I have felt in my gut for over a year that Ella has sleep issues beyond that of a typical toddler. Severe sleep resistance, no tired signals until she was melting down, not being able to sleep more than twenty minutes at a time… I have a HUGE list of all her struggles, what we have done to try and help, what has failed, and what sort of works.
Today, I spoke with her pediatrician at length about what we have been doing. This was a follow up appointment to her 2 year check up where I brought up the issues (again) and a phone call following the check up. At this point, we had done EVERYTHING he had suggested in addition to our own research. He had one final suggestion and has asked us to give it two weeks. If things don’t get drastically better by the end of those 14 days, he is going to refer us to specialists at a pediatric hospital in Chicago for a consult and sleep study.
What makes me smile is that his suggestion was to bring her back to our bedroom and have a good old fashioned family bed. We’re going to get an extra full size bed from a friend and set it up next to our king size bed so that there is enough room for the bed hogging toddler, a nursing baby boy, c-pap using husband, and cover hogging mama. I really like cosleeping and am glad to have Aaron’s support in bringing Ella back to bed with everyone. She has been sleeping in her own room with Aaron for months now. He was kind of resistant to the idea at first (I suggested it a few months ago) but is now supportive since our pediatrician encouraged us. And Aaron agrees that it’s certainly less stressful to reestablish full family bed sharing than to drive for hours to Chicago and stay overnight in a strange hospital to run tests.
This is such an emotional relief for me. I have felt so lost, so unsure, so doubtful. I’ve known in my heart that something is NOT RIGHT. I’ve been in tears from frustration over her lack of sleep, my lack of sleep and all the fall out from the sleep deprivation. Having a medical professional confirm my thoughts, validate my concerns and SEE where my thought process is going. I feel like I have a whole new outlook now that there is a PLAN.
Even if the family bed sharing doesn’t pan out and the specialists in Chicago say, “So sorry but she’s just at the end of the curve that sucks”, I’ll have much more peace about the whole thing. I will know, without a doubt, that I have done EVERYTHING in my power to help her.
Well, everything short of benadryl every night. The only night she’s slept all the way through was when she had benadryl for an allergic reaction.
So yes. This is where we are at. We would appreciate prayers as we work through yet another transition.
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