Common Issues with Sleep in Children

Sleep is important especially in growing and developing children. Sufficient sleep is an important part of healthy child development. Sleep promotes alertness, memory and performance. Poor sleep habits can influence child diet, moods, cognitive skills, and ability to carry out daily chores.

Children often have sleep problems. Children with sleep problems are more likely to be inattentive, hyperactive, impulsive, and display oppositional behaviors. There are many reasons why children have disrupted sleep. Some are very simple and easy to remedy while others are more serious and would require a visit to their doctor.

Common issues with sleep in children are following:

• Nightmares often occur at times of transition, stress or change in a child’s routine. Nightmares usually begin when a child is about three years old, they are most common between the ages of three and eight when their fantasy life is more active and they are most likely to occur later in the night and are remembered the next day.
• Night terrors are more frightening for parents; occur most frequently from 4-8 years of age. Night terrors usually occur a few hours after your child has gone to sleep, at which time you may wake up to your child’s crying or screaming. Waking or comforting the child is usually not helpful as it prolongs the event. You should see that he is safe and do not try to wake him up. He will usually settle himself down after a few minutes.
• Sleepwalking is very dangerous in the sense that the child can fall from the balcony or from the stairs. It is not necessary to wake a child up that is sleepwalking. In many cases the condition of sleepwalking is solved as the child becomes matured.
• Sleep Apnea is a serious disorder in which there are pauses in breathing during sleep. Children with sleep apnea may snore loudly, experience restless sleep and be sleepy during the day.
• Other sleep problems faced by children include, bed wetting, insomnia, snoring, waking up often during the night and even faking the sleep. These disorders in sleep habits for children can be frustrating not only for the family but also for the children themselves.

Tags: Children Health, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Sleep, Sleep Disorders, Sleep Snoring, Sleep Walking