Sleep tight little one.

Why is he acting out? Why is he having tantrums? Why does he always seem exhausted at the end of the day? Why does it seem like such a struggle?
Questions we’ve been asking.

Answers we’ve been given.
He needs sensory input. He needs a nap each day. He needs to be able to fall asleep on his own. He needs behavior modification. He needs timeouts. He needs a picture schedule.

I called his ENT. I made an appointment. I asked for them to call in an order for a sleep study. It has been over a year since his last one and I frankly didn’t know what else to do at this point. We need some real answers. The sleep dr. called and said it isn’t going to tell them anything we don’t already know. He has mild apnea but not that bad. But come in to the office and we will chat about it.

So we went to the sleep clinic. Talked to the dr. for over an hour about what we see, what we experience, what our routine is like, why we want another study. He agreed there’s obviously something going on. But his main conclusion is Owen just isn’t getting enough sleep (even though he “sleeps” for 12 hours each night) he believes he still needs a nap. His suggestion…get him to fall asleep on his own each night so he isn’t comforted by us laying with him. Then maybe during school he will take a nap.

The alternative suggestion? A stimulant to help him make it through his day. Ritalin. That is the easiest fix. The other one? A cpap machine but he just didn’t recommend that since he thought it would be to difficult and not sure the apnea is that bad to need it.

No one thought another sleep study would be needed. No one but Jason and I - so we pushed for it and asked. It felt like there was more to this story. Jason spent Thursday night with Owen at Childrens Hospital. Maybe Owen knew we needed him to show the dr.s what was going on. Maybe we just go lucky and that night Owen decided to let them hook it all up. Whatever the motivation it worked. He didn't refuse like he has every other time. He didn't try to yank every cord out like he has every other time. He cooperated. He was a trooper.

It was a rough night. But they both made it through. And then I got a call the next day from the sleep dr. It seemed that sleep study showed them a significant disruption in sleep. A big enough difference from last time that they now think the CPAP is what we need to do to help this little guy sleep better at night.

We start our new journey sometime this week. We are hopeful this is the answer he needed.