Adalyn had her Children's Hospital Sleep Clinic visit this afternoon. I really wasn't sure what to expect or what sort of answers we were going to get. But I feel at the end of my rope with the night wakings, so we figured why not give it a try and see what happens.
We had a nice Doctor that talked with us about her sleeping. Adalyn didn't want anything to do with any one. This included people in the elevator (small closed rooms have started to freak her out) and even the receptionist at the check-in made her antsy and worried. The Medical Assistant got to see her throw up when she tried to see how tall she was. The Doctor witnessed her gagging skills and found them to be quite impressive, though he missed the full on throw up portion of Addie's act.
Step one appears to be to rule out any physical issues. It was tough for the Doctor to exam her, but she has no signs of sleep apnea and she is to young to discuss if tonsils or adenoids are a concern. Step two would be to make sure her sleep habits are good. Which they are. That portion we have down. She has a great sleep routine and goes to sleep with out any problems. If you think your child has poor sleeping habits, better consult with your doctor or medical assistant from this site to find out what’s causing it and to find if it’s somehow related to sleep apnea.
He prescribed reflux medicine (she took this when she was an infant) to see if that could still be an issue. The Doctor seemed to feel the gagging could be related to reflux, which could be waking her up at night. He also prescribed zyrtec for her dry skin. Though at this point we won't be giving that to her since I can control her dry skin with Aquaphor. He felt that she could be ichy at night and waking up for that reason. We'll work with the Aquaphor before we attempt any medication for dry skin issues.
Finally, he said after trying the above things that in 3-4 weeks we could try melatonin. We've done some research on that and I'm hopeful that may be the answer. I'd almost like to start there, but feel that we best rule out the reflux (since she is so darn gaggy) and then move to the melatonin.
The Doctor said that it is harder to "fix" kids that wake up versus kids that can't fall asleep. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the falling asleep isn't our issue.
Adalyn is still a super happy kiddo, too. This whole sleep stuff really doesn't seem to bother her. Just Mommy and Daddy are the ones who need more sleep because we can't take 2-3 naps a day as needed like our Daughter can.
We go back for a follow-up in 3 months. Fingers crossed we won't need to because she'll magically start sleeping through the night before then!! One should always have hopes and dreams, right?!
Oh what I would do for sleep some nights! Our three and a half year old still does not sleep through the night. She was a very fussy baby with constant constipation. Around age two, when she got up at night she would be content to lay down in our bed and eventually fall back to sleep. but until then i spent hours at night trying to console her back to sleep. I felt like no one understood and people kept telling me she needed to just cry it out but I knew this was not the same. She was miserable. She too also has very dry itchy skin that she now is old enough to tell us when she is itchy during the night so I don't doubt that was a reason she would wake up numerous times when she was younger. She falls asleep beautifully and always has but we have found melatonin to help her on really restless nights. Now that she is old enough to tell us what is wrong, whether it be she is itchy or her tummy hurts has helped us help her get back to sleep sooner. She still wakes up 1 - 3 times a night but at least now we are getting back to sleep quicker. Hang in there - I know how discouraging this can be!
ReplyDeleteOh, how I empathize. With BOTH my little ones. Reflux was also an issue with both, pretty severely. And we did do a sleep study for my 2 year old (at the time he was 20 months). I don't, however, have any great words of wisdom as we still have two non-sleeping-through-the-night kids but I wish a different outcome for you! I just wanted you to know that you're not alone!!
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