The Child Psychologist - 1st Appointment

I had my first appointment with the child psychologist to talk about Connor's anxiety this week. I need some advice on the best strategies to work through the night time terrors, which have resulted in him now sleeping with us, and the separation anxiety, which means I can't leave him anywhere but home for short periods with a Carer.

Luckily for me the psychologist does home visits as both kids were asleep when she arrived. Connor hasn't had a daytime sleep for months but he's got a bit of a cold so he passed out on his bed unexpectedly at lunchtime. He proceeded to sleep the afternoon away which meant she didn't get to see him. Merryn did wake up though and caused havoc, as she does. :)

And the upshot of the appointment? Well it's going to be a long softly, softly strategy. After hearing all about Connor she agreed he wouldn't cope if we tried a firm approach. So for night time we will keep letting him fall asleep on his little couch in the lounge and sleep with us. The plan is to bring his toddler bed into our room and set it up beside our bed, then over time he will move into his bed and we will push it away from ours. I will also talk to Honey (sleep clinic pediatrician) about melatonin dosage, I'm thinking it needs an increase. During the day I have to keep challenging him so he can start to understand I always come back. But be careful not to push him too hard.

All of this is going to take time and patience and Jill is going to see us again in a fortnight to keep helping me with strategies. At least I have plan to move forward with now. We have Kindy starting next year and Andrew and I would like our bed back at some point (Connor takes up a lot of space and rolls around the bed groaning and thrashing multiple times every night, so he's not fun to sleep with).