It's every parent's nightmare: the child who won't sleep. After they've finished a marathon running up and down the stairs, built and destroyed pillow forts, careened close to traffic on their three-wheelers-after they've done everything they could to make you pull your hair out-as a final punishment, their hectic days turn into sleepless nights. And you've tried everything-warm milk, lullabies, threats of no morning cartoons-but they keep going, throwing away not just their sleep but yours. You've had it. You're asking what did you do to deserve this? Is this the payback your mother always threatened you would have as a parent? Is this some test of your love, to stretch it past the borders of sanity into twilight hours?
But maybe this isn't normal. Maybe this is just as unwanted for your child as it is for you. Maybe this is child onset insomnia.
The symptoms are simple but can be easily dismissed as youthful stubbornness: difficulty falling and staying asleep, extreme emotional sensitivity during the day and loss of appetite. The results are similar to that of adults with the condition, but are usually read as typical child behavior. What eight year old wants to go to sleep at bedtime? But a handful of children suffer from insomnia. However, the root cause is most often a high metabolism rather than the stressful triggers that keep adults from sleeping. Nevertheless, it is imperative that children be screened for anxiety disorders as well as depression if they show symptoms of insomnia.
Outside of these natural causes of sleepless nights, attention should be paid to external factors that could complicate your child's sleeping patterns. We all know sweets and caffeine are no good for us, but do you find yourself relenting and letting your child have a few sips of soda, a few bites of a candy bar, as a treat during the day? Even in small amounts, caffeine and sugar can set off a metabolic switch that will steer your child's biological rhythms off course. As attentive as we are, sneaky sources will become sleep-wrecking substances, such as the caffeine found in dark chocolates and the sugar that gets dumped into processed food, even fruit packs we buy from the grocery. When in doubt about a food, check with your doctor to see if it could be a culprit.
Another external factor that can be readily fixed is the amount of television and computer time your child gets late in the day. These act as a stimulant on the mind and make it difficult for a child to relax into sleep. More than that, studies have shown that the artificial light from screens affects the body's release of melatonin (a naturally occurring hormone released when the sun goes down to induce sleep). It would be wise to limit access to media after dusk and let the body's natural rhythms go unimpeded.
So what is to be done? After raking through your cupboards for stimulants and limiting the amount of computer time-what is to be done if your child is still struggling with sleepless nights? Look for holistic methods that avoid prescription therapy, such as herbs, melatonin, soothing music, audio stories and the gentle pastime of reading a good story following a nice, warm evening bath to help your child's body and mind relax.
But maybe this isn't normal. Maybe this is just as unwanted for your child as it is for you. Maybe this is child onset insomnia.
The symptoms are simple but can be easily dismissed as youthful stubbornness: difficulty falling and staying asleep, extreme emotional sensitivity during the day and loss of appetite. The results are similar to that of adults with the condition, but are usually read as typical child behavior. What eight year old wants to go to sleep at bedtime? But a handful of children suffer from insomnia. However, the root cause is most often a high metabolism rather than the stressful triggers that keep adults from sleeping. Nevertheless, it is imperative that children be screened for anxiety disorders as well as depression if they show symptoms of insomnia.
Outside of these natural causes of sleepless nights, attention should be paid to external factors that could complicate your child's sleeping patterns. We all know sweets and caffeine are no good for us, but do you find yourself relenting and letting your child have a few sips of soda, a few bites of a candy bar, as a treat during the day? Even in small amounts, caffeine and sugar can set off a metabolic switch that will steer your child's biological rhythms off course. As attentive as we are, sneaky sources will become sleep-wrecking substances, such as the caffeine found in dark chocolates and the sugar that gets dumped into processed food, even fruit packs we buy from the grocery. When in doubt about a food, check with your doctor to see if it could be a culprit.
Another external factor that can be readily fixed is the amount of television and computer time your child gets late in the day. These act as a stimulant on the mind and make it difficult for a child to relax into sleep. More than that, studies have shown that the artificial light from screens affects the body's release of melatonin (a naturally occurring hormone released when the sun goes down to induce sleep). It would be wise to limit access to media after dusk and let the body's natural rhythms go unimpeded.
So what is to be done? After raking through your cupboards for stimulants and limiting the amount of computer time-what is to be done if your child is still struggling with sleepless nights? Look for holistic methods that avoid prescription therapy, such as herbs, melatonin, soothing music, audio stories and the gentle pastime of reading a good story following a nice, warm evening bath to help your child's body and mind relax.
