5/1/2023 0 Comments Kids who dont sleep![]() ![]() Most days I can barely keep up with them. ![]() Their brains work in the most fascinating ways, and they are always surprising me, catching me off guard, keeping me on my toes. Well, I actually know the answer to this one.ĭon’t tell them, but my kids are way smarter than I am. Now they’re elementary-aged, happily reading in their beds into the wee hours of the night, still not sleeping. Of course, this was around the time my daughter was born – my third gifted child, my second non-sleeper. He still wasn’t sleeping much, but he was at least distracted enough to spend most of the night in bed and antic-free. Instead of seeking entertainment in the form of bedroom escapes and sibling pranks, my nearly-three-year-old could pass the dark hours in bed with books. Once he taught himself to read, the nights got easier. He wasn’t bad, he wasn’t in pain, he wasn’t sick… he just would not go to sleep. Every night began with cautious hope, and every night ended in frustrated tears. No matter how many times he snuck out of bed to sneak a snack, switch stuffed animals with his brother, play under a chair, or generally just explore, I still put him to bed every night with the hope that he’d actually fall asleep. Once he figured out how to climb out of his crib, my boy who never slept was unstoppable… and very, very sneaky. Years have passed since those sleepless infant nights, which paled in comparison to the sleepless toddler nights. Related: Do Gifted Children Need Less Sleep?, 100 Hints That Your Child May Be Gifted This baby boy of mine with the bright eyes and chubby cheeks, the toothless smile that made me melt – he wasn’t sleeping, and it felt like it was destroying me. You can imagine the desperate cries I let wail on the way home. My poor pediatrician had no idea what to say, so he just fumbled out the words, “There are just some people who need less sleep, and I guess he’s one of them.” He only napped once a day, and then just for a mere 30 minutes, then was wide – wide – awake until around 3 am, when he slowly fell asleep until around 8 in the morning. I joked that it was like he was afraid of missing out on something, that he just seemed to want entertainment. He was wide awake, looking around, taking everything in. He didn’t fall asleep deeply and quickly the way that now-toddler preemie did. He didn’t cry the way my colicky, reflux-ridden preemie had. He wasn’t upset or in pain and his internal clock didn’t seem to be backwards… he just would not fall asleep. ![]() He didn’t need to be changed, swaddled, cooled or warmed. He asked me if I’d tried this method, that method, adding this or removing that, self-soothing, Ferberizing, going for a drive. The pediatrician was still taken aback, which surprised me since I was sure he’d met an exhausted mom with an infant before. “He’s not up crying or anything, he’s not sick, he’s not screaming, he just will not fall asleep.” My bald-headed insomniac sat in my lap, paying attention to every word I said, but unmoved by my emotional outburst. “He’s not sleeping!” I sobbed, so loudly and unexpectedly that it startled the man. My middle kiddo was there for a checkup around 10 months old, and the poor, unsuspecting doctor had just asked me how he was sleeping. I remember bawling in the pediatrician’s office, vividly. Why is it that these gifted kids just won’t fall asleep? But these exhausting kids just aren’t as exhausted as we are, and a battle begins anew. We love these kids, but we can’t wait for them to go to bed. After a long day of answering all the questions, fielding all the emotions, navigating all the sensory issues, and just plain dealing with all that intensity, bedtime is a welcomed respite. They take forever to fall asleep, they rarely stay asleep, and they just seem to need less sleep. These kids… many of them just do not sleep. One of the more frustrating aspects of raising gifted children (and there are a few), is the lack of sleep. But I have three kids – three gifted kids – and as anyone with gifted kids knows, this means I just don’t get any sleep. I even planned my wedding to take place late in the evening so that I wouldn’t have to wake up early on such a big day. I collect soft blankets and pajamas, fuzzy socks and pillows, anything that may add to the absolute and total bliss of getting to lie comfortably and rest. I’ve been known to schedule a day around the possibility of getting a nap. I fantasize about days when I can sleep in with no alarm set for the next morning. ![]()
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