Night Nanny / Sleep Trainer Needed

[Jward2013]

Hi, we have a 17 month old boy who wont sleep for more than an hour at a time before waking up screaming. Does anyone know of any good night nannies / sleep trainers in the Eastbourne, East Sussex area?

Thanks

Hi I can pass a number on, private message me,

Hope you find someone I know blondeshavemorefun is in Kent and poss travel that far.

I used to live in Eastbourne along the seafront and worked as a children nurse at dgh.

I am now in Leicestershire.

I hope you find something suitable :)

Purplepumpkins - I tried to PM you gut the system won't allow me to.

eastmidswarwicknightnanny - thanks for the info, no luck finding someone yet, I've been pointed in the direction of Nightnannies.com but it doesn't look like they cover my area and I don't know if there any good.

Hopefully someone will be able to recommend someone in my area.

Thanks

Have you looked at silent reflux? My daughter was exactly like that and we went to a sleep clinic who diagnosed SR after looking at our sleep diaries. Just a thought, it might not be that at all.

thanks east yes i would travel that far, but sadly i am fully booked with nights with my current family for least another month, possibly longer

what do you do when he wakes screaming, do you pick up/give water/bottle/boob? if yes to any of these then that needs to stop as its a trigger/bad habits and needs to be weaned off

if its a no

how do you resettle and do you do the same thing every night

does he settle to sleep ok daytime? does he go to bed happily and settle to sleep ok but then wakes up?

have you tried making room hotter/cooler/darker/lighter?

Hi, we usually rock him and this gets him back to sleep, if that doesn't work we try giving him milk. We've definitely got him into bad habits.

The main issue is he suffers from chronic ear infections and gets them every 3 weeks. He's had 24 so far. We're never sure if he's fussing because he wants attention or if he has a ear infection.

He doesn't like to sleep during the day and fights going to sleep at night the only time he falls asleep on his own is when he's strapped into his car seat going for a drive in the evening. Other wise we have to rock him or give him a bottle at night for him to go to sleep. Sometime we can be rocking him for nearly an hour and even they he can be wide awake and wants to play.

I don't know where he gets his energy from.

What are your usual rates?

Thanks

I'm a sleep consultant and maternity nurse however don't work in your area.

Because the ear infections may be an issue here have you got a process of when they will be fixed, maybe by grommets?

I'd recommend millpond in London as they can do online consultations and will help find a solution to fit the family.

At sixteen months it will likely be gradual withdrawal which takes time and perseverance but will stop the props such as rocking and bottle.

Hi mrswishywashy, we've seen ENT in the local hospital 4 times, each time they say he's too young to have grommets fitted and he should have them fitted when he's over 2 years old, but wont give us a date.

I don't find the ENT department in the local hospital particularly helpful. 2nd time they examined our son they failed to notice he has a year infection, which had to be pointed out to them by the paediatric doctor.

Hi

I think the important thing here is to try and sort out the ear issue first. Have you had your son allergy tested? 1 of the little boys I looked after had constant coughs, colds and ear infections. Think he was on antibiotics 4 times in 6 months. I had heard that dairy intolerance could cause all these things, so they had him tested and it turned out he was lactose intolerant. 3 weeks lactose free and he was a different boy. Happier more content, slept better and didn't have any further ear infections. Doctors said it could of just been a coincidence, but we knew it had to be connected.

Good luck with your son, I hope you get things sorted soon.

Sorry just seen your last reply. As Mrs WW said the ear infections could be a huge cause of his lack of sleeping - as well as bad habits like being rocked and bottles of milk - and the gradual withdrawal approach is one I recommend

Also beleive sleep breeds sleep so If you can try and get ds into a better day routine with regular sleeps that will help at night as over tired children won't settle easily either

Maybe wake at 7am regardless how bad a night you have had. Breakie and play and bed 9-10 then an activity /play - lunch 12 and sleep 1230/1 till 230/3 and another play. Tea 430/5. Bath 6 and quiet time/Ceebeeies till milk and bed 645/7

I've never known a child under 2 to have grommets - but I would def urge to see a specialist and be put on waiting list - how is his speech coming on?

Some parents swear by Chinese herbalists for ear problem

• may be something to investigate?

I think any decent sleep consultant won't really be able to help until his ears are sorted especially as he gets infections so frequently. I was prone to ear infections when I was younger and still get them they are deeply unpleasant and disturb my sleep even now.

In the meantime I'd research allergy testing as it can be related. Also look into cranio osteopath as maybe some adjustment would clear his tubes leading to no ear infections.

When he has a bottle at night is it milk and is he lying down? Both of these can mean fluid is restricted from flowing in his ears and can lead to glue ear.

Also what I suggest to clients who for many reasons can't sleep train I get them to tag team sleep nights. So one night your partner does the resettling and the next night you do. At the weekends who ever had the night shift gets to sleep in the morning. Sometimes just getting some good sleep yourself makes it easier to handle the non sleeping child.

Also do you drive him to sleep every night? Will he fall asleep in pram?

Wish I lived closer so I could come help you.

Hi our son was diagnosed with a milk intolerance, and he's on Neocate Advanced formula which is an amino acid formula. The baby food we give him does contain dairy, my partner is adamant he isn't intolerant any more and says even if he is introducing small quantities will get him used to dairy.

I will look into getting him tested as he does suffer constant coughs, colds, ear and eye infections.

How do we go about getting him allergy tested?

When he was born he saw a cranial osteopath due to his traumatic birth. The hospital insisted on the birth being natural even though he was estimated to be 11lbs. Well he got stuck and they ended up breaking his clavicle while delivering him. The forceps they used left him with cuts to his face, ear and eye and bruising to one side of his head.

He was never able to latch so has been bottle fed since birth.

We don't drive him each night to get him to sleep we've tried that and he stays awake, when my partner pick me up from the station he falls asleep on the drive to get me or when we go shopping.

Our son wakes up at usually between 5 and 7am and once he's awake we have the same issue he refuses to fall asleep and fights doing so most of the time. I don't know how he has so much energy when he hardly sleeps himself. The nursery he goes to can't believe he doesn't sleep when they have him for the whole day.

Originally we were doing alternate nights, but then I got a written warning from work about being tired and the number of time I had to leave because our son had a doctors appointment or was admitted to hospital.

Now my partner sleeps with him all weekdays.

I forgot to mention, although he was diagnosed with a food allergy by the paediatrician he's never been tested.

You will need to see your GP or Health visitor and will probably have to push for a referral. Dairy intolerance can cause indigestion as well, which might be a reason that he can't settle.

As for being full of energy, I find there is a point at which children get so tired, that they become overtired. This can cause very active, almost hyper behaviour. Which in turn makes it difficult to switch off. But can appear to others that he is just full of energy.

I hope you find a solution soon.

Is there any way to get it done privately. If we leave it to the NHS which we have lost confidence in I fear it will be 3+months before he's referred and then another 3 months before they do the test.

I think your right about him being overtired.

Just had a quick google and you should be able to get private apot here
www.privatehealth.co.uk/privatespecialists/find-a-doctor/?EntryId43=27719
Even if they can't help they should be able to direct you where to go.

I'd also look into private allergy testing.

Sounds like you've all had a really tough time. I'd agin look into osteopathy to clear tubes.

What looks like eye infections can be down to food allergy. One way to check food allergies is to completely eliminate the food for a few weeks and then reintroduce it, watching for symptoms. If you are looking for allergy testing do be careful not to waste money on unreliable and dodgy tests, check the allergyUK website for information about it.

Hi going to checkout the allergUK website but will also cut all dairy from his diet and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks