I haven’t slept in 48 hours and I’m constantly on the go, tips to help me keep going?

[JustWantToDoseOff]

Context: I’m a single parent to a 1 DC whose aged 7. They have some medical issues which involve nighttime waking. The last few nights I will just be dosing off and they’d wake up so I’ve had a few stolen half an hours.

I am on a 0 hours contract so while I can take the day off work I don’t get paid, I also don’t get sick pay, family leave or any other benefits. So I try and save my none working days for the school holidays.

So I’ve been working today, trying to stay awake. DCs night waking is likely to last another few nights (based on previous patterns) so I need to keep going. I won't even get a rest as DC has activities straight after school so I'll have to rush off to sort those and won't get to sit down until after bedtime. I am constantly on the go as I also have caring responsibilities for a sibling.

DC isn’t with their dad at all until the night waking period stops, he literally refuses to take them and if I send DC and they wake him in the night he returns them whatever time of night it is, so no break in sight.

I can’t stop the waking as it’s due to asthma which is made worse by pollen allergies, DC naturally wakes up if they have a nosebleed (frequently) or they start coughing (also frequently) and then they come into me so I have to take them back to bed and resettle them.

DC also hates bed sharing with me and their room isn’t big enough for me to camp out on the floor (it’s not even big enough for a standard size single bed so I can’t even swap as I need at least a single).

So I need tips to get me through until they start sleeping again.

For further context don’t suggest caffeine, I can’t have any at all as it triggers anxiety for me. So any none caffeine related tips?

Ultimately you cannot go one like this or you will end up in hospital and be no use to your son.

Either miss a club - so you can sleep. Payment is neither here nor there, if your son was ill and poorly you wouldn't take him - so you need to look at your needs too in a similar fashion.

ExH - as PP said - go to a travel lodge or camp on a friends sofa for the night.

You need to change something somewhere - your decision on what you can handle.

How are things now OP? Did you get some sleep? I hope things are easier for you both.

Tuesday night was horrible, DC didn't sleep at all themselves so I was awake as well, they were just really bad with their hayfever and nothing I gave them worked.

Last night was better, managed 8pm-midnight with no wake ups so I slept a bit then, then they woke up, I woke up too but didn't go into them, didn't hear anymore from them, they then came in about 3am as they had a nosebleed (they can deal with them themselves and have been shown how to but they don't always assess whether it needs an adult properly). Sorted that out and back in bed by 3.20ish then we were up for the day as usual at 6am.

I'm still tired but much more able to function. I've made a zoom call appointment with the asthma consultant to see if there's anything else they can do, especially the nosebleeds, although last time it was "Just wait on ENT" we've been waiting 14 months almost now.

Do you have a heavy duty air purifier in his room? It should manage to remove all the pollen, maybe that would help a little?