We have not had a full night of sleep in 4.5 years. DS4.5 was never a good sleeper, never slept through the night and when he was 3.5 he started sleeping only about 4hrs a night (or day). We tried sleep meds, Melatonin ... nothing worked. Finally about 7 MONTHS later Melatonin started working ... most nights. He still wakes up during the night but thanks to Melatonin manages to go back to sleep. Our younger one (turns 3 in couple days) did not sleep more than 2hrs straight for good first year and half of his life. Around 18 months he started sleeping through the nights and was a WONDERFUL sleeper and napper! ... till her turned 2 and then things went south with him too. Now we never know if he'll sleep or not, if he'll nap or not. He tends to pass out on the kitchen floor in the middle of the day to take a quick nap on the cool tiles (reminds me of a puppy far too many times! lol) ... can't fall asleep at night, and when he does fall asleep in the evening like a normal kid, he wakes up around 10pm-11pm and is up all through the morning just to fall asleep around 7am to recharge a little.
Here's how we solved it so we wouldn't go insane ... gates in the doors to their rooms and let them do whatever as long as they try to stay somewhat quiet. Except the younger one's idea of fun is to laugh loud and jump on his little table, play music, dance, jump ... We tried to NOT give them any electronic toys that would keep them wound up but that didn't work either. So these days, as long as the older (more demanding and challenging one) is asleep, the younger one is free to play with whatever he wants. He only calls for me when he runs out of batteries or juice / food
. He spends the nights playing with Leappad or listening to books / reading books and playing word games and puzzles on my Kindle.
Basically ... neither one of them is able to turn of their brain. I used to have a lot of sleep problems and know how they feel. We don't really let it bother us at this point (unless the younger one is "relaxing" by happily kicking with his feet into whatever's nearby! The only time it interferes with anything is if either one of them has a therapy appointment or the older one preschool in the morning and it's hard to wake them up after only an hour or two of sleep. To be honest, I have to admit to actually calling the school a few times, reporting DS4.5 sick because I was so exhausted, I simply could NOT get up when the alarm went off. I can't imagine what life will be like when they are both going to school full time someday in the future. Homeschooling is a very reasonable solution for us the way things are.
