Listen. We are in full sleep deprivation mode over in this neck of the woods. Who knew such a tiny person could wreak such havoc on an entire household? Oh. Right. Every mom knows.
It has been over a month now since Emily has slept through the night. It is never fun to be on the night shift, but when you have a new baby, your body eventually adjusts to the new schedule. When you've been off the schedule for a bit, getting back on the night shift=getting backed over by a semi.
We all know this momma needs her sleep. I was just lamenting to a friend not long ago that I wish this weren't so for me. But, it totally is, and always has been. I am ti-red.
One positive is that I'm no longer a "new mom". This does not mean there is not great depth of mystery wrapped up in why my 2 1/2 year old is suddenly refusing all forms of sleep, but it does mean that I have a tiny clue of how to start unraveling the rats nest.
Google.
This is where all good moms start when their kid is doing something wacky. After some quality time with the Google, I found out (again, I'm sure I knew this at one point) that this age is known for its bad sleep habits. Kids are going through a lot developmentally: learning new things, gaining more independence and developing new fears. In our case, we are rapidly developing MANY fears. So there's that.
Also, it would seem that it's at this age when my children begin to develop their sensitivities. These are those sensory issues that seemingly float right by other kids, while putting mine into orbit. Emily has about three outfits she will wear right now because the other ones "bother her". Don't you dare get any type of collar anywhere near her neck or there will be hell to pay. Also, if you could please smooth out any and all creases in the bedding, her highness would much appreciate it.
And of course, our dear friend reflux. You may or may not know that most kids who have rough cases of reflux as babies will be revisited by their friend randomly throughout their life. (If they get a break at all...) This is not based on scientific research, but rather is based on a whole bunch of reflux moms I have the privilege of knowing. The tricky thing is, once your child has been off medication for a while, and has not been dealing with reflux, it can take you a minute to figure out it's what you're dealing with. But the signs have all been there. Not sleeping, decreased appetite, clingy-whiny mess all day, aggressive. I joke about Emily being a handful, but she is certainly not these things all the time. In fact, most of the time she's hilarious to be around. I would not describe the last month as hilarious.
So, now we're on the slippery road of trying to sort things out. We started with a trip to the doctor where he double checked nothing else was wrong with her and I diagnosed her with a reflux flare. He's very used to me by now. He prescribed her a new kind of medication which I was eager to try until I found out the generic was going to be $92.00. Yeah, that's never happening. So after a call to the nurse, we settled on the over the counter version of the medicine. It's a complete pain to give, but at approximately 1/10 the cost, I'll take the headache.
After you get the reflux under control, you start sorting out what part of the behavior is pain related and what part is now a habit. It's a fun time. Riding the line between a life of misery for the family unit and emotionally scarring your freaked out 2 year old.
Tonight I did what any good mom would do. I bribed her. If she sleeps in her bed all night with no crying, tomorrow-we make cupcakes. I do not feel one bit ashamed over the bribery. If I can sleep all night long, I'll let her eat cake for three meals a day.
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