Sam sleeping soundly

Sleep has never come easy for Sam.  It takes her a long time to fall asleep.  When Sam finally does fall asleep, she doesn't seem to get in a deep sleep.  And Sam doesn't stay sleeping for very long.  It's almost like she has trained her body to not need a good night of sleep.  I can't remember ever a time when she "slept like a baby".   Maybe when she was first born?  I can't remember. It has become all a blur and it seems like Sam has always been like this.

Lately, it seems like its gotten worse or should I say, continually as bad as its ever been.  We had been giving Sam melatonin (based on her pediatrician's recommendation) to help her fall asleep.  After many, many nights of giving Sam the melatonin and then her telling us 2 hours later it wasn't working, I decided we needed to revisit the pediatrician.  We've got an action plan to implement; derived both from the doctor and by Jeff/me.  We will give it a try for the next 3 months and see if we can acclimate Sam's body to fall asleep easily and stay asleep.

1. Stop the melatonin

2. No ipad or video games after 6:30pm.

3. Limit tv watching (we allow her one 30 minute show a full hour before bedtime)

4. Give her an iron supplement.  The doctor thinks there is a correlation between low iron and sleep.  Sam's iron levels, while not below normal, are considered low.  

5. Stop the obnoxious multi-color bright flashing night light. Sam can pick one color for it to stay on. 

Sam is less than thrilled with the lack of screen time.  It had become such a way of life.  But we need to start shutting her brain down before bedtime and this is one way to do it.  Sam is also less than thrilled with the taste of the iron supplement.  Both drops and pills are hard for Sam to take.  I was able to find a chewable gummy iron in the recommended dosage.

Each morning I ask Sam if she had an easier time falling asleep the night before.  She replies back with how long it took; on average an hour and a half.   Obviously this is going to take a while to make any kind of real progress.  While I think Sam is telling the truth that it is taking her a long time to be asleep, I do think we are making small amount of headway.  Sam used to come in our room around 10:00pm at night reporting on the fact she still wasn't asleep.  At this point we'd give her a melatonin, but we've stopped doing that now.  

Every day Sam asks me if she has always been like this, a bad sleeper.  Yes, unfortunately this has been the case.  Some months are better than others, but for the most part, Sam's sleeping habits need help.  If in a few months we haven't been successful, the next step is a sleep study. For the foreseeable future Sam is in sleep boot camp.