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Insomania is when another person’s sleeplessness makes you want to gouge out your own eyes. It is the second-hand-smoke of insomnia. For over a month Charlie has taken long, happy drags of his own wakefulness. He sits in his bed talking to himself or singing the ABC’s (minus H-P), and showing off with arbitrary bursts of crying. I am stuck with the unfiltered by-products: staring wildly at the baby monitor or trying to sleep while a two-year-old runs loose in his bedroom.
And he is so grouchy. His preschool teacher mentioned this in the most sensitive manner. “Is Charlie, okay? He seems a little… out of it,” she said very helpfully, very “it’s probably an ear infection and out of your control” -ishly. I appreciated her grace, but really, what can you say when your son’s crankiness is noteworthy among other two-year-olds?
I made an appointment with Charlie’s doctor, hoping he wouldn’t prescribe The Strong-Willed Child and a spanking spoon (Oh parenting shame). Instead, we took home a clean bill of health and a bottle of my new BFF, melatonin.
It wasn’t easy to dispense melatonin to Charlie’s skinny little self. He could only have half an adult dose, which is .1 milliliters. My brain locks up over anything metric, so I dabbed a weensy drop on my finger and stuck it in his mouth. He didn’t cry or spit it out, but he didn’t drop into an instant coma, either. He was still talking when I closed the door. Over the next few minutes he lost his gusto and drooped into beautiful silence. Eureka!
It’s been five days and I am a happy mama. Glory to melatonin, herb of the heavens.*
*If you have any more suggestions, bring it on. If the melatonin quits working, I am fresh out of ideas.
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Ummmmmmmmmmm WHERE DID YOU GET THIS MAGIC HERB THAT YOU SPEAK OF??
LOL, we just moved Max into a big bed 2 days ago and I am ready to gouge my eyes out. I wish he liked his new room enough to play after bedtime, instead he SCREAMS and tries to use his monkey like toes to climb the extra tall, steel gate we have installed at the door. Sighhhhhh, did I already sign up for #2…better be a better sleeper.
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Awesome!! It works for my big baby here too.
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Funny, melatonin is generally the helpmate of older people (you know, reaaaaallly old, like 40, haha) because your body doesn’t produce as much as you age. So clearly, Charlie is really, really advanced. Wow.
Love you hon and glad you are getting your sanity back!!
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Never forget… Melatonin works for kids of all ages… This I know to be true.
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Ah insomania…this I can related to. I am one drowsy east coast momma wishing her 8 month old preferred to sleep over sneaking another feeding into his schedule. This blog is right up my alley! I too never heard of this magical herb melatonin. What I have tried is Hyland’s teething tablets – I’m at that stage where every time my guy can’t sleep I blame on “teething”. The teething tablets claim to be “all natural” with chamomile. I like that it’s natural so if I get desperate I might just ask about this melatonin. Wonder…do you need a prescription if it’s an herb?
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Gee….i wonder where he gets that “loves to stay up all nite and talk” syndrome? Seems I remember a little red haired girl that did board puzzles all nite long….hmmmmm.
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Why has it taken me this long to realize I still had your old address in my links? I have missed a lot of your posts. No more! I have missed you.
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same here on the link…. I have missed too much!
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