Dozal – yes or no?

[Anonymous]

you shouldn’t be stoned for asking a blooming question! grrrrrr
I have to admit it may be only paracetmol & antihistamine but i did feel uncomfortable giving dd2 medicine when she wasn’t actually sick per se BUT as you say lack of sleep is blooming awful and i would have tried anything – i even did the let her cry it out(going in and re-assuring her off course) one night and ended up in floods of tears on the landing myself never ever again – thankfully she’s grown out of it

your dd’s broken nights may well be becuse of teething, the change in clocks etc anything. If it was mine i’d interact as little as possible, "sush it’s night time go back to sleep" – is she crying or just waking? TRy the half hour later to bed……. and at almost 2 i’d make a huge fuss of her on the mornings that she doesn’t wake – fingers crossed it’s just a phase and she’ll grow out of it

[Jedt]

I have never given Dozal before and don’t know if its any good or not and looking for some advice.

I was wondering is it something I might give to two of our daughters (aged almost 2 & 8)who are not sleeping and would it help them sleep through the night and would it settle then quicker when we put them to bed?

Our kids are usually good sleepers but over the past few weeks our toddler is not settling at all and its taking upto 2 hours to settle her and get her asleep in her cot. She wants to come into our room and even if we do bring her in, she is not fully settled there either.

She has no temp, no diarrhea, no obvious signs of sickness apart from a cough that has been rattling on a while. Her cough it is not phlegmy so I am not too worried about it. She may be teething and this could be upsetting her so we are giving her teetha and sometimes, Calgel too but she is still not sleeping well.

I am wrecked from the constant interruptions to my sleep. Aside from the toddler who cried about 5 times last night during the night, our 8 year old is having bad dreams and is screaming out in her sleep. I was in with her 3 times last night too. So basically, I am wrecked!!

I really need them to sleep properly again and need some advice.

thanks. 😕

[munchin]

Sabbi E2 was a dreadful sleeper and was over 2 before she slept soundly at night….. she still wakes occasionally and she’ll awlays be an early riser – is she’s not awake by 6.30 i’m wondering what’s wrong 🙄
We never had a problem with her going to bed but she’d wake anytime from 11pm on, the only way to setlle her was to take her in with me…..i tried everything but that was only thing that worked(and she’s still like that now if she’s not well)
my sister suggested giving her dozal for a few nights to help her sleep and hopefully break what she thought was habit…. i really didn’t like idea of giving E2 medicine to make her sleep especially as there was nothing wrong with her but at this point i would have tried anything so gave it a go AND it made no difference to her what so ever!!!!!!!! the thing with E2 is she likes to be warm so plenty of blankets and warm pjs & her story and she goes off like a dream…….if i don’t read a story it’ll take upwards of an hour for her to go off, if i read a story she’ll most likely be asleep before i get downstairs.
I also use the disney night time clock – you turn on the light at night and it’s timed to go off when they can get up in the morning….i’ve been using this last few weeks to stop her coming in before 6am and so far it’s working. There is another clock (argos have it on special at the minute) it’s called a Gro Clock – it’s electrical, babs can kiss the teddy goodnight and he winks at her and goes asleep and idea is babs goes asleep too and you use the clock when she wakes to show it’s still night time etc my sister uses it for my niece who’s 2 and she said it took a few nights of using the clock but it worked – worth a try.

On the 8yr old – i’m not sure – was it her who said she had the broken heart? I think i’d try talking to her to see why the bad dreams are there and re-assure that all is ok – could it be that she’s fretting? I know when i’m worried i sleep badly

Hope they both settle and mammy can get a decent nights sleep too

[Jedt]

Thanks for that munchin – very helpful. We have a night light in her room but must look into that clock idea – would try anything at this stage.

We are going out tonight for first time together in ages and I feel so sorry for my sister who is babysitting, I hope they will settle for her. 🙄

Part of me is so tired I am tempted not to go out at all but we get the chance to go out as a couple without the kids so seldom that we are going regardless of the state we are in. I expect we’ll be falling asleep into out glasses of wine by 10pm!! Big night out – woo hoo!!

[pookie2]

It must be in the air! My two and four year olds are joining (or trying to) me and baby in the bed.

The four year old detours on the way back from the loo.
The two year old was (a) wetting the bed / leaking nappies & (b) getting back teeth.

We’ve cut back on the drinks to deal with the wet beds etc & dozol for the teeth.

I’m sending them to bed half an hour later & give them a bath when I can manage it.

Think the clocks going back and more light / stronger light also effects them. Invest in best possible black outs – heavy duty bin bags selloptaped to windows in an emergency

This all kicks off around 4 am.

I think dozol is great. It is just paracetamol with some anti-histimine (dodgy spell) which makes some kids a bit drowsy. Try anything, Sabbi. Adequate sleep is the single most vital thing that any mother needs….

Sorry this is a bit jumbled … am a bit tired…

[Jedt]

I was nearly stoned for chatting about this on Facebook so thanks for that advice pookie. Practical and balanced.

Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing. For 3 weeks now our almost 2 year old has not slept well, she has me wrecked!

Thankmfully, our 8 year old is sleeping better now so thats one of them settled.

The joys eh!

[Jedt]

That’s the thing I always try to remember about parenting – every part of their development is just a phase; her waking up is a temporary thing so while we are totally knackered at the moment I keep telling myself ‘This too shall pass!’

Last night my husband took her to see her brother playing football. She ran up and down the side of the pitch for over an hour and was wall falling with the sleep by the time he got her home. She was practically begging to go bed and fell asleep straight away.

All was going well until about 12.30am when she started crying. We spoke to her from outside on the landing but she would not settle so then we went in and re-assured her and rubbed her belly. She settled back to sleep but then at 2am she was awake and crying again, calling our Mama and Dada.

We had the door to her room open so the light from the landing light up her room a little and we had the nightlight on in her room too. She had her dolly tucked under her arm and had no temp, so there does not seem to be anything actually wrong with her when she wakes up crying, she is just not settling all night and wants one of us to stay with her until she falls back asleep. After a few mins of her crying, we gave her a bottle and she fell back asleep eventually.

Our electricity went off last night and knocked the alarm clock off and we were so knackered that we slept in this morning and were late getting kids to school – just out of pure tiredness.

Today we are not putting her down for an afternoon nap – might as well see if this helps! We are trying anything we can think of at this stage.

Thanks for all the advice & tips. Nice to be able to have proper chats and ask for advice and not get my head bitten off for mentioning Dozal!!

[munchin]

yeah could well be growing out of the nap – dd2 never needed much sleep and was out of her daily nap wayyyyyyyyy before dd1 was. She would still fall asleep occassionally during the day – like yesterday after 2 hrs in park she feel asleep in the car on way home…..didn’t go to bed untill 9.30pm as a result so we do try avoid naps 😀

[pookie2]

Oh yeah, we’ve cut the nap for the two year old as well.

Some people find it so easy to criticise…

Read someplace that this sleep disturbance can have something to do with sleep cycles. She may not even be fully awake, just dreaming.

My two year old seems well except for the broken sleep, stinky nappies & cheeks, so am guessing that it might be teeth & that’s why I’m giving the dozol – pain prevention. For heaven’s sake, you’re not filling them full of sleeping pills. I mean, my doc said to give the baby calpol after getting the first jabs as soon as we got home. Would do no harm & why wait till the baby is in pain / unwell. Am operating on the same principle.

I have to be realistic (we all do). I wonder how many of Sabbi’s ‘stoners’ are on their own with four small kids including a small baby. I need some sleep in order to function & operate as a parent, otherwise I end up balling on the landing

[Jedt]

You’re not the only one Pookie – I have ended up balling on the landing, in the utility room, in the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and most other places at home at some stage with each of them as babies when they wouldn’t sleep! Its horrendous feeling that tired, you are unable to function properly and you feel and act like a zombie!!

Its true that sleep deprivation is a form of torture – anyone who has continuous breaks in their sleep, over a period of a few weeks every night, is bound to crack up at some stage!

We gave her a little tiny bit of Dozal at the weekend when her cheeks were very red and she was very contrary. She conked out but still woke up at 2am crying so it was not the knockout I thought it would be. In fairness, I gave her such a tiny amount because I had not used it before and was bit nervous about giving it to her – so I may not have given her enough.

Thankfully, she slept fully the past 3 nights and with 3 nights full sleep, I feel like a new woman.

I just noticed she has a few new choppers at the back of her mouth – I saw them today when she threw her head back laughing, so I would say they were the culprits for all the waking up!!

Thank goodness normal sleep has resumed. I don’t think I could have coped with that much longer!

[munchin]

lol pookie i was giong to say something similar in that sabbi stoners obviously haven’t been through sleep depravation and had little darlings who slept through the night from birth 😆 😆 😆 in fairness my dd1 was a dream baby slept through very early but my sisters little fella was a terrible sleeper and i knew how lucky i was so kept well stum ……..i knew all the tricks and tried EVERYTHING with dd2 and in the end the only thing that worked was to take her in with me when she woke – you do what you have to do….. was only after she turned 2 and went into a bed that we eventually copped she likes lots and lots of blankets……..she still gives me a nervous breakdown every night when i go into the room and can’t see her cause she sleeps under the duvet and at least one extra blanket and puts the duvet over her head 😯

[Jedt]

Oh no munchin – I can imaging trying to find a child under a pile of blankets. They would put the heart crossways in you! 😀

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