First and foremost, I need to get some Thank-You’s out there. I’ve been a bit lax in the gratitude department. I want to say thanks to LaskiGal at From the Cheap Seats for hearting my little blog:

I’m not quite sure who to pass this along to, since it seems nearly everybody that I regularly read has it already (and rightly so!). So I guess I will give to my entire blogroll since I <3 all of you enough to read you (nearly) daily.I’d also like to do a big ol’ shout-out and hug to Flea at Flea’s World for the Bible Story book, Nana’s Bible Stories written by Roberta Simpson. I entered her contest, and HOLY COWS (yes, plural, since I’m talking about Fred and Bessie), I actually won! Okay, really, my kids actually won. But I cannot wait to be able to read the stories to them. Hopefully Gavin doesn’t rename any more of the Biblical Patriarchs.
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I’m sure we’re not alone in this, but I’m starting to feel like a crazy woman because of it: Cooper screams in his sleep at night. Usually this happens when he’s overtired (read: every night). I’ve been trying to work with the wonderful teachers in his classroom about forcing him down for naps to help (because this rarely occurs on weekends when he gets his two naps), but it seems that this stubborn child refuses to sleep more than an hour or so at daycare with any regularity. I’m considering spiking one of his bottles or containers of food with benadryl, but uh…thought I’d poll the Interwebs for any other ideas. Now, for a little background:
- Cooper has never been a good sleeper, which is frustrating enough since Gavin spoiled us by sleeping through the night by 6 weeks.
- When he’s woken himself up with his own nocturnal screams, we have tried rocking him back to sleep, singing, walking around with him, and can only get him to quiet down if we feed him (and by “we” I mean “me”).
- I tried letting Cooper “cry it out” a little, but he’s already so wound up and ticked-off that he ends up waking up Gavin, too, which is no easy feat. Then we’re all unhappy and I have two kids crying.
- They have a hard time getting Cooper to sleep at school unless he’s in one of the swings (which doesn’t help my plight at all, but hey, I’m not trying to care for 13 kids between the ages of 3 months and 12 months). I may have to get tough and ask them to put him in the crib because at home he naps without any problems–give him his binky, a blanket to snuggle, rock him a minute or two, and lay him on his side in his crib.
- I stuff him so full of food at dinner that he sits there with his tongue all lolling out like an over-stuffed pug:
- He usually gets up around 7 or 7:30am and goes to bed around 8pm. I thought about getting him up earlier, but um, that would mean I have to get up earlier than I already do…and that’s just not going to happen.
- It isn’t too bad when he just gets up once per night, but the screaming in his sleep periodically through the night is a bit disruptive.
So any ideas?…I mean, outside of drugging him or hitting him with the Baby Mallet to knock him out?
p.s. Um, LaskiGal…I’m such a twit…just realized that I’ve had “Laski Gal” as the name of your blog in my blogroll instead of your actual blog title of “From the Cheap Seats”. So Sorry!!! And thanks for hearting my blog in spite of my idiocy.
9 Comments
Your first bullety thingy said it all: this is payback for #1 being so good. Mwahahaha!
Question: Is he teething? Cause if he is? Ain’t nothing going to work. (Although, daycare does need to suck it up and quit with the swing–he’s going to be too heavy for it eventually, so it would be good to move on already.)
BBM…at his sick-appointment last month, he was 19lbs 4oz…we estimated that in three of the last four weeks he has been drinking 30 ounces of formula per day, with 3-4 Tbs of cereal mixed with formula twice a day, and a minimum of 8 ounces of pureed fruits/veggies. I’m wagerin’ that he’s now well into the 20’s–I’m waiting to get a call that the swing busted under his chubby cheeks (both sets) and catapulted him into the next classroom. And no teeth…not chewing on stuff more than usual and little-to-no-drool.
We have a 13 year old sleep walker, so I’ve no advice to give. Sorry. Hopefully he outgrows it sooner than Becky.
Growth spurt? Night terrors? Over stimulation at day care? How one “fixes” any of these is anyone’s guess. Maybe just hope it is a phase and in another week it will be something else.
Hey . . . just got your comment. That’s not the only reason but our balcony isn’t just a townhouse balcony . . . it’s a high-rise balcony. There are other reasons too like it’s way too small and Mrs. Kravitz my crazed neighbor is driving me over the edge.
PS – My kid won’t sleep at night either unless he sleeps WITH me with my boob nearby for emergency situations. When you figure it out, let me know.
PS2 – The Angry Little Clowns post photos are fixed. I hate that blogger randomly stops displaying pictures if the post is more than 24 hours old or so . . . it’s really annoying.
I’m so far past kids sleeping, but I hurt for you. Hope the advice others give it good. Got your book off today. 🙂
Our boy # 4 did the screaming thing. He could NOT be consoled either. It made for a very tired grumpy mom. I’ve been told that it is sometimes called “Night terrors” which is worse than a nightmare because the kid doesn’t wake up and so you can’t reason with him. It is a sign of a very active little brain and it does end. eventually. Nap when he does until he’s through it 😉