The morning sickness has left me feeling blech all morning and most of the day. Never the less, we managed to plant the rest of the garden and move the peeps into the chicken coop this week. We've had some great weather.
I usually blog at night after Goldie goes to sleep. That isn't working so well anymore. I'm ready for bed shortly after she is and I've really been trying to get her into a better nighttime routine. I bought her a sound machine (I love the rain setting) and we've been using melatonin before bed and once during the night. This has helped her sleep for 4 hours straight, until 1:30 and then she gets up 1/2 as much from then on. The sound machine has helped her with putting herself back to sleep. So has keeping the room very dark.
It was easy to find research showing that children with learning disabilities have trouble sleeping and visually impaired children have an even greater rate of sleep disturbances. However, there doesn't seem to be any research on why, except for children with visual impairments. A child with a VI may not see enough light to regulate their sleep cycles. At first I thought this could be Goldie's problem, but she wakes up as soon as the sun peeks over the horizon. Sometimes sooner. Like 4 am. We call her "The Rooster". Or maybe she actually hears our rooster crowing at that hour. Hmmm. Anyway, after reading this article and doing some more research we decided to go ahead and try the melatonin. I bought her a liquid so we could find the smallest effective dose. She is no longer waking every 45 minutes and does appear more rested, but we still have some more work to do.
I took her to the ENT this week. He said she would benefit from a sleep study and that even if it is negative for sleep apnea it would help us to have that ruled out. He also ordered a swallow study. I brought every single cup we've tried teaching her to drink from just to be sure I didn't get blown off. He is positive she is aspirating and that is why she doesn't want to drink anything. He didn't know why she doesn't seem to be aspirating when she nurses. She certainly doesn't have an aversion to that! LOL! I'm guessing it has to do with positioning.
Goldie's OT is on maternity leave so she has someone new for the next 3 months. I really like her, too. It's been nice to have a fresh set of eyes watching Goldie and offering new suggestions. I kinda feel bad because Goldie seems to like her much more than the regular OT. She is very laid back and just "plays" with Goldie. I don't think Goldie has even realized that she is a therapist, yet.
4 comments:
Hi. Thanks for writing about your visit with the ENT. It gives me an idea of what else to ask my 19-month old son's new ENT when we have our appointment in June. That swallow study sounds interesting.
By the way, congratulations on the new baby! I hope the morning sickness goes away soon though.
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I'm glad to hear that Goldie is getting better rest - it must be very hard on her and you when she's not getting enough uninterrupted sleep.
Good luck - I hope the sound machine and medicine will continue to work!
I know from my experience that soothing sound definitely assisted my little one to stay alseep!
I hope you feel better soon. Good luck with the sleep study.
Hope your morning sickness is in the final stages!! I'm glad the melatonin is working, I am going to read that article right now!! And yes, good luck with the sleep study (we've had 2 now) and the swallow study (also had, and Adam does have silent reflux) .
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