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After being told I would never be able to have children, I am now a stay-at-home Mommy to Maddie who happens to have Down Syndrome. I've been married 16 years to my best friend, having the time of my life. Thanks for stopping by and sharing in our little journey through life.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep, Sleep...


What's been on my mind lately?  SLEEP!  Luckily, we finally got a good night's sleep last night.  I've been reading up on sleep apnea in kiddos with Down Syndrome.  Apparently, it's very common. Here's an excerpt from this article, "a previous study based on 53 children and adults with Down syndrome between the ages of four weeks and 51 years old (an average of seven years old), found an incidence of sleep abnormalities as high as 100 percent in some cases." 100%! That's crazy! 
Symptoms include: Snoring (check), restless/disturbed sleep (check, check, check!), daytime mouth breathing (sometimes), and odd sleep positions with head turned backward (check). 
To treat sleep apnea, they remove tonsils and/or adenoids.
Before I get all crazy about rushing to the doctor to do a sleep study, I decided to see if we could change things at home to help.  I read this book, No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers by Elizabeth Pantley. We've revised our bedtime routine based on her recommendations, so we'll see if it helps. (fingers crossed)
So this post isn't too wordy, here's some pics from yesterday...



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