Well, that was creepy.

[rivka]

Alex continues to have a cold, and last night we stretched her bedtime a little later than was optimal. At first she seemed to go right down, but after about half an hour she woke and cried. I went upstairs to settle her. A few minutes after that, she woke and cried again. She seemed exhausted, but unable to stay asleep.

I decided that maybe her congestion was worse lying down, and that perhaps a dose of cold medicine (antihistimine + cough suppressant) would relieve the symptoms enough to allow her to fall into a deeper sleep. So I gave her a dose, and rocked her for a few minutes, and put her back into bed.

The next five hours were a nightmare.

Alex would sleep for 10-30 minutes. Then she'd start to whimper fretfully, quickly escalating to crying and... what I can only describe as howling: intense repeated vocalizations of "waah! waah!" - as a word, not actual sobs. We'd go into her room and her eyes would be shut. She'd thrash her arms or, in the worst episodes, roll her body vigorously back and forth. She wouldn't respond when we spoke to her. She couldn't say what she needed. Touch seemed to help, especially holding her in the rocking chair. When we'd do that, she'd slowly calm down and fall into a deeper sleep, without ever waking up all the way and being lucid.

I slept in her room so I could attend to her. Eventually, after 1:30am, she fell into a deep sleep, waking only one more time at 4am to use the potty. This morning she remembered none of it.

The only thing I can think of is that she had a weird adverse reaction to the cold medicine. Somewhere out there her pediatrician is saying "I told you so." The last time we saw him, he said that we shouldn't be using cold medicines because they're not proven to work in children and the risks outweigh the benefits... but we've still sometimes used an antihistamine at night to help relieve her symptoms so she can sleep. Um. I guess that didn't work, huh?

Comments

[charlottezweb.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. My sympathies to you both.

We are discovering much the same problem ourselves, although it has different symptoms. Although he hadn't had a problem with OTC cold meds, this week, when we gave him cough meds it was an unpleasant experience. He's was so itchy he had trouble sleeping, but he was too dopey to fully wake up and tell us the problem so he would wail and flail in his sleep until be found the itchy spot and he would settle back down for a bit. In addition he was loopy--half asleep/half awake, talking to himself, not let us get any good sleep. The cold meds are getting pitched out the window and I'm looking up more traditional methods to relieve his symptoms.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

The cold meds are getting pitched out the window and I'm looking up more traditional methods to relieve his symptoms.

I remember her pediatrician telling me, as part of the no-cold-medicines lecture, "If she coughs so hard that she throws up, well, then she just needs to throw up." That's not something any parent wants to hear.

Do you use a warm-mist humidifier? I swear by those for coughs. The cold-mist ones are, in my opinion, worthless.

[charlottezweb.livejournal.com]

I hadn't actually thought of a humidifier but that's a great idea. Especially since the heater destroys any moisture in the air (TMI--I wake up with a nosebleed every morning in the winter).

Warm mist, you say? I will look into that.

We use a vaporizer for decongestion and it works really really well. Has little pads that insert in front of a fan.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

This (http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/602-1247628-3694257?ASIN=B000ILFPVA&AFID=Froogle&LNM=B000ILFPVA|Vicks_Warm_Mist_Humidifier__V745A&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=B000ILFPVA&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001) is what we have.

And now I will stop spamming you with comments.

[charlottezweb.livejournal.com]

No, no, please! Any parenting help is welcome. :) I've marked the humidifier and plan on snagging one when we are next at target. Anything to help the babe sleep better.

[charlottezweb.livejournal.com]

I always feel that people who say things like that can't possibly have any kids, even thought I know it's not true. And since I take meds to relieve my symptoms when I'm sick, it seems so unfair that I can't make him more comfortable.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Her pediatrician actually has two kids under the age of ten, which is kind of nice. (For example, when she was a newborn he referred us to the lactation consultant his wife used.)

I feel the same way about meds. I think he'd tell me that I am free to use as many of them as I want because they're proven to work in adults like me. Sigh.