Night Waking

Waking in the night is one of the most common difficulties that beset children. Recent studies looking at the age and stage of children who have difficulty in sustaining sleep show that 25-50% of 6-12month olds, 30% of 1year old children and 15-20% of toddlers 1-3 years old continue to have night wakings.

These night wakings occur for a variety of different reasons but persistent problematic night wakings are often due to inappropriate sleep onset associations. For some these wakings occur as regularly as every 45-90 minutes. This is of great concern to parents who are also deprived of sleep in order to settle the child.

There is often considerable variation in the night to night and week to week patterns and neither infants, nor parents, are consistent in the way they behave and interact at these wake times. Of course what one parent sees as a difficulty another parent or family accept as "normal" so night wakings are seldom addressed in the same fashion across the population.

Children or adolescents who experience persistant night wakings that are extermely disruptive to the family as well as the complainant should be seen by a sleep specialist. There are very effective ways to alter this night waking behaviour and to improve the night sleep.

If you are experiencing this difficulty within your family Contact Dream-Angus.com we can help you to resolve this issue and improve your night sleep.

Nightmares

Nightmares are frightening dreams that occur during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, which usually result in waking from sleep and seeking reassurance. The content of nightmares varies with the age and developmental stage of the child. They may coincide with a frightening event, trauma or stress. They are more prevelant when there is sleep deficit. On average 75% of children experience at least one nightmare and 10-50% of young children require parental intervention to reassure them in the night. Chronic nightmares are nightmares which occur regularly over 3 months or longer. One study shows that 24% of children aged 2-5 years and 41% of children aged 6-10 years experience chronic nightmares.

If a child has experienced frequent nightmares then this can make the child afraid to go to bed (bed time resistance) because they anticipate frightening dreams.

Children remember the scary content of the dream and they awake with feelings of impending harm and anxiety. Return to sleep following this experience is delayed. The child has this experience in the later part of the night whereas Night terrors usually occur within the first few hours of settling to sleep, do not result in a full awakening and return to sleep is much more rapid.

There are a variety of strategies which can be successfully used to reduce and eliminate nightmares. Where behavioural strategies fail or the nightmares are extremely disruptive and persistant referral to a mental health specialist for evaluation and treatment are worthwhile.

If you would like help to reduce your child's nightmares contact Dream-Angus.com.

Children's Fears.

All children have different experiences and different reactions to the same situation. Some are fearful in situations that do not worry others. Children's fears change with the age of the child but are none the less very real. Children should be encouraged to cope with their fears and parents can help them to do this. Fears can come from watching others and many children fear the same things as their parents do. Fears are often unintentionally rewarded. For example a child who is afraid of the dark may insist that a parent goes with them and a light is left on. Given a lot of attention and reassurance the fear can be rewarded by leaving a light on. Rewarding a fear in this way allows that same fear to continue.
Help your child to manage fear by talking about their fears. Stay calm and let your child know that you understand that they are afraid. Everyone is afraid at some time. Try and keep your own fears under control.

Teach your child coping strategies such as ;-

• Breathing slowly as if they are filling a balloon full of air in their tummy.
• Go floppy like a rag doll so that all the muscles are relaxed,
• Distract themselves by thinking of a happy memory or using imagination in a positive way.
• Remain calm when your child is scared. If you are confident you empower them to be so too.
• Praise your child for facing their fears.
• Encourage your child to face new things.
• Help them to face things they must do.

Talk to your child about dangerous situations and have clear specific rules about what your child should do in these situations.
It can take some time for children to overcome their fears, particularly if they have held these beliefs for some time. Encourage children to gradually approach the things they fear and to cope with the unpleasant feelings they associate with them. Be prepared to seek professional help if the fears remain a problem.

Dealing calmly with night fears and helping your child to overcome these is important. Some bedtime battles are caused by being afraid of the dark, the boogie man in the wardrobe or under the bed. Help your child to be more confident about night time and then bedtime battles caused by such fears disappear.

www.dream-angus.com Working with you to improve your child's sleep