One of the things that inevitably came out during our discussion with the Sleep Doctors is Tiny Boy's continued reliance on drinking rice milk throughtout the night. Doctor #1 said this behavior might itself be a result of reflux issues, that he's drinking to comfort his belly. Doctor #2 said if I can continue to dilute it, that's great, and eventually we'll work on weaning. The one thing she did say was that melatonin might come in handy in conjuntion with behavioral modification.
And if you're here from Something Remarkable you know I can't really resist medicinal tinkering. So for three nights now I've given Tiny Boy his baby melatonin (we're talking about one third of a 0.3 mg pill, so teeny teeny dosing). He's had his rice milk in the rocking chair. And then a water bottle. I've done this before, and met with resistance. The magic seems to be saying "You remember the sleep doctor said no more milk in bed?"
He's still woken up in the night. Friday night he had milk as usual. Saturday night I heard him fussing at usual times but he didn't actually CALL me, nor did he wake enough to drink anything. Sunday night he woke crying "owie" twice, though couldn't tell me what was wrong. The first time, which was really early (11:00ish) he sucked down about two ounces of diluted milk. The second time I covered him back up and he went back to sleep.
I'm not ready to call this a trend. Nor do I think this indicates that his sleep problem is actually behavioral. What I'm really aware of, based on the particular questions they asked at the clinic, is what he says and does when he wakes. (1) He really does have funky breathing at times (he wakes gasping, which is apparently an indicator of potential central sleep apnea [which is different from obtructive sleep apnea, which is more common]) and (2) He cries.
The thing that I'd forgotten but will now pay attention to: milk intolerance causes reflux and insomnia. He's a former (currently?) milk intolerant child, which is why he drinks rice milk. He seems to do okay with small amounts of cheese and yogurt...but maybe not?
6 comments:
Did you know I'd be fascinated with this topic? Good detective work you're doing, and I'm a fan of experimentation, too. The crying, though, do you think it could still be behavioral? L cries when he wakes up frequently, and it seems that all he wants is comfort. He'll cry until we hold him and then fall asleep immediately. He does this after a nap, too, if he falls asleep when we are next to him and we get up (because we have shit to do, you know!) he cries so loud and ugly when we wakes up.
Ana, I'm sure there is some kind of behavioral component, too. The saying "owie," though, I'd really never paid much attention to that... I need to see how often it actually happens.
What I'm really happy about at this place--they describe it as a 'multi-unit sleep center'--is that they want to rule out ALL medical possibilities before pursuing behavioral modification.
His diagnoses right now are "behavioral insomnia of childhood," "GERD," and "restless sleeper"
Thanks for sharing. I have a 2 year old who is similar - still has milk at night and has never been a great sleeper, so I am particularly interested in reading about the sleep study and what suggestions they offer.
Interesting. I hope you are able to get some answers, and more importantly, some solutions!
Thanks, y'all. Sunflower, welcome!
I'm very glad you FINALLY (and with great effort on your part) got to a good paediatric sleep clinic. It sounds like it has been productive. Not all problems are solved (yet), but you really needed a team of experts to help look at this situation in great detail and with deep knowledge.
I am holding out for significant improvement in TB's sleep. I hope these initial changes are the first signs of these great improvements.
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