As you may notice from the "Iann's latest accomplishments" sidebar, he isn't the world's best sleeper. To say the least! Since he came home a year and a half ago there have been many, many nights when he wakes up, and has a really hard time going back to sleep.
We have established a very solid bedtime routine, which we rarely stray from:
Bath time: Sometimes both boys are in there, other times Brynn showers the next morning before school.
Books: Either Jon or I read a few books to the boys while they drink their milk.
Bedtime: Brynn brushes his teeth, we attempt to brush Iann's teeth, and then both boys get into their beds: Brynn climbs up to the top bunk and Iann is put into his crib. Brynn usually falls asleep within minutes of turning his light of, while Iann takes up to 30 mins to settle. He babbles to himself, eventually falling asleep between 7:45 and 8:15.
Then, every night between 10pm and 10:30pm Iann stirs. He lets out a few cries, sometimes a babble or two, and then resettles himself ... most of the time. It is quite rare for him to wake up at this point, but it has been known to happen. I can almost set my watch against this stirring.
His next time of restless sleep occurs between 2am and 2:30am. If I am woken up by his crying, or him doing what Jon and I call 'crib gymnastics,' I know it is between 2 and 2:30am before I even open my eyes. And then he is awake. If left to his own devices he will be awake until about 4:30, when he eventually goes back to sleep. I will then have to wake him up around 7:30 the next morning, so he has time to eat before we take Brynn to school. I usually allow this to happen for one night. If he wakes up again the following night, I go in and give him 1tsp of Benedryl, which will knock him out within 30 mins.
There have been times over the last six months when his sleeping patterns have been awful. I think I am more aware of how bad things get since we got his diagnoses of FX and autism due to my reading that poor sleeping habits are common with these kiddos. His developmental pediatrician at Children's Hospital in Denver has told me that she is willing to prescribe sleeping meds to kids that need it. However, I have yet to convince her to prescribe for Iann. And there have been days when I have practically begged her to do so!
Which brings us to tomorrow's appointment. In my most recent conversation with the Denver Dr she asked if Iann snores. I told her that he is a very loud snorer! She then asked if I had ever noticed him holding his breath while sleeping.
I was bummed, knowing that this might lead in a direction I would prefer to avoid (ignore??). But since honesty is the best policy, I told her that I used to notice that he occasionally held his breath when his crib was in our room. And, that I still notice it if he is sleeping in my bed, when he's sick or has been awake for hours and even Benedryl isn't working.
Of course, she brought up the dreaded snoring induced, childhood sleep apnea. Shudder. At the least, she thinks the snoring might be either waking him up, or the low muscle tone of his tongue is causing it to bunch up, thus blocking his airway, causing him to wake up. All of this is based on the fact that when he does wake up, it is at the same time in his sleep cycle. Sigh.
Our first line of attack is a visit with our one and only Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Dr. The same man who just put tubes in Iann's ears about four weeks ago due to chronic ear infections. So, tomorrow's first appointment is to discuss the snoring, and try to determine the size of Iann's adenoids. Which, by the way, you can't see just by looking down a person's throat - even if Iann would cooperate and let him look down his throat!!! Oh no, this might take an x-ray. If they are deemed to be very large, it is out with the adenoids. I truly wish we had known this at the time of the ear tubes insertion b/c the ENT could have done both things at one time. But no, that would be too simple for the CO Millers. Things just don't come that easy for us.
On the bright side, Iann's autism therapist told me a story today about a boy she once worked with. It was determined that his adenoids were large and affecting his sleep, so they were removed. Within a few months, this non-verbal child was talking. She said it wasn't directly linked to the adenoid removal, but more to the increased quality of the child's sleep. Being better rested, he was that able to focus better, and his brain to work more efficiently, thus allowing him to pull all the necessary pieces together to facilitate speech.
Of course, there is no guarantee such a thing would happen with Iann, but a glimmer of hope is always welcome. And, I would prefer another surgery to remove Iann's adenoids, than for him to have sleep apnea, needing to sleep in a CPAP bubble.
The second appointment Iann has tomorrow is with his general pediatrician to discuss the abundant flow of bright green goo from his little nose! It's been going on for about 3 weeks now, so maybe it's time to get it looked at??? I was hoping the ear tubes would stop the constant use of antibiotics, but again, that would be too easy!!!!
And so we are off on the trail to solve another Iann Miller mystery. Wish me luck :)
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