My sweet Weston

My sweet Weston is such a joy in our family. He's really fun, independent, and affectionate.

 He really has been in a good place lately except for one thing, his sleeping. For the last 8-9 months, the poor kid hasn't slept through the night which means neither have Peter or I. And I don't mean he has woken up once or twice, I mean he will be up every few hours all night long. At first I choked it up to teething, allergies,  or something else. After so long, I started to feel like something else was going on. I decided to finally make an appointment with the pediatrician to get some guidance on how to help him.

The doctor told me that he thinks Weston has some anxiety. It's not the type of anxiety that manifests in social situations, it's more that he can't shut off his mind. It's like when you were laying in bed and keep thinking of things you have to do tomorrow so you can't sleep, he thinks westing kind of has some of that going on. At this point, it has been so long since he is slept through the night that his little body isn't making the serotonin (which turns into melatonin) that it needs to for him to sleep even if he wanted to. 

Our goal at this point is just to do whatever it takes to get him to start sleeping through the night. If we can do that for a few weeks, he will start to make his own serotonin which will hopefully keep him asleep.

I did a bunch of reading and have started to try a few different things to help him deal with his anxiety. We talk through things a lot more with him and it seems to be helping some. 

The doctor found a major ear infection because Weston had the flu the week before we went in so we had to get some anabiotics to help clear that up. Unfortunately, the morning after we gave it to him he woke up with a huge rash everywhere so I guess he is allergic to amoxicillin. By the time I was able to pick up another prescription, we found out that it was $400! So finally two days after the original doctors appointment, we got another prescription to help his ear infection.

We are also giving him Zyrtec before bed every night to help clear out anything that may still be lingering in his sinuses. The first couple nights, he slept all night long and it was a miracle. Since then, he isn't waking up as much, but he still isn't sleeping all the way through.

If the Zyrtec doesn't help him sleep through the night, we will have to start giving him melatonin and see if that can get him to sleep through the night until he can make his own.

I'm glad to know that we have a plan and that there is something beyond my poor parenting going on that is hindering his sleep. I am hopeful that we can help our little guy and grateful for following my mothers intuition and getting outside help.