Friday, September 15, 2006

Sleep Strike




I don't know who's child this is (and I'll take the picture down if I need to) but holy SHIT, I need this t-shirt.

The Boo is no longer napping. At all. This does not mean that she doesn't NEED a nap, because, boy howdy, does she ever. Come 2:30 in the afternoon and she is on full-out crank mode. I'm thinking of renting her out to the fire department or maybe the local Air Force Base as an air raid siren.

The Bug isn't any better. For the last two days, she hasn't slept more than 20 minutes at a stretch. Between this and the continuing projectile pooping, I'm a jangling bundle of rapidly fraying nerves.

I can't get anything done. I felt like I really accomplished something today because I washed the dishes. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. Someone is always crying here (half the time, it's me). I snapped this afternoon and put the girls in the car and went for an hour drive. The Boo was fine, ate some crackers, looked out the window and babbled away. The Bug slept. For 30 whole minutes. The remaining 30 were spent screaming her head off as I tried to get back home.

Is it illegal to dope them up with Benedryl?

8 comments:

Joke said...

Um...maybe it'd work out better if YOU took the Benadryl...

Hang in there!

-J.

Major Bedhead said...

I think I'm beyond the help of Benedryl. Horse tranquelizers are starting to sound appealing right about now.

Angewl said...

The DR recommended benedryl to help my girls sleep. Britt was older. But for Miss Thang, it was because she couldnt sleep in the casts.

Love the pic. Cute kid whoever it is. lol

I really hope you get some rest soon.

Jess said...

Be careful!

I'm one of those lucky, lucky people whose child goes bonkers on Benedryl - seven hour ferry ride, closet-size bedroom, Cass running into walls.
FUN.

But yeah, Julia, you have to get a break.
Do you pump? Could you send the girls to a babysitter for one day and just sleep?

Joke said...

Yeesh.

Too bad there's no such thing as Flintstones Chewable Ambien for Children...

-J.

Scott K. Johnson said...

My kids were hyper on benadryl too. Like, WTF got into them?! And both times we tried it was the middle of the night.

Now that they're older it doesn't do that to them anymore.

Feeling for you J - I wish I could help!

Debbie said...

why is it that sleep was something I ever took for granted?

I could do drastic, seriously questionable things just to get one of those good, long-ass nights of sleep back.

just. one. night.

Anonymous said...

Bundle her. I've done this with kids as old as 14 months.

You take a flat flannelette sheet (because it has a nap and is thus harder to wriggle out of) and fold it in half lengthwise. That gives you a piece of flannel about 2 feet tall and 6 feet long.

Lay this out on a bed. Lay the baby on her back about a foot from on end. Wrap the extra foot over her, tucking her arm down at her side. Tuck the other arm down at her other side, and just roll her. A quick flip-flip, and she's on her back again, looking at you like you're demented, and is solidly encased in a layer of flannel.

Then just keep rolling her, keeping the flannel taut so it's snug around her, till it's used up. Put the spare end underneath her, if possible.

One of my clients calls it making a "baby burrito".

Sing her a song, give her a kiss, lay her down, and walk away.

Will she cry? Well, yeah. But everybody's crying all day, anyway, right? She'll cry for a while, but it won't be nearly as long as if she wasn't bundled, because she can't flail about and keep herself awake. And then she'll sleep, and she'll wake up happy!

I've used this on a lot of kids, and it works.