the nights

[marleen]

Hi everyone,

Nienke is currently 20 months. Right now I'm still nursing her through the nightshe gets the night, so both my husband and I really have a chronic sleep deficit. I'm increasingly considering whether I should give Nienke sleep training. Because on average she wakes up every 3 hours (19.30 am to 8.00 pm). And when she ate too much bad food, she often wake up every hour.
I know there already has been a topic of sleep. But I can not really find an answer to my question: what about your blood sugar at night? Does Nienke still needs the feedings at night? Or is she just got used to the feedings?
I wants to prevent me from finishing breastfeeding and later show that Nienke still needs it. I do not know whether I could still build up breastfeeding.
Nienke always refused to drink from a bottle, so a bottle at night is not an option. And a cup of milk will be a mess.
It would be a great improvement if Nienke only 1 or 2 times awake at night.

This piece was translated by google.

[ukbill]

At 20 months old she should be OK if you give her a good known HFI safe supper. Anything will do and it might get her through the night better.

If we, with HFI, do not have enough food to digest then like "normal!" people we switch to our bodies reserves, first to be used is Glycogen (I think) which is stored in the liver. then we convert body fat back into blood sugar.. however we like "normals" convert the body fat into Glucose and Fructose!

Depending on how bad her liver is (how long ago was the diagnosis?) she should not cause her self much problems as a result of being a little low in blood sugar over night. .

I sleep very well if a little low in blood sugar, (better than after a meal) but then I have usually some reserves still being digested and when I sleep the amount of food I need is far lower than when I'm awake so things improve over night.

Give her a little porridge at night before bed that should give her plenty to digest over night.

Or buy ear plugs!

[charlie]

My answer is exactly the same as Bills, oh the memories of disrupted nights, screaming, restless, staggering in the dark to get some milk to soothe her, rubbing her tummy and lots of cuddles.

But it is very easy to get into a habit with this and you do need to try and break it a bit. Her body needs to learn to cope through the night and when you can break this cycle your life will improve so much. I stuck it out for too long and just carried on for an easy life but the effect on my own health and sanity was huge.

Rule no 1 : make sure you are not too stressed with other stuff when you start this, you need to be calm to cope because she will SCREAM to start with. Make sure you pick a time when you are able to follow through night after night so don't start if you are due to go away.

Rule no 2: agree a plan with your husband of how you are going to do it, who is going to do what and stick to it Its no good one of you holding out and the other giving in.

some of this is what anyone would have to do with any child with sleeping problems and it is getting them to learn that they don't get attention every time they need it at night. You may find some of her waking is low sugar or belly ache but some is just for the hell of it which any parents have to handle.

The porridge at night was a huge start for us and we started it by pure chance. Don't give a large meal too close to bedtime, maybe 5 pm for supper, if you give high carb meals to close to bedtime her blood sugar will peak high then plummet. Then I started giving Meg a bowl of Ready Brek made with full fat milk while she was having her story (that was 8pm for her - she has never been one to settle early .) Or you could make a porridge with oats and water if milk is no good yet. That should keep her going through the night but if blood sugar dips it is likely to be 2.30 to 3am. so you may have to give her something then to start with to keep her settled and then try to break this when she gets older.

Any other wakings should be ignored. You can go for the tough love method where you literally shut the door and ignore all crying, you have to do this for a few days and slowly they learn to sleep through. I couldn't do this because I always worried she was going to be ill or vomit etc etc etc. So I tiptoed in gave a quick cuddle, checked she was safe and then left her. Gradually the number of times I had to go in decreased and eventually I realised she wasn't going to be seriously ill if I left her so I learnt to ignore the crying ;D. WHY DID I NOT DO THIS EARLIER I asked myself . You get to know the different cry and pick up when you need to get in there.

It is really hard to do but you must do it at sometime for a sane life. If you run yourself into the ground you will be in no fit state to look after her well. So yes, as Bill says, buy some ear plugs and warn the neighbours!!!!! ;D

Good luck,
Heres to sanity

Charlie

[marleen]

After the reaction of Bill, I had already decided to start sleeptraining this evening. I've had it with the broken nights. After 20 months I choose for myself and the rest of the family. Nienke will have to learn for herself to come through the night.
I already know how I will handle the sleeptraining for 18 months now. It is sticking for so long on the bulletin board. My husband is instructed. So we can give it a go.
Tonight I informed the neighbors with the message that it can be noisy in the coming nights. Their bedroom is next to Nienke so they are likely to hear the crying and screaming loud and clear.

Thanks for the tips, and indeed there comes a time when you as a mother (parent) have to choose for yourself. Now we'll have to wait and see how fast Nienke knows what we expect from her.

[anastazya]

Gosh Charlie...sounds like what my Mom said she went through with me.

[marleen]

For the curious among us:
The first night is over. Nienke was not happy as expected. The first time she woke up she screamed and cried for an hour. Then she fell asleep. The second and third time Nienke woke up it took about fifteen minutes before she fell asleep again. This morning when she was finally breastfed, she did not know how fast she had to drink. Nienke was normally out of bed to wake up a little on the bench, but this morning she bounced through the living room.
Could this have been involved with her blood sugar? That was the first thing that came to me, given the behavior of Nienke.

Tonight the second round. I'm ready for it.

[charlie]

Wow, sounding good, well done for sticking it out. Yes she was probably very hungry if she is used to snacking so that will take time to change but great she was lively straight away, sounds like she got a better quality sleep, and the more she learns to sleep the better that will beome.

Now meg is finally starting to sleep through well she has so much more energy in the day and getting ready for school is much easier when she has had a good night.

Good luck, keep it up and keep us posted. If you drink pour yourself a very big one - you deserve it.

[ukbill]

Actually if you are breast feeding a large one before last breast feed at night will usually help get a good night sleep for all concerned.. (if I remember my own children's sleep patterns when they were being breast fed.)

Thinking some of the alcohol comes through in the breast milk

Curry spice dose, because my Daughter really did not enjoy her meals after my wife had eaten a curry.. Jennifer, my Daughter, is still not mad on curries even now at 21 years old!

I would recommend a drink of something low in fructose though.

[marleen]

You're right Bill, a breast feed helps getting a good night sleep.
It took 5 nights, but the last 2 nights Nienke slept the whole night.
She was going to bed around 8 and waked up at half past 7. You don't hear me complaining!
She is not as bright when she wakes up, but after a breast feed she is ready to go.
And not hungry anymore, so in a while we're going to change this pattern to so she can have a real breakfast.

[marleen]

About alcohol and breastfeeding.
With the recent research on this topic I haven't had a sip for a very long time.
But my time is coming ....

[charlie]

thats great news, well done. You can start living again. ;D

I would suggest you don't try any new foods for her for a while as I always found food reactions affected megs sleeping badly and you will end up back at square one!!!!!

[marleen]

We'll keep it safe for a while.
I don't want to disturb our sleep for a long time.