Help! My child isn't sleeping well!

This is such a common experience that we think it's normal and most times accept it as a part of parenting. But there is something that can be done about it.

 In order to make an effective and safe shift from being sleep deprived to sleep fulfilled, you need to understand the cause or contributing factors affecting sleep. Knowing the cause or contributing factors, will give clear indications on how to address the situation and obtain the desired results.

Possible causes of sleep challenges that I have seen include:

•        External influences

o   Light (This may be not enough natural light during the day or too much artificial light through the night. There are light receptors on all our skin cells and these affect the cycle of hormones which affect our sleep.)

o   Activity (Often children's sleep these days would benefit from more outdoor active play. Sometimes, however, it is related to too much activity in the evening rather than quiet activities before bedtime.

o   Electro­magnetic frequencies (This may be from a router, computers, other electronics. Sleep challenge from EMF's are easily determined by prompt improvement following elimination of the offender.

o   daytime or before bedtime visual or auditory stimuli (This may be from evening TV, radio, or video games exposure, or even from challenging dialogue. Clearly, this may become an emotional trigger. Otherwise, it may be useful to experiment with variations of exposure to stimuli before sleeping, aiming for the most heart- warming type comfortably possible.)

o   Active or disturbed digestion (This is from eating foods that don't agree or eating much too close to bedtime. Consider and experiment with nutrition and times of eating to determine if this is the cause.)

o   Other effects of medications (Look up other effects of medications at www.drugs.com and other effects of herbs at http://naturaldatabase.therapeuticresearch.com/home. Note that an interactive effect of drugs or herbs may be a factor.)

o   A bang on the head two to three days previous to the onset of the symptoms (This type of sleep challenge is generally, but not always, characterized by initial restlessness falling asleep with waking at 4AM. Some investigation may be required to determine if there was such a bang as parents are not always privy to such information! If this is the case, do make an acute booking and that challenge should be gone within two nights.)

·         Internal experience

o   Emotional (This may result from an unprocessed emotional experience. Nightmares are sometimes related to a fear event. A clue to this being the case is if the nightmares started after a certain event, often a couple of nights after. As parents, we may or may not be aware of a causal event without some investigation.

o   Family dynamic (This is probably the most challenging one to figure out on your own because as parents it can be too hard to see the forest through the trees, in addition to the fact that it requires some training to perceive. An example of this may be where a child has restless sleep which is reflective of a parent who is challenged by emotional processing of some sort. It may also be seen where a child wishes to see his or her parents together and this only time this is possible is at night.

o   Constitutional response to external influence or internal experience (This is another area which is more easily determined by a Homeopath as it is specifically related to Homeopathic diagnosis. Basically, there are several main remedies which fit both children and sleeplessness. Some of them are Pulsatilla, Phosphorus, Calcarea-carbonica. And Sulphur. Find more information here about Homeopathics and sleep in general.

o   inherited pre­disposition (to be considered especially if similar sleep challenges are known in other members of the family)

Needless to say, the external experience factors are generally in your hands. Use them and be well! If you are dealing more with the internal experience factors, that is what professional help is for. Most health care professionals have chosen the profession because of challenges they faced and overcame a certain way. This is my case as well. My first child kept me up for weeks until I was finally able to ascertain the true cause (family dynamic, the most challenging one), and address it head­on. May you be empowered to surmount all the challenges in your life. And a good night's sleep will certainly help!

Family Dynamics:

One way to know which one or more of these applies to you? Describe what you observe in your child. Note when was the first time,and subsequent times, you noticed what you described. Consider the possible causes listed above in terms of the times indicated.

Description of sleep concern	Possible Causes	Treatment
Doesn't fall asleep easily	Physical discomfort (too much light, noise, electro­magnetic frequencies from router or other electronic near­by, active digestion or disturbed digestion), Emotional upset, Banged head 2­3 days earlier
Needs to be held until they fall asleep	Constitutional, emotional
Can’t sleep alone	Constitutional
Can't sleep without the light on	Fear event 2­3 days before onset
Doesn't want to sleep	Constitutional or emotional
Falls asleep but wakes up screaming	Fear event 2­3 days before onset
Moves around a lot
Can't wake up in morning	Constitutional
Wakes up way too early	Bang to head 2­3 days before onset

An open-minded, observant and educated parent can do this, possibly more successfully with the following information.

Written by: Lisa Torres HOM.