Sleep Infection
Abbie is usually an excellent sleeper. After going through our intricate bedtime routine, I shut the door, and she usually falls asleep for the night after running around her room for a solid half-hour. Sometimes I have to reenter her room a few minutes later if she needs help with something, like wriggling free after wedging herself between the wall and the rocking chair.
She occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night, but don’t we all? When I wake up, I stumble to the bathroom, scratch a few itches, and roll back into bed ready to fall asleep for a few more hours. Abbie doesn’t have the luxury of bathroom access, though, or even the ability to leave her room due to the likelihood that she’d get distracted on her way out of the room and wind up spending the wee hours of the morning playing with all the living room toys she ignores the rest of the day. Therefore when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she usually tosses and turns for a few minutes before falling back asleep. Sometimes she’ll emit a whine or two, but it’s nothing that requires me to leave bed and help her back to sleep, risking a total loss of covers upon my return.
As I rolled back into bed in the pre-dawn hours of this morning, I heard Abbie tossing and turning in bed. 15 minutes later, she was still flopping around like a fish on land, except now she was intermittently whining. I listened to this for several minutes more, and despite my cheerleading from the other room, her whining continued. Finally I entered her room before she woke her brothers.
I didn’t see any problems. I diagnosed her as being tired, wanting to fall back asleep, and being mad that she couldn’t. I set my head on her pillow hoping to calm her down, but the whining continued. I sung her special bedtime song, but that just seemed to make her angrier. I rocked with her in the chair, but that really ticked her off. I gave her a dose of Benadryl because, you know, she sounded a little stuffy to me.
As I walked to the kitchen to try fetching a drink of water or her, Ellie entered her room to try to calm her. She had no more luck than I did, and diagnosed her problem as a potential ear infection. This is a major difference in our parenting styles: She always thinks it’s an ear infection or some other physical abnormality. This is probably an extension of her job where she sees people with maladies all day long and almost expects a fidgety kid to have an ear infection. I never think it’s an ear infection or anything else wrong, just a grumpy kid. This is probably denial on my part since having a child with an ear infection means I have to deal with a child with an ear infection.
Ellie checked her ears, and found an ear infection. Nuts. And I even knocked on wood last night. We gave her acetaminophen for the pain, and brought her into our bed. We hoped to coax her back to sleep while the medicine took effect, or at least let her bounce around enough to wear herself out. If nothing else, we wanted her and her screeching away from the boys who were nice enough to fall back asleep after she woke them up.
After bouncing for a while she wore me out, so I took her out to the living room to partake in her naptime routine of watching the fish, singing, and marching into her bed. This time she fell back asleep with minimal fussing, and I returned to bed desperate to catch up on that 90 minutes or so of sleep I just missed.
A couple hours later, I awoke to hear whining again. This time it was Tory complaining about being awake two hours before the normal wake time. I slipped into their room, confirmed that Abbie was still asleep, and snuck a pacifier into his mouth before anyone else awoke.
I returned to bed, but almost immediately heard Abbie flopping in bed, followed by whining in bed. She was awake, and no naptime ritual was going to put her back to sleep this time. So I got about a 90-minute head start on my day.
She’s been grumpy most of the day, but not inconsolable. She took a decent but not great nap this afternoon, and so did I. Tonight she was acting better, so maybe it’s clearing already. I hope so because I need a good night’s sleep. I’ll bet I don’t even need a predawn bathroom break tonight.
She occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night, but don’t we all? When I wake up, I stumble to the bathroom, scratch a few itches, and roll back into bed ready to fall asleep for a few more hours. Abbie doesn’t have the luxury of bathroom access, though, or even the ability to leave her room due to the likelihood that she’d get distracted on her way out of the room and wind up spending the wee hours of the morning playing with all the living room toys she ignores the rest of the day. Therefore when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she usually tosses and turns for a few minutes before falling back asleep. Sometimes she’ll emit a whine or two, but it’s nothing that requires me to leave bed and help her back to sleep, risking a total loss of covers upon my return.
As I rolled back into bed in the pre-dawn hours of this morning, I heard Abbie tossing and turning in bed. 15 minutes later, she was still flopping around like a fish on land, except now she was intermittently whining. I listened to this for several minutes more, and despite my cheerleading from the other room, her whining continued. Finally I entered her room before she woke her brothers.
I didn’t see any problems. I diagnosed her as being tired, wanting to fall back asleep, and being mad that she couldn’t. I set my head on her pillow hoping to calm her down, but the whining continued. I sung her special bedtime song, but that just seemed to make her angrier. I rocked with her in the chair, but that really ticked her off. I gave her a dose of Benadryl because, you know, she sounded a little stuffy to me.
As I walked to the kitchen to try fetching a drink of water or her, Ellie entered her room to try to calm her. She had no more luck than I did, and diagnosed her problem as a potential ear infection. This is a major difference in our parenting styles: She always thinks it’s an ear infection or some other physical abnormality. This is probably an extension of her job where she sees people with maladies all day long and almost expects a fidgety kid to have an ear infection. I never think it’s an ear infection or anything else wrong, just a grumpy kid. This is probably denial on my part since having a child with an ear infection means I have to deal with a child with an ear infection.
Ellie checked her ears, and found an ear infection. Nuts. And I even knocked on wood last night. We gave her acetaminophen for the pain, and brought her into our bed. We hoped to coax her back to sleep while the medicine took effect, or at least let her bounce around enough to wear herself out. If nothing else, we wanted her and her screeching away from the boys who were nice enough to fall back asleep after she woke them up.
After bouncing for a while she wore me out, so I took her out to the living room to partake in her naptime routine of watching the fish, singing, and marching into her bed. This time she fell back asleep with minimal fussing, and I returned to bed desperate to catch up on that 90 minutes or so of sleep I just missed.
A couple hours later, I awoke to hear whining again. This time it was Tory complaining about being awake two hours before the normal wake time. I slipped into their room, confirmed that Abbie was still asleep, and snuck a pacifier into his mouth before anyone else awoke.
I returned to bed, but almost immediately heard Abbie flopping in bed, followed by whining in bed. She was awake, and no naptime ritual was going to put her back to sleep this time. So I got about a 90-minute head start on my day.
She’s been grumpy most of the day, but not inconsolable. She took a decent but not great nap this afternoon, and so did I. Tonight she was acting better, so maybe it’s clearing already. I hope so because I need a good night’s sleep. I’ll bet I don’t even need a predawn bathroom break tonight.
posted by Matt at
11:02 PM
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