From Insomnia to Narcolepsy! :-)

Here is a little update on O's sleeping.

Nights remain pretty decent. She still eats about twice at night and is not the fastest in the world to get to sleep for the night. But she is usually sound asleep by 10-ish. We still try to get the bath early which is about 6pm. Then try to get to the nursery to start soothing by 7pm. We have had some nights when she has been asleep by 7. Some by 8, or 9 and the worst is sometimes 10. Probably not too bad so far.

The days have gotten remarkably better since Mommy's humble phone calls Monday night to the Pediatrician and Aunt Jen who is a Mom, Montessori trained and works for a Montessori Training Center. There were some simple changes made, such as putting O down for naps sooner and with less soothing (only 5 minutes) and then Mommy leaving the room. O has not cried anymore with this new routine. When Mommy was more involved in getting her to sleep at nap time she cried more! Go figure! Mommy is also to work to have O have more independent time during the day with Mommy doing her own thing in the room with O and O having to entertain herself and soothe herself with only minimal intervention by Mommy. This is also going well. The first day O protested this new plan, but by the second day it was going well.

The narcolepsy??? O has been taking really long naps now. As long as 2 and 3 hours and has also been taking more cat naps. Even at inopportune moments when Mommy thought she was ready to eat, but she falls asleep while Mommy gets the bottle! This is the current situation. I am now waiting for her to wake up and hoping it is soon so we don't waste a bottle. The alimentum is expensive!!!!

We are also making some progress on the back arching. In the written report from the Physical therapist we read that she attributes much of this behavior to GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disorder) GERD is common with Down syndrome. Today we further increased the angling of her crib, and are also keeping her upright 2o to 30 minutes after a bottle. This is usually in an infant seat, or sometimes being held. It doesn't seem to matter which I do, she stays asleep when put in her crib.

We have our happy calm sweet baby back! Hallelujah!!!! Praise God!!!

Mommy is doing the St Anne Novena this week... two intentions!!! Gratitude for O and For O to sleep well. Thanks for the intercession St Anne. St Anne is O's name sake as it is part of her middle name.