How do you know if babe needs tubes... soft cleft palate?

[HollyBee]

Hi, I'm having a hard week, Graeme's had a bit of a cold but not much, mostly in his nose, he's also had the worst eczema and I'm treating that right now plus he got an infection in his finger and had to have antibiotics... ahhh, anyways, this kid just does not sleep, he's going to be 12 weeks here and he will sleep 3-5 in the night at one stretch then usually only 2 after that, during the day he only cat naps literally 20 mins give or take 10. At this moment he's in his carseat where he usually will sleep but that too only lasted 15 minutes. I'm wondering if this is just him or if it has to do with his ears or what??? I'm boggled and I thought babies would sleep more than this, he just doesn't. So wondering if anyone who has had to get the tubes in their babes ears has any input for me and whether it sleep has anything to do with it.

Thanks!

[chicka-monkey]

Most babies with cleft palate have tubes put in. I think they are somehow connected.

See the post a few down from here. It talks about ear tubes. The title of the post is;

4 week old with cleft in soft palate

[jacksmom]

Holly, I feel your pain! Jackson is 6 months old now and still waking up two and three times every night. He only takes one nap during the day, if I'm lucky, he'll sleep for an hour. It is exhausting! Jackson had tubes in his ears at four months and that did seem to help.....he was waking up every hour through the night. I think our problem now is that he's not getting enough to eat. I still haven't gotten him to eat anything with a spoon, so he is still only on formula. I do add a LOT of cereal to his night bottle, and when he takes all of that he sleeps better. I agree with the other post, I also am under the impression that most cleft babies end up with tubes. They did make a big difference for us, so that may be something to look into. Have you had a typanogram to check for fluid on his ears? Before Jackson had tubes he cried ALL of the time and I never could figure out what was wrong, turns out all of that fluid must have been causing him a lot of pain, especially when feeding, and laying down flat,because after the tubes he was a different baby! Have you tried letting him sleep on one of those wedge things so that he's not completely flat? Email me any time if you just need to vent! I know sometimes this is all very frustrating! By the way, your babysite is so cute! Isn't that a fun way to keep everyone up to date!
Allison

[jaimea]

Holly,
I have a 15 month old (Kaylee) and she came into this world ready to go. She still does not sleep all through the night, but it is much much better. She usually only wakes up once or twice for a sip of something. She had tubes put in during her second surgery. I don't think that her ears affected her sleep, but before the tubes we had a couple ear infections. As for naps, Kaylee has always taken what we call "power" naps. Twenty or Thirty minutes tops, and that usually happens when she is in her swing. I tell ya that swing turned out to be a Godsend. Hope this helps.
Jaime