Pea of Sweetness

Sleep Well for Kids – Under the Sea CD

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Something many families have in common is having a family member who has a hard time falling asleep. Sometimes it’s an adult, sometimes it’s a child, and sometimes it’s more than one family member! In our household, I am a night owl. Not only do I function better at night, but I, unfortunately, also have a hard time falling asleep. Two of our three children are exactly the same!
Under the Sea CD to Help Kids Sleep
Under the Sea is a CD to help kids sleep. It offers soothing guided imagery and relaxing music to create a relaxing atmosphere to help children fall asleep. In the CD children are guided through a magical voyage under the sea. During this voyage they are introduced to sea life friends and it contains messages like kindness to animals and a respect of sea life.
In addition to the soothing music and special messages, kids are also taught how to breathe and visualization techniques are used to help them manage worry and relax. I is a way to guide them to wind their bodies down to relax and prepare for sleep.
Overall, I found the CD to have beautiful relaxing music, and I love that it includes guided details for taking deep breaths and concentrating on just relaxing and settling down. I also found some parts, though, to be distracting as a “millions of years” reference came up, which is contrary to what we believe. I don’t think our kids think too much of it, though, so it is probably more of a distraction for me than for them.
Overall, though, I think the soothing music and guided breathing and relaxation are great for helping kids to wind down naturally. If you have kids with special needs like ours, it may take a few tries to create this atmosphere, though, as the first few times our kids were constantly asking questions. Once they understood the purpose, though, they were better able to concentrate on doing the actions it was suggesting.
If you have a little one that could use a little guidance or know someone who does, this CD would make a great gift for Christmas!

For More Information:

Visit the Sleep Well page on the Live Well Website
 

Insomnia at its Finest

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I’ve had sleep issues as long as I can remember. The chronic fatigue came later in life along with my diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. Although I am more tired now than I was then the sleep problems have been ongoing since I was a child. I’ve always had a hard time sleeping. I’ve also always had a hard time waking up. Waking up for school was the worst. Having my sister nag me about getting up drove me crazy! I just wanted to sleep! Of course, I had to go to school, so I’m glad she did! When it was the weekends, though, I could sleep well 10am – sometimes even past noon!
Fast forward to now where I have had an unstable relationship with sleep for the past 3 years due to our youngest not sleeping well. I’m sure it has changed my sleep habits some, but some things didn’t really change. I’ve always been a night owl, and I’ve never been a morning person. He is finally starting to sleep better, and we’re hoping that his surgery was the last step to resolve his sleep issues (because now he can breathe better!), but I’m still not sleeping. I have no reason to not be sleeping. I’m tired and frustrated. Sometimes I stay up and just enjoy the quiet time and get some things done. Other times I really TRY to sleep but get frustrated by laying in bed for HOURS not able to fall asleep.
I wish I could just fall asleep like this:
Sleeping
Such is insomnia, right? Do you want to know something amusing about it all, though? After trying to deal with my headaches naturally I decided I needed medical help. So, my doctor has put me on medications. One is a medication I had taken for my Fibromyalgia before I went off the medications, but he thought it would be a good idea to help the tension that initially triggers the headaches. The other is a migraine medication to prevent migraines (not the type you take when you get one). His big concern was that both of the medications make a person tired. So, he wanted me to start on a low dose of both, move up on one, and then if things go well but I still need a little more relief move up on the other.
At my follow-up appointment I had to see a different doctor (which unfortunately is common here but rather annoying when it’s for a follow-up appointment), and I explained I had already moved up to the maximum dose my doctor had suggested for the one medication and was ready to move up on the other. I explained that it didn’t make me get so tired I couldn’t be woken up. In fact, I still couldn’t even fall asleep – or stay asleep when I finally did. He looked at me like I was NUTS! I’m not kidding! His facial expression was priceless. He then explained that the dose I am on of that medication he has given to patients to SEDATE THEM! Here I am saying I don’t even feel tired when I take it! PLUS I’m taking another medication with it that is “supposed” to make people tired!
Well, I have moved up on that medication as well since the deep sleep issue wasn’t a problem, and I’m sure that doctor would be amused to know that I’m still not able to fall asleep. I thought I knew what insomnia was before, but I think THIS is the true definition of insomnia. What do you think?
I’m committing to posting every day as part of the Ultimate Blog Challenge!
Ultimate Blog Challenge

Operation toddler sleeping in his room Update

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Well, since I’m blogging at 1am my time you can probably guess that we aren’t “there” yet with getting our toddler to sleep in his own room – or for longer periods of time. I do feel like we’ve made some progress but I also feel like we’ve had some regression. When it is bed time now he usually does go to his room to go to sleep – with my help. This is definitely progress because before I started this he wasn’t sleeping in his room AT ALL. The fact that he knows this is his room and this is where he should sleep is a huge step for which I’m extremely thankful!

Unfortunately, though, I don’t feel like I can say we’ve totally reclaimed our bed. When he was sick he was waking more often and I just got too tired to keep getting up and going back to his room with him to get him back to sleep. I just ended up letting him sleep in our bed. I know that’s the wrong answer, but I think you have to be the situation to truly understand how tired I was and how sick he was. I still initially put him to sleep in his room, though, so I didn’t let the routine go to waste! Shortly after I got sick (it’s still lingering actually), so again he was sleeping in our bed more once he would wake. I was so run down I didn’t even want to nurse him back to sleep, so he actually started cuddling with my husband to fall asleep! I am hoping this doesn’t become a new habit because I’m not even sure how we would address that one! It’s all so complex that sometimes I do get frustrated by it, and I often feel I can’t talk about it for fear of what people would say or advice they would give because they don’t understand Sensory Processing Disorder and, in turn, they don’t understand him! I’ve noticed a lot lately I have a weakness for worrying about what others think! It’s definitely something I’m praying about a lot and working on!
As far as the not staying asleep issue we have a referral for a sleep study. More than likely it’s due to the SPD but you never know, so I think it’s wise to rule out other things. He will be having a swallow study soon as well to see if we can find answers as to why he chokes and gags so often. That could also be related to the SPD but because he also has trouble speaking (his speech is often nasal, and he has a severe articulation delay) there might be other things going on. So, I’m praying we get some answers so we know how to best help him! He’s been doing great in Speech Therapy and is progressing a bit slowly in his Occupational Therapy but progressing nonetheless! I am confident being proactive about getting him help will be so beneficial that I’ll look back on this one day and say I hardly remember it! 🙂