Dear blog readers,
As you know and most of us do, I use this blog to capture the fun moments and lifetime memories of our little man that I ponder in my heart as a Mother. Everything's usually "hunkey dorey" because we want to remember the GOOD things and not necessarily write about the bad times! But isn't that part of Jobi's life that should be chronicled too?? Seeing as though I use this blog to journal our life experiences and do this as a "keepsake" for Jobi, I want to remember the trials we go through as well (so he can look back and see what he put us through! HA :) just kiddin).
Well, here's down to the "nitty gritty." A few weeks ago, Jobi woke up in the middle of the night screaming and crying - out of the blue - no problems sleeping before. We thought he had experienced a nightmare, as he was saying "that dog gonna get me!" or later "that turtle gonna get me!" Chris and I attributed this to hearing our neighbor's dog barking, which we thought probably was the culpret of the waking up. We comforted Jobes and he reluctantly, finally went back to sleep. We thought it would just be a one-time occurrence, naively. We didn't dare dream, now about 3 weeks later, he would be waking up nightly! Same screaming and crying, standing in the bed, giving every excuse in the book to get out of bed. This is our child who still takes 3 1/2 hour naps (at home), always went to bed with no problems whatsoever, LOVED his bed, and slept all through the night. Chris would have to wake him up in the mornings. What happened, all of a sudden, that now wakes him up at all hours of the night and that can NOT be comforted to go back to sleep???!!!
We refuse to put him in our bed - have never done that and do not intend to start now... and upon our pediatrician's recommendation, we know we're doing the right thing. Although so very hard, we're sticking to our guns. Have any other of you moms (or dads) experienced this with your children??! We're looking for some encouragement, solutions, suggestions! Any advice welcome!
We just want our sweet baby boy... err, sorry... little man :( to start sleeping again!! We have no reason or explanation for why so abruptly, his patterns have changed. He's SO tired in the afternoons that it's even affecting his behavior now at school. We try to put him to bed earlier and he just wakes up even earlier. He listens to soft music, we leave the light up a little bit, use nightlight, special/favorite stuffed animals or soft books in bed, more covers, less covers, door closed, door open, door cracked, etc, etc, etc. HELP!
Signed,
One sleepy, frustrated, angry, baffled, confused, physically and emotionally drained Mommy and Daddy -
Jean Anne and Chris
6 years ago
4 comments:
Yes! That exact thing happened with Jackson. He has only slept with me once or twice and it was when he was sick and running a high temp. I have no idea what Jackson's deal was. We thought he was having nightmares, too, because he would point at shadows on the wall and call them ghosts. He would even get under his crib and hide. When we went to check on him and lay him back down, he would jump out of bed and run screaming and banging on the door. And it was a blood curdling scream, like someone was after him. Very scary. But, Adam ended up taking him crib apart (so he couldn't hurt himself underneath it) and he slept on only a mattress for several weeks. That seemed to do the trick for him. Plus, I would read him extra books (like 4) every night to try and help settle him down more. We also put in extra night lights-that I let him pick out. Sorry you're having to go through this! I know it's not ANY fun, and I feel your pain!
Poor Jobie and poor Mommy and Daddy. Kenadie has had a few, I guess I will call them nightmares, but not consecutively to where it distrubed her sleep. She is usually SCREAMING with her eyes clenched shut. The ONLY thing we can do to calm her is to get her some water and sit with her on the couch for a little watching tv, and then she's fine to get back in her bed, once the shrill SCREAMING stops. I sure hope this doesn't last too much longer for you guys! Sounds like you have tried everything!
As I write this I know that Jobes slept all night last night and I pray that this "season" is over for ya'll! NOT fun!! When Cash was around a year old he had night terrors. At first I didn't know what they were but they happened so often that I called Dr. Richardson about it. He hasn't had any in a couple of years until last week and last night. He cries, screams, kicks but never opens his eyes. He can't be comforted, I even sprayed water on him last night just to see if it would snap him out of it and it didn't. So I just sat there with him until he finally settled back into sleep. He has no recollection of it the next morning. :( It lasted about 45 minutes. He will say some words but usually it's just screaming. Maybe Jobi is having some sort of night terrors. Whatever it is I hope he is passed it for good!!! By the way, Sunday night when Arden and I said her prayers I asked her what did she want to thank Jesus for today and she said "JOBI"!!! :)
Thank you everyone for the comments, personal stories, and encouragement you have posted here (and on FB, Amanda - thank you!) Jobi actually had two good nights in a row that he slept the whole night through. But then the awakening started again. Last night was odd b/c it was early at 1115 pm when he woke up for the first time. I went into his room and he was standing up whining, asking for his "Daddy" but never opened his eyes. It was obvious he was still asleep, and this cause may've been something resembling a "night terror." But all the other times he wakes up, he's clearly awake and asks us to lay down with him or use any excuse he can make up to get out of bed :) Something is obviously startling him or he's just going through a phase that WILL hopefully pass soon!! We have found that if one of us lay on the floor right beside him for just a bit, it comforts him enough to fall right back to sleep - then we sneak back to bed. I don't mind doing this (for a while anyway) just as long as we've resolved ourselves to the fact that, that's what works and if that's what it takes, then it's what we'll do for now. It's not as bad as trying to comfort him for an hour or longer, getting frustrated and fighting with him by going in his room OVER and OVER and OVER again. At the same time, I don't want him to get used to us being a "permanent" fixture on the floor! Please continue to pray for our little man as he re-adjusts. It IS an interruption to our sleep, but it has gotten better at least. Here's to SWEET DREAMS!
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