As an extremely restless and wired LuLu was bouncing around my house at midnight, and still at 2 am and still at 3:30 am…I was both highly annoyed and reminded of the way things used to be. The days of little to no sleep!

My fellow Blogger, Angela recently blogged about sleep issues. I think these issues are more common than adoptive parents are told. In our case, LuLu didn’t sleep a solid 8+ hours for the first three years home. She slept 2-3 hour stints throughout the night and napped a couple times a day. As much as possible, I mimicked her schedule.

I was hard headed and stubborn and determined to keep LuLu out of our bed. (Super Dad wasn’t wild about the idea of co-sleeping either.) But the longer the issues wore on, the more we acquiesced. I wish we had realized that independent sleeping was NOT an appropriate goal for a traumatized, poorly attached toddler. In hindsight it makes perfect sense.

What worked best for us in the early years was abandoning the crib and LuLu and I sleeping on a futon mattress on her bedroom floor. Eventually we brought the futon into our bedroom and placed it next to my side of the bed, so I was at least out of the line of fire of her kicking, squirming legs.

LuLu’s sleep issues were greatly improved by neurofeedback. The calming protocol had her sleeping through the night after the second day of therapy. It was nothing short of a miracle. Still LuLu exhibits remnants of PTSD-disturbed sleep. She has a fear of shadows that requires her room be pitch black, and if she’s not satisfied with the darkness she will sleep with a stocking cap or pillow case over her head. We’ve tried the sleep masks, but she still prefers pillow cases.

I don’t completely understand last night’s sleeplessness, but suspect it has much to do with our upcoming trip to Philadelphia starting tomorrow. LuLu is VERY excited, and her behaviors have escalated all week. The usual dose of Benedryl did nothing to slow her down last night…but she’s totally sacked out on the sofa now!

Meanwhile, I’m foggy headed and a bit miffed that I have a huge “to do” list and no two brain cells are firing in the same direction. Yet, the sleep issues are just part of the package given all of LuLu’s disorders.

And I’ll be watching to see if I get any other “clues” about her sleeplessness. There was no change in her med/supplement schedule, so that’s not the culprit. But sometimes physical illness is; and Kay’s developing a nice cold of some sort…so perhaps LuLu is too.