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An Unexpected Addiction



A few weeks ago, Ben was brought home from camp without his Convaid stroller. I panicked. I kept myself together for the sake of the community worker, but I was beside myself. I mean I really came close to an anxiety attack. I called Ryan to tell him of the dilemma and he too had angry words about the situation.

Our biggest fear was that Ben would not go to sleep at night and we would have nowhere to secure him. His sleep schedule has been crazy - up until after midnight wanting to roam the house, getting into things he need not get into. Our sleep and Ben's safety were our two main concerns.

I realized, fairly quickly, that my anxiety was something to examine. I saw that we had become dependent on strapping Ben into his chair when he would not go to sleep. Perhaps this "no-chair" night would help us develop new strategies for bedtime. We made it through that night, and we have since consulted with the neurologist. Time release melatonin for Ben is working some of the time.

And as I write this at 10:30pm, Ben is still wild, loud and climbing from chair to couch and back again...but I have not "put him in the chair" just yet.

What have you become dependent upon? Have you developed an addiction to a piece of equipment, medicine or routine? Could you do without it and survive? Is your dependence stopping your child's independence?

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Comments

  1. Shelley OrrAugust 2, 2011 at 11:30 AM

    I'm addicted to using the vacuum to put my child to sleep. It's like Valium to him.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 12, 2011 at 5:54 PM

    I can so relate to the sleepless, restless nights! Been dealing with Tye sleeping only 4-5 hours a night recently and this is with sleep meds! I still have to somehow function and go to work early in the morning. I took a mental health day today so I could try to catch up on lack of sleep. We're trying some Valium for him for the next 2 weeks to see if that gets him back on track. If he doesn' t sleep we run the risk of him having seizures so he needs to sleep better through the night. So do we or we risk having two majorly cranky parents.

    ReplyDelete

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