Sleep, Glorious Sleep, part 5.

My husband and I have been talking a lot about the early days and years of parenthood. And of course those sleepless nights came up. It’s hard for them not to come up since there were so many of them and it was on-going for such a long time. Our poor girl was fighting sleep since she was 2 weeks old. At first it was only her day-time sleep that she was fighting, and we only really started looking into what was causing the problem when she gave up her day-time sleep and it was her night-time sleep that was being affected.

Those of you who haven’t been following the previous sleep related blogs may be interested in checking out

https://yvonnemcevaddy.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/sleep-who-needs-it-anyway/

https://yvonnemcevaddy.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/sleep-glorious-sleep/

https://yvonnemcevaddy.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/sleep-glorious-sleep-part-2/

https://yvonnemcevaddy.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/sleep-glorious-sleep-part-3/

https://yvonnemcevaddy.wordpress.com/2014/01/25/sleep-glorious-sleep-part-4/

Since we’ve discovered that it was E-numbers, aspartame and cheese that were causing the problems, we’ve all been enjoying much more sleep. We have done a lot of research into E-numbers in the last year. There are approximately 500 of them, and they’re not all bad. And some of the worst ones can actually be listed in the ingredients as natural colours or flavours. Even when we buy things that have no artificial colours or flavourings she can sometimes have nightmares. When we do a little research into the natural colour she had consumed the day before we realise that it was an E-number.

When it comes to cheese, she can tolerate sauces that are 2% cheese and she can tolerate E-free cheese and onion crisps. But pizza, cheese sandwiches and cheese flavoured crackers are out, and so is, as we’ve recently discovered – fromage  frais. A lot of people find that if they eat cheese late in the evening they have bad dreams. In our daughter’s case, if she eats cheese at any time of the day it will cause her to spend a portion of the night, usually between 2am and 4am, awake and hallucinating.

There are some E-numbers that she can tolerate. We have discovered this through a process of elimination. One of these is Soy Lecithin. She has a limited amount of Soy Lecithin, as we fear that if she has too much of this she will be up at night with bad dreams. We have just discovered that Soy Lecithin is an ingredient in formula milk and some baby foods. So the poor girl has been getting E-numbers at first through my breast milk, and then through formula milk and baby foods. We started giving her cheese when she was 7 months old. And then of course there were all the medicines that she was taking for teething and ear infections etc.

Is it any wonder she had such troubled sleep for so long?

From the research I’ve conducted, Soy Lecithin does not appear to be harmful. In fact it has certain beneficial properties. However, if you have a sensitivity to it, like our girl appears to have, small doses or avoiding it altogether might be wise. More research is needed here – a period of giving her no other additives or preservatives and upping her intake of Soy Lecithin to prove that the formula may in fact have been instrumental in her sleep disturbances.

I will keep you posted. And if anyone has any sleep related stories to share, I am always happy to hear from you.

 

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Garth Brooks Mania – My Story

Are you, like me, anxiously awaiting news of whether or not the 5 concerts will go ahead? Or are you fed up of the whole fiasco?

I can remember my first introduction to the music of Garth Brooks. It was 1991. I was at home, sitting on my bed, reading a book and listening to the radio. My older sister came into our room and gave me two cassettes that a friend of hers had given her the loan of. No Fences and Ropin’  The Wind. And there the love affair started.

I put the first track on and I was in love. I hadn’t been so in love with a singer since Michael Jackson in the ’80’s. That’s what The Thunder Rolls did to me.  http://en.musicplayon.com/play?v=102875

After that, every new album Garth released was on my Christmas wish list. It got so that my brother stopped asking me what I wanted for Christmas. After a while his only question was, ‘Do you want it on cassette or CD?’

When I heard that Garth Brooks was coming to Ireland in 1994, I immediately wanted to go to see him. However, he was coming in April. I was due to start my work experience in Euro Disney in April. I was a little heartbroken. But my love affair with Disney had been going on for a lot longer than my love affair with Brooks. And I figured that Garth would come again, but that my chance to work in Disneyland Paris was a once in a lifetime one.

I was right, Garth did come again. In 1997. But I was saving to get married in 1998. I know his tickets are inexpensive, but it was still an expense we couldn’t spare. Once again I figured Brooks would return. So I got on with the business of getting married, hoping that I would get to see Garth before too long.

Imagine how upset I was to hear of his retirement before he could return. I anxiously awaited news of him coming out of retirement. And finally the news came. As long as we could get tickets I would finally get to see Garth Brooks in Croke Park in July 2014.

Just moments before the tickets sold out my husband was successful.

I was ecstatic. I have been waiting 20 years to see Garth.

For the past 2 weeks I’ve been remaining hopeful while the whole thing is up in the air. I believe in thinking positively, and that’s just what I’m doing.

I will get to see Garth at the end of this month!

 

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