Common Sleep Disturbances and What To Do About Them

Common Sleep Disturbances and What To Do About Them
By Michelle Liu, R.N.

My three boys have all had their fair share of nights when they wouldn’t go to sleep. There were times when they woke up four times a night at eight months old, just wanting to be held. I thought I was pretty good about keeping them on a good sleep pattern until one night late last summer. My five-year-old went to bed normally, he was sleeping just fine when I checked on him before I went to bed. Then at about 11:30 that night, thankfully I was still up reading, he came walking into our bedroom. He was talking, but I really could not understand him and he kept pointing at a window. I hit my husband until he woke up. He couldn’t understand him either, so he had him come to be with us and he fell right asleep. About an hour later, I found him standing on our bed, about to walk off of it. When I tried to talk to him, he started screaming. After about 30 minutes, he calmed down. We did not. This was the first of many bad nights in our house. He would scream and yell and hit us. He would point at things and talk, but we couldn’t understand him or calm him down. All we could do was to just make sure he was safe. In the mornings, my son had no idea what we were talking about and often asked why he was not in his bed when he woke up.

Night terrors
These incidents started a conversation with our pediatrician and our investigation into sleep disturbances. Our pediatrician asked us some questions and diagnosed that our son was having night terrors, which sounded horrible to me. He based this on the fact that he would wake up about three hours after falling asleep, would seem awake but wasn’t, and never remembered the episode in the morning. Other symptoms of night terrors include sitting up in bed, appearing afraid, rapid heart rate and increased breathing, and sweating. After a few minutes, most children will just fall back to sleep.

Our doctor was not too concerned about these symptoms lasting very long, as he helped us realize that our son had had two major life changes happening in the same week—starting kindergarten and moving to a new house. Even though our son was very excited about both things and we gave him plenty of time to talk about them, he was obviously worried. Other than stress, night terrors can be triggered by trauma, illness, or fatigue.

Night terrors are not all that common. About 6 % of the population is prone to them and they mostly affect boys. Night terrors are more problematic for the parents as they often feel so helpless. In our case, as soon as school started and the move was over, our son was fine. We have not had an event since, but I know he is prone to them, so we make sure he gets plenty of sleep and will watch out for things that cause stress in his life.

Nightmares
Nightmares, on the other hand, have affected almost all of us at some time or another. The same sorts of things that cause night terrors, such as stress, illness, medication, or reading— can cause nightmares. Watching something scary on television is the most common cause.

Children can keep nightmares at bay by keeping to a sleep routine. Always go to bed at the same time. Have a special blanket or toy. Nightmares are usually remembered so, if your child knows what upset her, it is possible to work out the problem and avoid whatever triggered it. It might be as easy as not watching the monkey scene in The Wizard of Oz for a few years. Another technique is to ask the child to draw the dream on a piece of paper and then tear up the picture. Nightmares are normally not a long-term problem, and most children simply outgrow them.

Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking is also a concerning event in some families. Children may get up and walk around. They may seem awake but don’t respond. The most important thing to remember with sleepwalking is to maintain the safety of the child. Make sure all doors and windows are secure and that all potentially harmful objects are out of reach. Just return the child to his/her bed. Sleepwalkers do not remember their sleepwalking and most children outgrow this, just like the other sleep problems.

Sleepwalking is also not a cause for concern. Parents and caregivers just need to maintain the safety of the child. And, as with most things in life, all of these problems will be outgrown.

Michelle Liu, R.N., is a former school nurse and the mother of four children. She has also worked in neurology and neurosurgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.