We haven't had any what has sounded like breathing problems so far, she is 16 months. Just a batch of hard coughs and some sniffles here and there through out the night, occasional crying that is pretty short which she usually readjusts herself and goes back to sleep. We have a humidifier going, and air purifier, and antibiotics going, a propped up mattress in her crib too. Along with vick's babyrub at night.
My DH is on night shift, so I do have her all night and day until about 4-6 I can get some occasional help, but I still basically do everything with her, at least the big things like food and bottles and diaper changes and medicine. So I am wondering, is it fine if I sleep in my own bed in our room? I will be sound asleep I am positive as it has been a looonnnng week she has been battling food and has been extra cranky understandably so.
I find it just as important that I get sleep so I can safely take care of her the next day, sleeping in her room doesn't work because slight movements from her will wake me up, and slight movements from me will easily wake her up too which is a big no because her missing out on any sleep right now is hard on her. But is it safe to just let her sleep with out me being a super attentive ear? My room is across from hers so I will hear anything loud, but nothing much less than that. And she is most comfortable sleeping by herself regardless.
I left a message for her regular PCM to be safe. Also, sorry if I come off as trying to be perfection, I promise I'm not. We have just had a lot of struggles in the last year. Her small self has had a lot of troubles gathering calories with tummy problems, whole milk almost always followed coughing fits even throw up at times. Cheeses, yogurts, anything heavy. So we switched to soymilk and with this cough we can't even do that right now because same results different reasons.
Being back to water, a little juice and what food we can get into her can be painful to watch is all, and her fear of new floors/textures/anything and not being able to get herself a drink (won't pick up a bottle and drink it plays with sippies) has been a bit hard on us both. We are just new parents, who want to see her healthy and happy which hasn't been the case lately. We are waiting on results for therapy and trying to squeeze in appointments with her PCM. It is just a little hard lately but we keep pushing forward. The intervention people for now, have indeed agreed she is decently far behind.
As for Croup I did set up monitors <33 I can hear her loud and clear, checked on her over 4 times last night. And DH has agreed to take her for a good part of this afternoon/evening.
There is no way I would be in another room. It sucks, I know you are tired. She is getting treatment, she will get better, so it is short term. You just have to suck it up and put her first. We have ALL been there, no one is trying to be mean or insensitive, but you have to be there in case her breathing changes at night. My older son had pneumonia about 3 years ago, life was miserable for 2.5 weeks, but we got through it. You will, too!!!
If she is not barking so bad she cannot breathe, and there is no strydor (sunken chest breathing) it may be mild enough for her to sleep alone. I have let my DD sleep alone when her croup was mild. But I would put the baby monitor on loud.
You need sleep.
Get a sitter or family member to watch her for a few hours during the day so you can get some sleep.
Then you can be awake at night to listen for her breathing.
I get that you are nervous and posting several times a day for advice and reassurance. But your child has been seen at a Children's Hospital, and you said they were patient. I think you really need to talk to them and get good advice based on her treatment, condition and medications. Please don't rely on us for this.
If your husband is no night shift, can he take time off? This is a sick child!
After reading your previous post, as a mom, if my child were going through what you describe, I would not be able to let my guard down and sleep away from her... Especially with coughing and breathing issues.
Can you at least sleep in her room?
I get that you are tired but if you allow yourself to pass out in a deep sleep and not hear her if she needs you... You ( well, most moms) would not be able to live with themselves if something happened while they were asleep.
If you can get some help, get help to watch your child while you take a nap.
I can't imagine leaving my sick child alone in order to get sleep, no matter how sleep deprived I might be.
Talk to your pedi and follow up and how to treat your child for this.
I hope she gets well soon.
Well, if it's not an option, then I guess there's not much anyone here can say. Personally, I would find a way to sleep with her, but my child has never had croup, so I haven't been in your shoes.
Well, the bark is loud and goes on for hours ... so you'll hear that but the problems breathing is why they suggest you sleep with them.
I have taken kids to the hospital in the middle of the night with Croup. It worsens at night - my preference was to sleep during day (naps) and then catch a few zzz's when husband came home and then did the night shift.
Mine had fevers and pain with it - from the inflammation - those little baby airways are pretty narrow to begin with, and they get pretty inflamed (so shrink in diameter). It's quite painful for them. That's why their breathing sounds hoarse.
So that's what you would be listening for - changes in breathing.
I've not heard of Croup being a bacterial infection - ours were always viral. So not familiar with antibiotics to treat.
For me, it was 4-6 nights of being on duty. But honestly, between the barking and the pain, and the just comforting them ... there wasn't much time to sleep from what I remember. It's one of those weeks you just drop everything - laundry, cleaning, and get through like a zombie.
Good luck - I hope she's feeling better soon :) Make sure you get some rest!
My son has had croup lots of times and yes it sucks and it's stressful for us anytime our little ones have an issue, but if you have done all the things you listed, I think it's fine to sleep in your room. Presumably, you are going to go to bed significantly later than her, so what I would do is just check on her a bunch of times, before you go to bed, etc. If her breathing is "normal" then don't worry, go to bed.
I would keep her door closed as much as possible when the humidifier is on because it will help make the room really humid and moist. Also, adding some salt to the water will really make it super steamy at the beginning, we have done that sometimes when my son's croup was bad.
At 16 months she's not in the super high risk category, so check on her a few times, if you wake up in the middle of the night, check on her if you want, I always did, but don't stress.
Sleep with her. I slept with my daughter when she was in 3rd grade because she had pertussis. Breathing issues due to bad cough is nothing to mess around with IMHO.
Yes. My second was prone to croup and she slept in own room. Steroid shot was amazing and helped immediately. Croup usually sounds worse than it is. Hang in there. Why is she in antibiotics?
I erased my previous post when I was,able to get back to mamapedia. It was too cruel considering how much difficulty you're having. Your question causes me to once more urge you to get help for your need to be perfect. You're having an incredibly difficult time being a parent and apparently with life in general. And apparently you are rationalizing your fear to make your fear sound reasonable. It is safe to lose sleep at night and still be able to safely care for a baby during the day time.
I suggest you have meltdowns because you are trying too hard to be perfect. Mom's who are able to handle being involved with a sick child usually change their expectations. They changing their priorities. They let things go so they can take care of their child. They may feel guilty for not doing the dishes and still feel OK with who they are.
A meltdown for everyone, is an indication that they need a time out to take care of themself.Gradually you will learn to recognize that you need something before you have a total melt down and you'll still have some meltdowns. It's OK. Parenting is a learning process and no parent ever gets close to perfection.
So, I suggest you sleep in separate rooms. And get help for your anxiety. I think you are a good enough parent and that you care deeply for your baby. If you didn't care you wouldn't be asking questions. Asking questions is good. I bet you are doing just fine and your baby will heal. It's your fear and feeling a failure much of the time that concerns me. You can feel happy! You will gain confidence. That is why I urge you to get psychological help.
My granddaughter has asthma. In the early years she had srydor. When the spaced between her ribs is indented as she breathes. This does indicate extreme difficulty with breathing and requires a trip to the ER.
Knowing what to look for and not seeing it helps me to be less anxious.
Re: doctors and nursing working with inadequate sleep does cause errors because they are chronically without adequate sleep. Losing sleep short term is not so serious. I've worked successfully when I've not slept well. All police officers on graveyard shift have to do that from time to time. A supervisor will send an officer home if they seem unable to be alert enough. That rarely happens. Or in our department, during a graveyard shift an officer can come in to the station for rest during slack times. That also doesn't happen often.
If your DH is on night shift, he should be able to watch her for at least 6 hours during the day so you can get some sleep. You can also hire a night nanny or an in home health care aide for a few days if it is necessary. Did the doctor tell you you need to sleep with her or that she needs to be observed at all times? When my son had the croup it was nothing like you describe and it never occurred to us to sleep with him.
You are correct that nobody functions optimally without sleep - even emergency personnel and physicians. There is a macho culture in some professions to pretend that we do function just fine but there is plenty of evidence that doctors and nurses make WAY more errors when they don't sleep. You certainly don't want to end up doing something like falling asleep at the wheel while trying to drive her to the hospital.
Yes, she can sleep by herself. Do you have a monitor? Will that help you? None of my kids ever had the croup - so I don't know what you are going through.
My oldest son is sick today - I'm bouncing all over the place - while husband is taking the other son to soccer! We've had fun!! (NOT!)
If you are a light sleeper? I would NOT have her in the room with me. You are right - you NEED sleep too.
Good luck!
Yes, sleep in your own room. If you feel you need to, have the baby monitor turned on.
i'm having a hard time keeping up with you. you seem to be hyper-focused on an unrealistic degree of perfection in your parenting, and you're clearly burning out.
my kids didn't sleep in my bed with me when they had croup, but i slept with one ear open and the monitor on full volume, and yeah, every gasp and whiffle had me up and at their bedsides. and my sleep got interrupted many a night so i could take them into the shower and hold them in the steam.
i agree with the simple fact that you need to be rested in order to take appropriate care of your child, but it doesn't make sense that it means that while she's sick you're not on high alert. you may need to recruit some family or even pay someone to come in so that you can nap during for a few hours here and there.
there's a wide margin of happy medium between trying to control everything, and 'i'm exhausted and done with it.'
khairete
S.
Hey, not to make you worry more, but have you taken her to the doctor just to make sure there is no infection? I am not a bit proponent of antibiotics, but sometimes a cough that isn't going away is due to something that needs antibiotics. (And if you do antibiotics, make sure you do probiotics as well.)
Croup is awful, I had one child that got croup with every respiratory virus.
And he hated heat, so he hated steaming up in the bathroom.
I have heard sitting outside in the cold night air is very helpful.
At any rate, if it's "just" croup, I believe you will hear it when they have an attack and if they need someone to sit with them. So sleep in a different room so you don't wake up with every little noise.
And if you can, take something for anxiety before you go to bed. There are so many herbal things, or just a plain old beer works well, lol.
