Home >> figuring out sleep
July 27, 2008
Getting Nathan to sleep through the night has been a 2 1/2-year journey. His first six months, he slept like…well…a baby! After that it’s been a mostly downhill journey. It’s an exhausting story so I won’t go into every detail, but basically just when I think I have it all figured out, Nathan throws me a curve. About six months ago, I had finally been able to just lay him down in his crib and he’d go to sleep within minutes. It lasted about a month or so, but somewhere along the line, he started to freak out again, screaming when I’d leave the room, etc. I just could not take that anymore, so I’d stand by his crib and stroke his face and arms until he’d calm down and dose off. That worked for a while but he’d still start to stir around 11pm, kicking the side of the crib, getting his feet stuck between the bars and completely freaking himself out. Sometimes it would take an hour to calm him down, to the point of turning on the lights, reading a few books and starting the bedtime routine all over again.
Then I thought maybe it was time to ditch the crib and get the youth bed out. He loved climbing into it at night and I could just sit on the floor beside him and read while he curled up, listened, and dosed off. But his flailing at 11pm-ish didn’t stop. Plus, no matter how I blocked him into the youth bed, he’d wiggle out and fall on the floor. I even put a 2nd mattress on the open side to for him to fall on, but he’d roll off of that and end up across the room at 2am, then again around 4am. That’s what’s been happening for the past 3 weeks. Three nights ago, I decided to ditch the youth bed and just put the two crib-sized mattresses side by side in the little nook of his room that surrounds them perfectly, layered the mattresses with two down comforters and then I put a border of pillows around the perimeter of the “bed.” Basically it’s like a big nest. For three nights, he’s slept from about 8:30pm straight through until 7am.
I should add that I really don’t think Nathan’s sleep issues can be blamed on Down syndrome. I’ve talked to enough other DS parents who simply put their kids in their crib or bed and the child goes right to sleep all night, no problem. I think this is just my Nathan who needs lots of space to sleep. He always sleeps just fine in our bed when I’m too tired to fight. But Nathan is a sun dial sleeper (which completely explains why the crib does not work). If Nathan is with us, he starts out parallel with us and by morning Paul and I are clinging to the outer six-inches of a king-sized bed and Nathan is like Leonardo Davinci’s Vitruvian Man, perpendicular to us.
With the exception of what I had thought was a sleep victory a few months ago, figuring out that Nathan needs a NEST to sleep in is monumental!!!! I’m holding my breath though, and trying not to celebrate too much yet.
However, yesterday we had a garage sale and I got rid of both the crib and the youth bed. We’re on to the next phase and chapter of sleep issues. So far, so good.
That “nest” sounds so comfy. I think I’d like a bed like that! Hope it is the “final” solution – glad you are getting your sleep back.