Oh Sleep, Where Art Thou?

I have blogged before about my challenging child. One of the things that makes her challenging is her sleep. When she was a baby, I could put her in her crib with her paci, and there wasn't much of an issue getting her to go to sleep. Even if she was awake for awhile, she was mostly quiet. She didn't like to be rocked- she just wanted to be put down and left alone.

Fast forward a couple of years to the arrival of her 'big girl' bed. No more paci, but she usually went to sleep OK. Sometimes she would get books to look at, or play with her baby dolls. Several nights we would go in to check on her only to find she had laid out her shoes or pull ups in straight lines. One night she even lined up her toy chairs and doll furniture.

Now let's skip to the fateful day we moved her into a different bedroom with her older sister complete with bunk beds. That's really the moment the bedtime nightmare began. She cried for nights (and by cried and mean LOUDLY and with GREAT EMOTIONAL FORCE and EXUBERANCE) proclaiming her hate of the new beds and sheets and room and roommate. I kept thinking she was being silly and would get over it. I didn't know then what change does to that kind of child, and it was probably akin to torture for her. In hindsight, I wish I had moved her back and let the littlest sister room with my first born. But I really did think she would get over it, and I sat with her every night while she cried and cried til she went to sleep.

Then somehow it went from crying about the room, to crying was how she released the day's stresses. Still I sat with her. By now several months had gone by. Now adding to the dilemma was that it was lighter outside til way later than 'normal' so it was harder for her to go to sleep. And so here we are, three years later, and I still sit with her every single night because her brain will not turn itself off willingly. And even if her brain is tired, it's not telling her body and there are lots of twitches and itches and wiggles.

There is something called compression therapy (at least I thought that was what it was called til I just Googled it and found nothing in the first 3 pages....) where children with Autism, Aspergers, Sensory Processing Disorders (and other things, I'm assuming) need compression to relax. Think a specially made heavy blanket or a big bear hug or, in my case with Ava, I lay my arms and legs over her to hold her down and keep her still long enough to realize she's tired and her brain can turn itself and her body off. Some nights she'll let me do that, other nights I can squeeze the palm of her hand and it will be enough to relax her.

I am finding though, the older she gets, the trickier it is to get her to sleep. And she won't stay asleep. Sometime between 12 and 4 am she will get in bed with me. Once that involved her trying to get me to get up and start the day. Now, thank the Lord, she will just quietly lay down next to me....at least 3 out of 4 times. The other time she will just want an escort to the bathroom (and I don't really mind that).

So last night I started giving her Melatonin. She went to sleep GREAT. But was up by 12 and then really didn't sleep much the rest of the night. I know this bc I didn't sleep much the rest of the night. So tonight I gave her a slightly higher dose, and we'll see what that does. She went to sleep GREAT again, but I need her to stay asleep.

I would also NOT be surprised if she struggled with Restless Leg Syndrome. I actually had RLS my last pregnancy and anyone who has that has my utmost pity. There are meds for that, but I just want to deal with one thing at a time. If the Melatonin will take care of the sleep situation for now, I'll just stick with that. Also, if anyone has any thoughts or advice, I'll take that too. (Unless you're going to suggest Bendryl, in which case I will punch you in the face. Not really. But still: don't.)

Sure she's cute, but she will keep you up. All. Night. Long.