All In a Good Night's Sleep!

Isaac once hated these stairs.  Now, we can't keep him off them!

I almost posted a couple of weeks ago (a pretty depressing post), but I felt like I just needed to give it some more time.  I thought I was going to go crazy.  Apparently, the stress of the move hit Isaac suddenly and in a horrible way.  I've never seen the type of behaviors he was having.  Most puzzling was his manic behavior. He was so hyped out that if I made a funny face, he would laugh loudly and hysterically until he was hyperventilating.  Tears would stream down his cheeks from laughter, and then if he heard a loud noise he would freak out and start hitting his hands together.  It was so unnerving and hard for me,as a mom, to watch.  He really seemed lost to me.  It felt like we were living with a completely different person. I had a couple of breakdowns myself at night after everyone was in bed.  It's hard on the nerves to have a child that is hysteria constantly.  And,  I still have fear that he will have another regressive period and lose skills, and I always fear that my Isaac won't come back.  Oddly enough, if I sat down with Isaac he would make great eye contact and show me all the parts of the body on a doll (but if I said eyebrow, he would go into laughing hysteria).  It was all sooooo strange.


We were having horrible nights of sleep--up 5 or 6 times with Isaac, and then Isaac would sleep long and hard during his afternoon nap.  I'm not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier post or not, but Isaac was having a lot of issues with the vaulted ceilings in his room which caused him not to be able to relax in his room for sleeping.


I started to realize that we had a great time in the mornings, and then in the afternoon he would be having all sorts of sensory problems and acting crazy.  Judging from his past experiences and this odd switch in behavior, I came to the conclusion that Isaac's disrupted sleep pattern was contributing to the problem, making it hard for him to adjust to all the new sensory information.  I guess it's kind of like riding a fast roller coaster after not sleeping for three days (the thought makes me kind of nauseated).


A few friends have recommended that we use an natural product called melatonin to help with Isaac's sleep problems.  I ran it by my mom (a nurse) and she seemed to think it would be safe to give to him.  So, we decided to buy some melatonin from a pharmacy and give it to him as a sleep aid at night.  I felt a little uneasy about giving it to him at first because I was worried about what other people would think.  But, it has been a miracle for us.  Isaac is back to waking up once a night (his normal pattern).  And, after a couple of nights of good sleep, he has calmed down so much.  My Isaac is back, and I welcome him with open arms.  He has been so affectionate to me lately, and I've been eating it up so much.  He is back to my happy child, giggling and trying to be cute to get his way!!! I love him so much, and I'm thankful for my beautiful son!


Now, I just need to get caught up on sleep a little myself!  LOL!