We've always joked that Rayna was born a bad sleeper. At 6 weeks old, she was sleeping less than her 2-year-old sister. Seriously. She didn't consistently sleep through the night until she was around 9 months old. And it's never been totally out of the norm for her to wake during the night for some reason or another.
Now don't think our daughter's terrible sleep habits are because of our lack of effort. I think we read every sleep book ever written trying to "train" her to be a better sleeper. And she did get better. But never great.
Well lately, some of her bad sleep habits have returned. She's having a really hard time settling down at night and is rarely sleeping through the night. It's not uncommon for her to get up between 3 and 5AM and not be able to go back to sleep. She tosses and turns and cries--but she doesn't sleep. At first, I just assumed it was "Rayna" but then some other symptoms developed. She's always snored a little, but her snoring has gotten worse and she's been having these "episodes" where she stops breathing. This happens every night and during her naps. So I talked to her (awesome!) pediatrican about it and she referred us to an ENT, the sleep center for a sleep study, and she said that if everything was clear she would even refer us to a sleep specialist to help us to help her to sleep peacefully. I could have hugged her. I just knew that she was going to send me home with a copy of Healthy Sleep Habits, but she took our concerns seriously and got the ball rolling.
Well, thankfully we got an answer at our first stop! We had an appointment with an ENT (ears, nose, and throat) specialist who said that Rayna has enlarged adenoids which is causing her snoring, mouth breathing, and sleep apnea. He feels like this is the root of her sleep issues.
SOOOO..... the bad news is that she's going to have to have surgery. The good news is that we have an answer and hopefully in a couple of weeks, our baby can breathe easier and we will have our
