Ideas on how to keep a child awake

[Melissa in Australia]

Twin 2 has to have a sleep deprived brain scan tomorrow. He has to be kept awake till midnight, then awake again from 4 am. I think we can manage to keep him awake for that, dh us going to do till midnight and I will do the early morning. But then I need to do a 2 1/2 hour drive to the medical clinic for the brain scan. Ideas on how to do that would be greatly appreciated. I am not the world's most confident driver.

[Tap]

Can you break up the drive and stop for walk breaks? Eat in the car, and especially something novel and cold like ice cream or a slushy type drink. 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

Would it be possible to get a hotel room closer? I think even with breaks a sleep deprived child will fall asleep during a 2.5 hour drive.  When my youngest needed the sleep deprived brain scan I got a hotel room because the hospital is 2 hours away.

[Melissa in Australia]

3 minutes ago, Tap said:

Can you break up the drive and stop for walk breaks? Eat in the car, and especially something novel and cold like ice cream or a slushy type drink. 

That is a good idea.  Would mean that the actual driving time would increase though. The last hour of the drive is on a single lane highway with barriers on both sides , so not able to pull off for  anything. 

[Innisfree]

Can someone else go with you, to sit next to him and keep him engaged?

 I like @Tap’s suggestions.

Lively music in the car? Videos or a game on a device he can use— maybe something which wouldn’t ordinarily be permitted?

[LifeLovePassion]

Air conditioning and music are my only thoughts. Someone to keep him entertained would also be helpful. My mom took me grocery shopping to a 24 hour store when I had one. But I was older. 

[Melissa in Australia]

 I am really not looking forward to it at all. 

[Melissa in Australia]

5 minutes ago, Innisfree said:

Can someone else go with you, to sit next to him and keep him engaged?

 I like @Tap’s suggestions.

Lively music in the car? Videos or a game on a device he can use— maybe something which wouldn’t ordinarily be permitted?

I literally have nobody at all that can come sit with him in the car. Dh has to stay home to milk the cow etc. 

Twin 2 will be sitting in the front seat so I can see if he is  awake  and poke him etc. It will be the first time he has sat in the front

[Arcadia]

5 minutes ago, Innisfree said:

 

Lively music in the car? Videos or a game on a device he can use— maybe something which wouldn’t ordinarily be permitted?

For my younger boy who always fall asleep even for a 30mins drive, we had to either let him play games or keep talking to him. The lively music would be for keeping me awake.

[prairiewindmomma]

I would get a hotel room close by and plan to be sleep deprived myself. Can you leave the other twin home with your Dh so that after the scan both you and the twin could sleep again at the hotel?

We have had to do sleep deprived scans and it is remarkably hard to keep a kid determined to sleep awake. If your child is already prone to meltdowns, and you are a nervous driver, those just don’t mix well for in car experiences.

[Melissa in Australia]

You guys gave such great ideas, thank you. 

[Melissa in Australia]

I will be leaving twin 1 home

[Innisfree]

Staying close to the hospital really sounds like the best idea.

You have my sympathy, as another who’s had to do this. Our drive was an hour, and dd was 2yo. Somehow we managed, but I don’t actually remember much except driving and talking to her. There must have been more to it, but I’ve forgotten the grim details.

[prairiewindmomma]

1 minute ago, Innisfree said:

Staying close to the hospital really sounds like the best idea.

You have my sympathy, as another who’s had to do this. Our drive was an hour, and dd was 2yo. Somehow we managed, but I don’t actually remember much except driving and talking to her. There must have been more to it, but I’ve forgotten the grim details.

Our experience was like it’s like childbirth. Better not to remember the exact details. The brain can hide some of the emotional trauma.

Sincere best wishes to OP.

[prairiewindmomma]

One specific tip, OP. Waking from sedated MRIs after sleep deprivation was a lot rougher than the non-sleep deprived ones for mine. We were doing monthly scans, and so I had really good data on the point.

For whatever reason, eating as soon as possible helped. Most likely the sleep deprivation really threw off blood sugars. The hospital staff wasn’t always keen to have them eat so quickly, but there was a lot of screaming and epic raging…and it would stop within 10 minutes of eating or having milk.

This has been true across my three kids who have needed MRIs, so I don’t think it was necessarily an individual issue. 

[Melissa in Australia]

I wouldn't have even thought of that

 

[Melissa in Australia]

Boy you guys are amazing

Thank you so much, all of you

[Arcadia]

DS18 and DS17 are asleep in the car despite the loud german music on CD in the background 🤦‍♀️
 

Hopefully you can get a hotel nearby at affordable rates. Worse case, soda containing caffeine or caffeinated black tea might help for keeping your child awake after 4am. My teens need caffeine on waking if they are sleep deprived or DS17 can fall asleep standing. 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

2 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

One specific tip, OP. Waking from sedated MRIs after sleep deprivation was a lot rougher than the non-sleep deprived ones for mine. We were doing monthly scans, and so I had really good data on the point.

For whatever reason, eating as soon as possible helped. Most likely the sleep deprivation really threw off blood sugars. The hospital staff wasn’t always keen to have them eat so quickly, but there was a lot of screaming and epic raging…and it would stop within 10 minutes of eating or having milk.

This has been true across my three kids who have needed MRIs, so I don’t think it was necessarily an individual issue. 

I forgot this part, but I had to carry a screaming raging 4 year old by myself out of the hospital and two blocks and three stories to where my car was parked in the parking garage.  I absolutely should have sprung for valet parking but I barely knew that was a thing.  Not one person warned me that was likely after a sleep deprived and sedated MRI.

Frankly, I should have brought someone with me, but my oldest was having serious behavioral issues at the time and DH was home with him because we couldn’t get a babysitter.

I think I’ve almost entirely blocked that whole horrible year out.

Edited April 27, 2023 by Mrs Tiggywinkle Again

[Drama Llama]

49 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

DS18 and DS17 are asleep in the car despite the loud german music on CD in the background 🤦‍♀️
 

Hopefully you can get a hotel nearby at affordable rates. Worse case, soda containing caffeine or caffeinated black tea might help for keeping your child awake after 4am. My teens need caffeine on waking if they are sleep deprived or DS17 can fall asleep standing. 

Caffeine will probably prevent him from falling asleep during the test.  

[Arcadia]

12 minutes ago, BandH said:

Caffeine will probably prevent him from falling asleep during the test.  

Then that might not be feasible 😞

[theelfqueen]

1812 overture? 

[Melissa in Australia]

So far so good

We just have another 1 hour of driving to go

The frozen drink idea is fabulous 

[LinRTX]

And even less time now. You are in my thoughts.

 

[Hannah]

All the best for tge last hour of driving Melissa. I hope it all goes well for the test and after and that the doctors find answers from the tests.

[Innisfree]

Thinking of you and hoping all goes well.

[Carol in Cal.]

I hope thing go well!

I'm late to this question, but in similar circumstances borrowed a kitten.  This was so completely engaging that DD stayed awake.

It was terrifying how she just collapsed into a deep, still sleep as soon as she had the sedation.  It looked like she dropped dead, I kid you not.  But it was fine.  

[LinRTX]

It has been about an hour since your last post here. I am hoping you are there and the test goes well.

[Melissa in Australia]

We arrived at the clinic  a tiny bit early. We went in the unlocked door, and... set off the security alarms.😲 We are waiting back outside, the alarms have been going off for 10 minutes. Nobody is there. We have spoken to the neighbouring business. As they came out to see why the alarm was going off.  They were shocked a medical clinic is unlocked. They said there was staff there before 

I guess someone or something will turn up eventually. Wasn't how I was expecting the appointment to start. 

 

[KSera]

3 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

We arrived at the clinic  a tiny bit early. We went in the unlocked door, and... set off the security alarms.😲 We are waiting back outside, the alarms have been going off for 10 minutes. Nobody is there. We have spoken to the neighbouring business. As they came out to see why the alarm was going off.  They were shocked a medical clinic is unlocked. They said there was staff there before 

I guess someone or something will turn up eventually. Wasn't how I was expecting the appointment to start. 

 

😱 That’s a crazy thing! I’m glad you made it, but I hope someone has shown up by now!

[Melissa in Australia]

Yes they have shown up now

[Melissa in Australia]

We did it, 

Stayed awake on way down,

he fell asleep naturally for the test 

No meltdowns afterwards

I stayed awake for the drive home 

He is not even as grumpy as I was expecting 

 

[Arcadia]

6 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

We arrived at the clinic  a tiny bit early. We went in the unlocked door, and... set off the security alarms.😲 We are waiting back outside, the alarms have been going off for 10 minutes. Nobody is there. We have spoken to the neighbouring business. As they came out to see why the alarm was going off.  They were shocked a medical clinic is unlocked. They said there was staff there before 

When I was working, my department secretary and I were the usual ones disabling the alarm when we come in. While the engineers were all trained to disable the alarm, they usually forgot how to do so because they are typically not the first in office. That might have been why the door was unlocked but the security alarms still went off 

[Melissa in Australia]

5 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

When I was working, my department secretary and I were the usual ones disabling the alarm when we come in. While the engineers were all trained to disable the alarm, they usually forgot how to do so because they are typically not the first in office. That might have been why the door was unlocked but the security alarms still went off 

Aparently one of the specists came in to do paperwork in the clinic late last night and forgot to lock the door. 

[prairiewindmomma]

1 hour ago, Melissa in Australia said:

We did it, 

Stayed awake on way down,

he fell asleep naturally for the test 

No meltdowns afterwards

I stayed awake for the drive home 

He is not even as grumpy as I was expecting 

 

Hurray!!!

[Hannah]

So glad it all went well Melissa and hopefully you've got some rest now too!