July 13, 2010

Could it really be that easy?

Jeff had a theory. His theory was that Moe’s sleep issues were because he was uncomfortable. Jeff thought that Moe would wake up at night, as we all do, but be unable to fall asleep because he still sleeps on his ultra-firm crib mattress. (Babies are supposed to sleep on a very firm mattress to help prevent SIDS.) Then he’d get overtired, his system would go into overdrive, and he’d start to giggle, squeal and otherwise wake up the entire household. In other words, it wasn’t anything specifically autism related keeping him awake at night (though certainly the level to which he could get wound-up might be).

This theory was supported by the fact that we’d often find Moe in the morning asleep with his whole body on the pillow. I was skeptical. But I was also desperate and thus willing to try anything. Moe still sleeps in his crib. He can climb out, but doesn’t, and we agreed that he is not ready for a regular bed just yet. Imagine him so keyed up in the middle of the night with no railings to keep him contained. (Shudder.) Besides, we didn’t want to change anything sleep-related until we got the night waking under control. So we opted to get Moe a new, softer, toddler-friendly, mattress.

To my utter surprise, Moe has slept through the night for the last three nights in a row. I’m not ready to call the problem solved just yet, but it seems to have worked (knocking on wood). This is amazing and wonderful but also completely frustrating. First, it was Jeff’s idea so he gets all the credit. And second, why did we wait so long? The new mattress cost $79.

It is worth its weight in gold.

6 comments:

  1. I'm going to keep this in mind for the future. This applies to many kids!!

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  2. awesome. and awesomer. Hope it's the real fix!

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  3. Yay! I'm with Moe on this one! I just went softer. I wish mine had cost $79.

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  4. Fantastic! I love when a kid challenge is solved with a solution that sounds more like it would fit an adult. As for who thought of it, at the end of the day who cares as long as you guys get to sleep again!

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  5. Unfortunately, last night was not as good as the previous nights, but we're not giving up hope. Moe woke up around 1am with a dirty diaper, certainly another reason to not be able to fall back to sleep. Early bedtime tonight for all.

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I love comments! Respectful disagreement always encouraged.

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