Operation Sleep Through the Night

After all of my ranting and raving about Logan being so challenging, it should come as no surprise that he isn't a good sleeper. He has probably slept through the night 30 times in his entire life. For reasons we can't determine, he's up several times a night screaming and banging on his door to get out of his room. He's been in a toddler bed since 18 months when he began diving out of his crib. Believe me, we have experimented with with adjusting bedtimes, music, fan or no fan, etc. etc. but little man just can't seem to go an entire night without waking and pitching a fit.

We had two great appointments yesterday at Kennedy Krieger for him - still working on some behavioral stuff. But the lack of sleep - his and ours - has really become a concern. Now that he is two, we've decided to go hardcore. He's not snoring and there doesn't appear to be a physiological issue. We feel this whole thing is a behavioral issue, and he's used to getting our attention at night even if its just go to into his room and tell him to go back to bed. So, no more. No more going in there, no more helping him find his binky, no more nothing. He's on his own. The therapists even suggested we reverse out his baby monitor so we can actually talk to him from other rooms in the house and tell him to go back to bed. (Remember in Real Genius when they hook up the speaker and God talks to Kent from above?) They also suggested we put padding up on his door where he bangs so that it isn't so loud, and he can't hurt himself. We think he does full body rams because it sounds like the door is coming down. There's no sleeping through that.

Last night, on our way to Target to buy supplies to launch Operation Sleep, we couldn't help but realize we were running an errand to pad our childs' room. Ahhhh, parenting.

So, up went the padding. We bought a bazillion binkies and put them in a basket next to his bed so he can suck on a new one each hour if he desires. He was up screaming at 2 a.m. for 45 minutes. Then again at 3:15 for 30 minutes. Then again at 4 a.m. for a little less. I think I eventually tuned him out after cranking our fan onto high and closing our door.

We heard him rip the padding off the door, but we did not go in. And this morning his rocking chair and stuffed animals were strewn about his room. Tonight we'll try it again. And again, and again. Until we finally get that boy to sleep all night, every night.

And ultimately, the hope is to see a vast improvement in behavior. I know I'm nuts when I don't get enough sleep, so it has to affect him too. Dylan somehow sleeps through it all. But Andrew and I are going on no sleep for two years now and it has to end.

I'll keep you posted.