Moon Madness

Up until Easter this year DS only showed signs of ‘Moon Madness’ at night when we put him down for his ‘big’ sleep. Whenever the moon was approaching full he would muck around, yell out, jump about in his cot, and end up hysterical in tears until we got him out to calm him down. Finally falling asleep quite often after 9pm, which is a far cry from his usual 7, and pretty close to parents bedtime to boot.

During the day he was as normal, even having his normal day sleep and behaving as his normal active little bundle of energy. At first we thought we were imagining that it was coming up regularly, this bedtime madness, but then I started noting the dates in my diary, and then we decided to check the moon cycle. Sure enough, every 28 days or so, he’d be at it again, coincidentally starting about 2 days before full moon and then, like flicking a switch, back to being a normally tired boy, taking about 15 minutes to get to sleep.

But it all switched around at Easter this year, for some reason – is this something to do with the approaching ‘twos’? He’s gone ‘mad’ during the day – difficulty focusing, acting up, more mini tantrums (happily they still only last about a minute or two) and generally creating more havoc than normal – yet at night he’s going off to sleep as normal. I’m glad to say that I’ve run into other parents who have noticed the phenomenon in their own children, as some people have looked at me like I’m mad when I talk to them about it.

Having just gone through another period of ‘moon madness’ I know I’m not imagining it. We had a few days of DS not sleeping during the day at all, which of course makes him a bit obnoxious anyway, but in this case I think it was caused by the moon. He also deliberately does things that he knows he’s not supposed to – playing with the freezer door, pushing buttons (both literally and figuratively) wherever he can find them, flicking the switches on power points – all of the above and more, over and over and over and over and over again. It doesn't sound like much when I write it down like that, but believe me, it's awful. Seemed to hit his peak on Sunday when I was at work, so Daddy had to cope with it (heh, heh). Today, now the moon is on the wane, he has been his usual adorable self; perhaps even more well behaved than normal, which is interesting (although that may be just in contrast to the last few days!).