Sleepless in PA

Originally Written: Friday, January 28, 2011

Ella is still not sleeping.  It's as though from the time she falls asleep, until about 2am, she thinks it's just a really long nap.  Then, she's usually up until 4:30 or 5am, sometimes later.  Then, once she's down, she's out until about 9 or 10am.

We have tried everything we can think of.  A friend recently suggested we try leaving her bedroom light on, since she will only sleep soundly when it's light out.  I think we're going to try it, but I'm not sure how well it's going to work.  We tried a nightlight, and it just seemed to keep her up longer.

I read somewhere that kids her age need about 10-12 hours of sleep per night.  Ella's averaging about 6-8 hours per night.  I sincerely hope it doesn't harm her in any way, and it keeps me up worrying that I'm not doing something right.

Ella really baffles us.  It'll be getting close to bedtime, and she'll be in her playpen.  She'll pull herself up to a standing position and start rubbing her eyes, and playing with her hair.  So, like any good parents, we take her sleepytime cues and go through our nightly bedtime routine; check her diaper, give her a sippy cup of milk, put on clean pajamas, get her binky.

It's when we go to wrap her up in her blanket that she has a sudden burst of energy.  I know what you're thinking: "She's too old to be wrapped up!  That's why she's not sleeping!  Problem solved!"

Problem NOT solved.  Wrapping her up is the only way to get her to fall asleep.  She will not sleep unwrapped.  If we attempt to put her in her crib unwrapped, she lets her body go limp and then jerks herself wide awake before she hits the mattress.

The only thing that seems to have changed from when she was sleeping relatively soundly to now is that we lowered her crib mattress to its lowest position.  Otherwise, obviously, she could fall out when she stands up.  That's the only thing that's different.  Seriously.  When her mattress was at it's mid-lowest level, she was sleeping perfectly (save for the ear infections/strep that kept her awake, but that's different).  I'm half tempted to try raising the mattress again, just to that mid-lowest level, to see if it has any effect on Ella's sleeping.  But, in the same vein, I don't want to risk her being able to climb/fall out of her crib.

So, for now, I'll just wait.  Still open to any and all suggestions.