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Baby's Sleep Issues
All about baby's sleeping patterns and bedtime safety.

Common Sleep Problems in Children
Learn about the causes, symptoms, and treatments.

Sleep Apnea

A good night's sleep is essential for good health. When a child doesn't sleep well, all the other elements of his life can suffer. Here are five common sleep problems in children and what you can do about them.

What it is: Sleep apnea is a breathing disorder
characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when air can't flow satisfactorily into or out of a person's nose or mouth, although efforts to breathe continue. It's caused by
an obstruction in the respiratory tract, and leads a person to briefly stop breathing many times during the night. Central sleep apnea, which is less common, occurs when the brain fails to send the appropriate signals to the
breathing muscles to initiate respiration.

As the child gasps for breath, she awakens for a few moments, her normal breathing pattern returns, and she immediately goes back to sleep. These breathing pauses are almost always accompanied by snoring between apnea episodes. Most people have no recollection of this occurrence the next morning. Since this can happen up to hundreds of times a night, the child is usually sleep deprived and excessively tired the following day.

What to do: Visit your doctor to determine the cause of the apnea, so that it can be treated. There are many factors that contribute to sleep apnea, and many approaches to
treating it. Sometimes weight loss or a change in sleeping positions can do the trick. Other cases of sleep apnea may be treated with a mask or a dental appliance to be worn during sleep.

More serious cases of sleep apnea may require surgery to remove the obstruction causing the lapses in breathing. These obstructions can include adenoids, tonsils, nasal polyps, or excess tissue in the throat.

Nightmares

What they are: Nightmares, common in middle childhood, begin with a scary dream -- usually in the early morning
hours. These vivid dreams are often an expression of a child's inner fear. After the dream, the child will
usually wake up, become anxious, and start crying. Sometimes the experience is so terrifying that the child may resist going back to sleep.

What to do: Hug your child and speak calmly, reassuring her that it was only a bad dream. Let your child vividly describe the details of the scary dream in an effort to calm herself. To further help your child overcome his nighttime fears, try reading him stories about dreams and sleep to help him understand that everyone has dreams and that they're not real.

If your child's nightmares become more frequent, or if the same dream recurs, talk to your physician. Nightmares seem to occur most frequently during stressful times, so evaluate the stress in your child's life as they happen. On rare occasions a pediatrician may suggest that a child with recurring nightmares receive some professional counseling.

Night Terrors

What they are: Night terrors are different from nightmares,
and they occur in a relatively small number of children (1 to 5 percent). Children tend to enter their deepest sleep of the night within 15 minutes after falling asleep. This period of deep sleep will typically last from 45 to 75 minutes, and most children will then transition to a lighter sleep stage. Some children, however, are unable to completely emerge from slow wave sleep. This is known as a "partial arousal" and is the cause of night terrors.

A child suffering from a night terror will abruptly sit up in bed, open his eyes, and scream loudly or cry out for help. For the next few minutes he may gasp, moan, mumble, thrash about, point to imaginary objects, and seem to be
in a confused or agitated state. His breathing and heart rate will accelerate significantly. He will be unresponsive to his parents and may push them away. These episodes can sometimes last for 30 to 60 minutes before the child quickly returns to a peaceful sleep, and remembers nothing about it the next morning.

What to do: To reduce the risk of a night terror, parents should avoid letting their child get too tired, and should keep the sleep schedule as regular as possible. If your child does have a night terror, hold her to protect her from getting hurt.

Night terrors are not a sign of a psychological
disturbance and will probably disappear naturally as a child grows older. If your child suffers from very frequent night terrors, he may be treated with medications, hypnotherapy, or other types of relaxation training.

Sleepwalking

What it is: Sleepwalking occurs in about 15 percent of all
children between ages 5 and 12, and tends to run in families. Usually occurring during the second or third hour of nighttime sleep, a child sits up and -- without totally awakening -- leaves his bed and walks awkwardly, with
his eyes open and a blank look on his face. For several minutes he may wander through the house performing purposeless actions. If he's spoken to, he may seem to respond, but the words are usually unintelligible. He will
probably return to his bed on his own and go back to normal sleeping, with no memory of the events when he wakes up in the morning.

What to do: If you find your child walking in his sleep, gently lead him back to bed. In most children this unusual habit disappears on its own, generally by early adolescence. If your child repeatedly sleepwalks, you should take precautions to minimize his chances of getting hurt. Lock doors so she can't leave the house, block stairways, and move hazardous objects to a less dangerous location. For the frequent or troublesome sleepwalker, your pediatrician may prescribe medications to reduce the number of episodes.

Sleep Talking

What it is: Sleep talking, which occurs more frequently than sleepwalking, is the utterance of speech or sounds during sleep without being aware of it. Some people can carry on whole conversations, while others just moan. Their
speech is often unintelligible or in a monotone voice. It usually lasts for no more than 30 seconds.

What to do: Since there is no danger that accompanies sleep talking, treatment for it is rarely needed or prescribed. If the frequency of sleep talking is bothering the family or disrupting their sleep, try keeping to a regular schedule of going to bed and getting up, and avoiding giving the child a heavy meal before bedtime. If sleep talking occurs in combination with sleepwalking, a pediatrician may recommend medication.

Your should know:

The information on this Web site is designed for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting your pediatrician or family doctor. Please consult a doctor with any questions or concerns you might have regarding your or your child's condition.