though. The first day he wouldn’t even lay down in it without crying. He’s had a gradual breaking in schedule ramping up the time he’s spent wearing it each day, and he started wearing it full time, 23 hours a day, on Tuesday. He gets pretty fussy in it and has had some trouble sleeping in it, but I know it’s just a matter of getting adjusted to it. You should see him when he gets his hour break in the evening, though. Oh my goodness, that’s one happy little guy.
In addition to the helmet messing with his sleep a bit, we have another major sleep issue to deal with at the moment. Adam really needs to be swaddled to sleep well. He hasn’t had his legs swaddled in months, but we swaddle his arms in the Miracle Blanket and it does the trick.
Recently, though, he’s been escaping from it multiple times per night. Then he thinks it’s play time and starts rolling around the crib. Last night was the last straw when he managed to roll over on his belly while swaddled. Not good, so I unwrapped him and put him in a sleep sack instead.
I knew it wasn’t going to go well, and it didn’t. He played and rolled and rolled and played, traveling the length of the crib many times over. Not so cute at 1:00 in the morning. Plus, he can roll back to front in both directions but only one way front to back, so when he manages to wedge himself down at the end of the crib facing the wrong way on his stomach, he’s stuck. I kept hearing thump…thump…thump. That was him bumping his helmet against the crib while trying to roll over against it. Silly goose. I had to go lay him back down more than once.
He finally settled down and went to sleep for a bit, but then he woke up and played some more. He fell asleep again, but then decided to start his day at 5:40 AM. I’m hoping so much that the novelty of being able to roll around in the crib wears off in a few days. I think we’re in for a long weekend, though.
The poor little guy’s system still isn’t taking too well to solids, so we’re taking a break for now. It’s a good thing that darn helmet hasn’t interfered with breastfeeding any. I was really worried that it would, but so far we’re doing ok in that department.
Other than the helmet issue, sleep issue, and sensitive GI system issue, he’s doing well. He’s doing a whole lot better now that I’m on the elimination diet, so much so that he really does seem like a different person. He’s totally itching to be even more mobile than he is now, pivoting around on his stomach and rolling all over the living room floor. I know he cannot wait to crawl. He’s still growing by leaps and bounds and looking more and more like a little boy than a baby every day. Here are a few shots from last week. As you can see, the exersaucer does a pretty good job of distracting him from the helmet.
The Complicated Infant August 2, 2007
We took Adam to see an allergist last week since he’s dealing with all of this food sensitivity stuff. Yesterday I got the report that he sent to Adam’s pediatrician in the mail. It had various sections, history, meds, etc, and towards the end there was an assessment section. The allergist’s first sentence in that portion of the report started with “Adam is a very complicated infant.” I have to admit that the way that sounded to me made me chuckle a bit. That’s my boy, the complicated infant.
I do get discouraged with Adam’s issues from time to time. It’s hard when he’s dealing with multiple issues at once, and it’s frustrating when there is only so much I can do about it. Even though I know I shouldn’t, I feel guilty, too. I feel like I’m to blame. I mean, why does he have plagiocephaly? Because he has torticollis. Why does he have torticollis? Because he was cramped up in my little uterus. And I’m pretty sure he got the food sensitivity genes through me. My dad had the same type of issues when he was a kid. Plus, he reacts to things I eat, things I choose to put in my mouth. Obviously I would never intentionally eat something that I know he’ll react to, but the guilt is still there.
I just wish so much that he didn’t have to go through all of this. I hate that we have to give him medicine for his reflux six times a day. I hate that we have to do those neck stretches which make him scream multiple times a day. I hate that he’s going to have to wear a helmet for his plagiocephaly. I hate that his poor little GI system gets so upset so easily.
Thank goodness all of those things should be temporary. At least I hope they will be. This won’t last forever.
I guess I should look at the progress we’re making and the steps we’re taking to move us forward. Adam is getting his STARband helmet this afternoon. I’m very nervous about the whole thing, but the sooner he starts treatment the sooner he’ll be done with it.
The GI stuff is a little less straightforward. It’s more of a one step forward, two steps back type of a situation. He had a definite reaction a couple of weeks ago that we traced back to turkey in my diet. I would never have thought turkey would cause a reaction, but what do I know. We’ve also been trying to start solids with him when he’s been free of reaction from my diet, and that’s going slowly. We’ve had to stop and start a couple of times due to reactions.
The allergist recommended that I stay on the elimination diet (no dairy, soy, eggs, wheat, nuts, fish, seafood, or beef and now turkey) until Adam is 12 months old. He did support the slow introduction of solids to his diet making sure not to give him foods that are typically allergenic. So, that’s the plan for now. Adam really is doing so much better now that I’m on this elimination diet. It’s tough, but it’s so worth it to see him doing better.
So, I guess things are a bit complicated. That’s ok, though. Normal is boring anyway.