Night waking dilemma

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-10-2006
Night waking dilemma
7
Wed, 09-19-2007 - 9:15am

Hey gals,


Nick has starting waking up 2-3 times per night saying he has been having bad dreams.

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Christine

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-16-2006
Wed, 09-19-2007 - 1:12pm

Hey girlfriend..........DO WHATEVER IT TAKES SO YA'LL GET SOME SLEEP.


Adam goes thru phases in and out of our bed. I look at it this way, I don't give a rats a$$ who says it's bad to let him into our bed. We are all miserable if none of us gets rest. My dh has sleep issues to begin with.


We laugh cuz it's a frat house here. Crash were you will as long as you are comfy.... LOL


As for his nightmares............go with the gut with school. Heck go in with guns blazing and fight out what the problem is.


Is he flapping more that usual? Could be a stress coping factor along with meltdown mile going on. Look into when it started (jot it down) and gauge what was happening in his life to prehaps start to stress Nick out.


Luv ya


me

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-18-2006
Wed, 09-19-2007 - 2:06pm
Emma wakes up at least once a week.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-10-2006
Wed, 09-19-2007 - 2:29pm

Thanks hon,


I think I will make a little bed next to ours in case he gets up.

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Christine

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Thu, 09-20-2007 - 12:27am

Dear Nick's Mommy,

Dog! Let the dog sleep with him! Independent AND comforted, win win. Plus the dog can scare off intruders! Anyways, if we could have a dog (husband allergic, sigh) we would so have the dog sleep with ds, at least on his floor now 'cuz ds is huge and has a loft bed, dog wouldn't really fit up there unless dog was teeny and Malcolm dislikes teeny dog yapsters.

When ds was a few years younger and going through school hell, he started having bad nightmares. He would scream out in the night, Finally I just started sleeping with him, letting dh have our bed. Easier, we cuddled, no bad dreams, every body rested, we all needed it. I am not a big believer in this rigid "no co-sleeping" stuff anyways, and I just think that need not to apply to our oversensory kids.

When all was worked out (and we were homeschooling), it still took ds awhile to stop having the nightmares and I slept with him for a few more months, until he asked me not to. He's been just fine ever since, thank you.

I say co-sleep as long as needed. And good luck with the school thing. We used the little bed next to ours as an interim stage between the family bed when he was a baby and his own bed in his own room and I haven't noticed any damage to him!!!

yours,

Sara

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-28-2006
Thu, 09-20-2007 - 1:42am

Co-sleeping is just fine in my book, and if it gets you some sleep then do it!


When Chris was 5-7 he and Nic slept with us.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-13-2007
Thu, 09-20-2007 - 2:16am

Hugs to you! My ds wakes at LEAST twice a night. He usually isn't upset or anything (at least he doesn't seem to be), but he sleeps in our bed with dh and I sleep on the couch! This has been this way for quite a while now. Did you know that in most other countries of the world, co-sleeping in the norm? Leave it to us Americans to be the oddballs! Anyway, I give ds melatonin every night, and he goes to sleep ok, but still wakes. Has your ds changed medication lately? Or even changed something small in his routines? I have found that my ds wakes MUCH more when his routines are interrupted and when his meds are changed or even when the dosage is changed. The dog idea is WONDERFUL!!! One idea you might want to try is to tell your ds to literally ASK his dog to "guard" him while he is asleep! Him knowing that he actually made this request of his faithful pet might give him some feeling of control over what happens to him. AND a feeling of independence.....as if he "took care of the matter himself". Ds used to have night terrors....for no apparent reason when he was a bit younger (about 3yrs. old...he's 5 now) and we gave him a big brown teddy bear. We told him to tell "Teddy" to guard him and keep the bad dreams away. He did...and never had another night terror. We figured he was having them because he was stressed out about me being pregnant with his sister at the time...but we will never REALLY know why he had them. I hope some of this helps!

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-10-2006
Thu, 09-20-2007 - 2:43pm

Hi Sara!


I think I will give the dog a try.

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Christine