Sleep deprived kids, tired parents
Brooke Tasovac
December 21, 2011
Sleepy kids ... if only I could get some shut eye.
Sleep problems are common among lots of families with children of all ages. The initial problems that parents face when their kids are babies and have to learn to self-soothe, fall asleep independently and sleep through the night without waking up to be fed, often develop into new problems when they are past their first birthday including:
1. Sleep deprivation related to things such as resisting sleep, insomnia, or a poor sleeping environment 2. Night waking related to nightmares and changes to a child's routine 3. Bedwetting 4. Separation anxiety 5. Parasomnias that include sleepwalking (also known as somnambulism), night terrors, restless legs syndrome &amp; periodic limb movements, and teeth grinding (bruxism) 6. Medical conditions and more serious sleeping disorders such as apnoea and narcolepsy.
Parents may be frustrated to encounter a whole new set of problems in children after babyhood comes to a close but here are some ways to manage each of these problems.
1. Sleep deprivation There will be times where even with a set bedtime and established bedtime routine, most children won't get the amount of sleep they should every night in a typical week, often for a variety of reasons that lead to disrupted sleep, such as a nightmare one night or illness over the course of several days, which can mean up to a week of interrupted sleep for parents and kids.
Short term sleep deprivation due to the reasons listed above differs from ongoing sleep deprivation on a long term basis, and with recent figures showing many school aged children get less sleep than they should, parents shouldn't be concerned that their child's sleeping habits are dissimilar to many other children. Instead they just need to consider why their child isn't sleeping well and what can be done to improve their child's sleep because kids who regularly have sleep deficits will inevitably be more tired and grumpy, and their performance and behaviour at school/childcare/after school activities will be affected in addition to possible development of learning difficulties and behavioural problems.
Children who regularly have trouble waking up in the morning and complain of being tired throughout the day are most likely sleep deprived and the issue may be able to be addressed in one of the following ways:
- Making sure your children are getting a certain amount of physical activity each day so that he or she is actually tired enough to fall asleep at the set bed time, otherwise he or she could remain awake in bed. Watching too much TV before bed can affect sleep patterns as well, according to recent studies.
- If your child is getting an adequate amount of play during the day and still won't sleep well, it could be because he or she is consuming too much caffeine and sugar which can affect how sleepy he or she will feel at bedtime.
- If your child is sleep deprived because he or she regularly resists sleep, consider how your child views bedtime. If it is negatively whereby he or she associates bedtime with being scared, isolated or as a punishment for being naughty then he or she is likely to resist going to bed.
2. Night waking related to nightmares and changes to a child's routine
Unfortunately for parents just because the capability of children to sleep through the night begins around approximately 6 months of age, doesn't mean children won't continue to wake up at night even after starting school. This is because the propensity for children to have nightmares is concentrated between 3 and 6 years of age.
However besides the tiredness night waking causes mums and dads, waking due to nightmares isn't something to be concerned about. Everyday fears and experiences such as watching a scary movie, often cause children to have nightmares. It is the reason that children are having nightmares that can indicate if there is an underlying problem such as emotional distress caused by trauma or abuse.
Other than nightmares, night waking is usually prolonged or restarted after a period of your child being able to sleep through the night, by some kind of change in your child's regular routine.
These changes can include many things, such as:
- Moving house - Travel, especially on holidays where your child becomes jetlagged - Daylight savings when children may start to wake earlier even when following the same routine because the extra hours of light throw out their circadian rhythms that helps them distinguish between day and night - Temporary setbacks, even small ones such as your child sleeping at a babysitter's house, a new baby waking up an older sibling during the night or when making the transition from sleeping in a bed instead of a cot. - Illness including common colds and flus that may increase when your child begins school and is exposed to more germs by being around his or her peers.
Night waking may be reduced simply by addressing the issue that is triggering nightmares, by commencing sleep training techniques, or in the case of illness, simply riding it out until it passes while using any medication your doctor may have prescribed for your child as treatment.
3. Bedwetting It is important to note that many children sleep through bedwetting and only realise they have wet the bed when they wake up in the morning. Other children may awake while in the act or shortly afterwards and be too upset to return to sleep, or may call their parents to come and help them.
Older children may wake up to change their sheets, especially in cases of children that are embarrassed of being found out or those who worry about being reprimanded by their parents.
Bedwetting may also occur in conjunction with nightmares or illness (such as a urinary tract infection or gastroenteritis) for which parents should seek medical advice.
But if bedwetting is not due to illness, it will need to be addressed as either an issue of primary nocturnal enuresis (where bladder control is still being established) or secondary nocturnal enuresis related to stress before it can be treated in a number of ways to help your child sleep better. For more information see A guide to bedwetting...why it happens and how to deal with it .
4. Separation anxiety
The onset of separation anxiety that causes children to sleep badly is usually seen in kids who have developed sleep associations where they rely on their parents to help them fall asleep and/or fall back to sleep after waking up at night. Sometimes new experiences such as starting school can also prompt a child to cling more to her parents at night time. The main way to tell if your child is having trouble sleeping due to separation anxiety, you will be able to tell because she will be able to fall to sleep when you are present.
For younger children transitional objects such as teddies and blankets can provide comfort as an alternative to a parent's presence, although sleep training techniques such as controlled crying and gradual withdrawal methods, are usually the most effective way to stamp out sleep problems caused by separation anxiety.
5. Parasomnias
Parasomnias are a category of sleep disorders that emerge at different times during the sleep cycle, including while falling asleep, during sleep, during the transition between REM and NREM sleep periods or after being partially awoken from sleep. They are said to be influenced by genetics, brain irregularities and other more serious sleep disorders and include:
- Sleepwalking which is generally not serious but it poses more risk for children in that they have the potential to hurt themselves by falling while walking around and precautions such as placing gates on stairs and bunk beds can help keep them safe until it passes.
- Night terrors (not to be confused with nightmares when a child has a bad dream and wakes up) are when a child is having a bad dream but is not fully awake and is distressed, sometimes flinching or screaming. Children will not be able not recall the event when they wake up the next day and will usually stop having night terrors sometime during their school years and are not dangerous but they can prevent both parents and children from getting a good night's sleep.
- Restless legs syndrome is more an annoyance than anything else, whereby children have muscle spasms and jerky movements while sleeping which can rouse them from sleep and consequently impede them from sleeping well. A medical professional will be able to help treat this.
-Teeth grinding (bruxism) is something that may or may not wake children up at night and although children often outgrow the habit, it has the potential to damage your child's teeth and jaw when it is ongoing, so speaking to a dentist about realigning your child's teeth or having him or her fitted for a mouthguard to wear at night is recommended.
6. Medical conditions and more serious sleeping disorders
Apnoea is a condition where cessation of breathing regularly occurs during sleep due to obstructed airways and narcolepsy is a neurological disorder of excessive fatigue that coincides with lack of muscle control and ironically, insomnia. Both can be potentially life-threatening when they are not diagnosed as soon as possible.
For this reason conditions and more serious sleeping disorders need to be discussed with a doctor or sleep specialist to help your child sleep and ensure his or her health is not affected. Sleep training techniques are not going to help a child who has a sleeping disorder or medical condition because they have no control over their snoring or other symptoms.
For children who have underlying respiratory problems, such as obstructed airways, treating the condition with medication or by using equipment such as a CPAP machine, will be sure to give your child better quality sleep, as well as giving parents greater peace of mind at night.
The final thing parents should note is that as children grow, they require a certain amount of sleep at different ages. For example older toddlers and preschoolers require between 11 and 13 hours every day with 2 hours as a midday nap, school aged children do best on 9-12 hours each night and adolescents should ideally be getting at least 8-9 hours of shut eye every night and by giving your child a bedtime that allows him or her to get adequate rest on as many nights as possible, parents can limit their child's susceptibility to these sleep problems.