Children's Sleep Problems

Children's Sleep Problems

This article discusses different sleep problems children have such as nightmares, night terrors, and sleep walking.

Like adults, children don’t always sleep well. Children’s sleep problems include: talking during sleep, having nightmares and night terrors, sleepwalking, and bedwetting.

Nightmares

Nightmares are scary dreams – filled with monsters or other frightening beings – that may awaken the child. The child remembers his dream and can often describe it. Generally he is afraid of going back to sleep and needs constant reassurance from his parents.

Nightmares could be the result of too much daytime excitement or tensions built up during violent play. They can also be caused by an angry scolding. Events connected with big changes, such as when the child moves into a new home or starts school, may also be at the root of nightmares.

Occasional nightmares, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, are not a cause for alarm. They are most common between the ages of three and eight, when the child has an active fantasy life.

If you can keep the hour before bedtime pleasant and relaxed, ensuring no scary television programmes are viewed, nightmares are less likely to occur.

When a nightmare does occur, reassure the child with a few comforting words. If he wants to talk about the nightmare, allow him to do so – but don’t pressure him into talking about it.

Leave a small light on in his room – it may make it easier for him to go back to sleep.

Avoid letting him spend the rest of the night in your bed – this could turn into a habit; it is much better to stay with him in his own room for a while and then leave.

Night terrors

When a child has a night terror, he is still partially asleep and is difficult to awaken. He may stare in front of him in horror, crying and screaming and he usually perspires profusely. His breathing and heart rate accelerate significantly. He may also clutch at his parents for protection from an imaginary attacker.

These episodes can be upsetting for parents, but in most cases the child returns to sleep peacefully within five minutes He doesn’t remember anything about it the next morning.

Fortunately, night terrors tend to occur during the first three hours of sleep, when parents are often awake and can attend to the child.

Do not try to awaken the child – just make sure that he’s safe.

Because sleep terrors can be related to a lack of sleep, make sure your child is getting an adequate amount of sleep and following a regular bedtime routine.

Sleep terrors may also occur more in times of stress – so stressors should be identified and reduced, if possible.

Perhaps the family has been on a long and tiring trip, or the child next door has been mean, or the bedtime story was frightening. Any of these can cause such an upset.

Or the child may be living with constant tension because of an idea that a parent is going to leave him for ever or die from a forthcoming operation.

Your child may, even in the best of home circumstances, suffer from an occasional night terror. If night terrors have been occurring frequently, try simplifying his daily activities.

Try to trace the specific events that could have precipitated the terrors. Cut down overstimulation by monitoring TV shows and blocking out disturbing ones; reduce the number of highly competitive daily activities and the situations in which he witnesses his parents expressing unbridled anger towards each other or towards the child himself.

If these precautions are ineffective, get professional help.

Sleepwalking

Parents often feel disturbed when they see their child walking in his sleep. This generally happens in children between the ages of 10 and 14.

He may wander around the house with his eyes open, and yet be otherwise totally unconscious.

When you speak to him, he may respond briefly, often unintelligibly, and not in his recognisable daytime voice.

In most cases, he will return to bed without waking, if told to do so.

It is sometimes necessary to guide him gently back to his room and help him get back under his blanket. All this can usually be done without awakening him.

It will not harm him if you awaken him, but he may become confused and not know where he is and what he’s doing.

Don’t scold the sleepwalker nor should you give him the impression that there is something seriously wrong with him.

A few casual, comforting words and the suggestion that he go back to sleep are the most effective ways to handle the situation.

Take whatever steps are necessary to prevent him from hurting himself. Lock doors and windows securely and block staircases.

Try to find out whether there is anything in your child’s daily life at home, at school, or with his friends which could be upsetting him.

Sleepwalking tends to run in families. In most children this unusual habit disappears on its own, generally by early adolescence.

While sleepwalking is usually not a sign of serious disturbance, take the precaution of consulting your doctor, since the condition may be associated with disorders that should be treated.

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