I’m an Evil, Sneaky Parent
For the past two weeks, my daughter has been waking up in the middle of the night, crying. This is a new behavior for her, and it really kinda sucks. Four nights in a row of me waking up at 4:00 a.m., does not a happy mommy make. The only way that she will calm down is if we sleep on the couch together.
In my bedroom, I have a nice fluffy Queen size bed, with $30 pillows, 600 thread count sheets and a goosedown mattress cover. Sleeping on an old couch with a two-year-old lying on top of me does not make for a restful night. Plus, I don’t want her to get in the habit of wanting to sleep on the couch with me, for a myriad of reasons……
So, two nights ago, I decided that I HAD to get some sleep. After two hours of crying, I had tried everything. My last resort was asking her if she wanted to take some of her medicine. It was the prescription medicine that she had taken when she had hives. What the medicine is, is basically a stronger version of Benedryl, so she wouldn’t scratch at her hives when she slept. So yes, I drugged my child in order to get some rest. It worked though, as soon as she took the medicine, she went back to her crib and slept all night.
Again, last night, it was the same drill. She woke up crying and wanted to sleep on the couch. Again, I, not wanting to sleep on the couch, tried every option. I told her that SHE could sleep on the couch, but mommy was sleeping in the bed….she could even come sleep in the big bed with mommy….whatever it would take to get some rest. This went on for about an hour.
Although it was tempting, I just couldn’t bring myself to drug her again last night. However, for some reason, she equates taking the medicine with it being bedtime. So in my sleepy state, I thought that if I could find something that tasted like medicine, maybe I could fool her. She would think it was medicine, and I could go back to sleep.
So, that’s just what I did. I asked her if she wanted to take some medicine, and she said, “Ok.” I pretended like I was opening her medicine bottle and switched it out with some Aquafina grape flavored water. She took it and went right to bed, and I didn’t hear a peep from her the rest of the night. Now that’s some benefits of drinking water that a parent can appreciate. (She actually slept until 9:00 a.m.)
What creative things your sleep-deprived mind will come up with at 4:00 in the morning…..I just hope it works tonight too.