We were so blessed that Reese was already sleeping through the night when he came home to us. There had only been a couple of rough nights... until Sunday.
Last week Reese started showing some signs of separation anxiety. According to all of the books I have read, this is common at this age. I had no idea that it carried over into the night. Sunday night Reese went to sleep at his regular time and everything seemed normal. Bryan and I went to sleep as normal. 12:30 came and normal went out the door. Reese was wide awake and screaming with panic. I went into his room and held him. We laid on the couch until he went back to sleep. I put him back in the bed, and as soon as he hit the mattress he was up and screaming again.
This went on all night. Bryan and I took turns holding him. This was the only way he would sleep. One of us had to be touching him all night. His preference was to have his arms wrapped around my neck in a death grip. He hardly napped on Monday, and feel asleep nearly an hour and a half early that night. Monday night was a repeat. The problem is that we don't sleep if he is in our bed. We both worry about rolling on him or him getting caught in the covers.
Tuesday I did a lot of research, talked to a lot of parents, and my friend Crystal who is a child psychologist (she has been an invaluable resource!). I got many suggestions on ways to handle it, and determined that he was either having nightmares or the separation anxiety was carrying over into the night. We had a plan for what to try last night, but that will have to wait.
Before I went to bed last night, I went into Reese's room and prayed for him. THANK YOU LORD! He slept all night! I didn't because I kept anticipating him waking up. Hopefully tonight will be good for us all.
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