to sedate DD?

[Flojo1979]

Ok so I haven't taken any medical advice as yet but I assume thats about the only help gp could offer.

My DD (3.9yo) started waking up in the night, took ages to get back to sleep, messing around playing or crying etc.

It's got gradually worse to the point that both me (single mum with zero support) and her (and sometimes DS 7yo) are completely sleep deprived and exhausted.

I'm struggling to function at work and at home, I'm tired, snappy, and have no energy to play. DD is very fractious but for some reason still doesn't sleep at all in the day and hardly at night. She doesn't have any other symptoms of hyper activity though.

AIBU to ask the gp for something to help her sleep and get her back in to a normal routine?

Yeah, give her a large shot of vodka in some milk just before bedtime...

i wouldnt directly ask for meds but i would ask for advice just to see what he comes up with.

I would go and speak to the GP just to rule out anything physical that is causing her to wake. Ask them for advice.

please don't think about 'sedating' your DD

go to your GP and ask for help, not drugs

i take it you've done sleep hygiene? no TV etc in bedroom, calm and quiet bedtime routine etc?

How about a long walk for all of you in the fresh air?

What on earth do you think a gp could give you?

YWBU to sedate her, but it's a good idea to speak to your GP and find out if there's a cause behind her sleeping problems. Also look at her diet very carefully, she may be sensitive to E numbers or the suchlike.

I'd ask for advice first there could be another behavioural or psychological cause.

Ask your GP or health visitor for help certainly, don't think they'll give you sedatives unless she has other needs tbh.

I think if there is nothing else at all wrong (i.e. its not bad dreams / scared of stuff) you need to consider the back to bed type approach - if she wakes up, leave her for a bit, then go in and say go back to sleep - nothing else, don't engage in any dramas. If she carries on, just go in every now and then and say go back to sleep. If she is just playing, ignore and leave her, if they are sharing a room put DS in your room for a bit. You need to make waking up at night really bloody boring and no (negative) attention from you for it.

Clearly this is if you've ruled out all the obvious causes, noise, light, recent trauma, changes in routine in the day etc.

That was meant to read behavioural or physiological but am sleep deprived

My ds now 4 has never once slept through the night. His sleep is by my old standards appalling. I took him to my gp who ran tests (have you had these done?) everything is fine he just needs little sleep. Cosleepjng is what works for us, he wakes I have him between the wall and the edge of the bed I doze lightly when he wakes. For what it's worth my gp did offer to prescribe medication to 'make' him sleep but that would be for my benefit not his and there are possible side effects. For me that wasn't a option I was pretty appalled the dr thought I'd agree tbh. I do understand about sleep deprivation trust me but there are other ways the sleep section in here has tons of advice. Good luck

My MIL's doctor recommended sedating my SIL for a ween when she was a baby. MIL was severely sleep deprived and was having violent hallucinations. A week's decent rest put her back on track again.

I don't know what the recommendation would be, 20-odd years later, but I imagine severe sleep deprivation is still treated seriously so definitely talk to your doctor.

Surely there aren't drugs out there to "sedate" children during the night, so their parents can sleep!

Yes, there are and they are readily available.

Of course there are fakebook!

Speak to your gp, I feel so sorry for you.

You have to be a bit sensitive about the use of sedatives tbh. Rather than a blanket 'that's terrible' reaction, there are parents whose child's sleeping problems are so severe and so long lasting that the parents are suffering psychological and physical ill health.

A lot of children whose sleep is severely abnormal (for want of a better word) are really suffering at school and in social relationships due to the lack of sleep. Also some children's severely disturbed sleep is due to their autism or adhd.

So chuck your judgy pants out the window and open your minds, people.

Is there annoying she has like eczema etc that could be keeping her up??

Dd2 was an awful sleeper, at one point I was getting 3 hrs sleep a night and this went on for months. She suffered from eczema though, and her consultant prescribed piriton for itching and probably for the sedating effect as she and I were exhausted, which knocked the waking on the head, which made me think the waking up was a habit. As she is most probably verbal, what does she tell you is waking her up? You have my sympathies, sleep deprivation has been the worst bit of having kids for me

www.netdoctor.co.uk/allergy-and-asthma/medicines/phenergan.htm

Not sure why so many disapproving posters - the medicine above was prescribed for my SIL's child who just would not sleep, for one week to get him into the routine of sleeping. It was, by and large successful and even though he still has the odd wakeful night, the family are able to function normally.

It's a travel sickness / allergy drug I believe, but the active ingredient also works as a sedative.

Go and see your Doctor OP and see if he can help you in any way.

My judgy pants are going nowhere combine, the OP hasn't even been to the GP yet before she's considering sedatives.

I've got every sympathy with someone having trouble keeping their child asleep and is missing out on it themselves, but sedatives are a last measure rather than first.

Phenergan scares me a bit, but it is supposedly safe for over twos, though I think use as a sedative is 'off licence' so it depends on your GP as to whether they would prescribe.

There's also melatonin but I think that has to be prescribed by a consultant, rather than just a general practitioner.

Prepare to be referred to a HV to try various techniques before being offered medication, though. I know someone with a child with very real medical based sleep issues that had to endure months if 'trying everything' instead of being given melatonin.

I don't think you're unreasonable, just very sleep deprived and a but desperate. I personally wouldn't ever use a sedative on my child just to get them to sleep, but that's because I've given sedative medications to one of my infant DCs for it's primary anticonvulsive action, and to be honest, the sedative action scared the shit out of me. I do think you should talk to your GP, rule out any medical reasons for waking, and get in touch with a HV for support.

I had Phenergan in my 20's. I wouldn't touch it unless it was life or death. It helped me sleep but I'd only partly wake up. It felt like i was awake but was frozen and couldn't move.

phenagan seems to be the drug of choice or medised.
I think go the docs for some advice and see what they come up with. It seems odd that she is surviving on such little sleep at her age. good luck

see your gp - I sympathise BUT I was put on liquid valium 40 years ago and I still remember the nightmares

OP, please go to you GP before trying any of the over the counter meds

just in case there is an underlying condition that is causing wakefullness

melatonin is not a sedative btw, it is a naturally occurring hormone that is not produced by certain persons. it helps the person fall asleep, it doesn't make them sleep.