Night waking

Initially babies require one or two feeds during the night. Most will barely wake to feed, do so efficiently and swiftly return to sleep. This physical reuirement gradually reduces to one night feed and then to sleeping through. Formula fed babies should be able to sleep through by about six to nine months. Breast fed babies often seek a night feed for longer. As long as night feeds can be completed without prolonged waking most mums will cope well.

Some mothers try to eliminate a feed by replacing it with water. While this may work in a few cases, replacing one "reward" with another does no eliminate the waking. Whether water, formula or breast feeds are given the infant is picked up, cuddled into mum and has a period of intense closeness which some come to rely on.
 
When you wish to eliminate a night feed it is more often successfull when done by a gradual reduction in either the volume of formula, or duration of breast feed. This way the child learns that there is less reason to wake. Consequently they start to sleep longer.

Not all night waking is about feeding. Some children seek the reassurance of a parent when they have had a bad dream. Night terrors affect children who have not had sufficent sleep in 24 hours or have had experiences which they found traumatic. Some are simply poor sleepers who tend to use night sleep as a period of "naps" and as a result they wake regularly throughout the night and the parent has to intervene to get the little one back to sleep. Some have developed the belief that they cannot return to sleep without parental intervention.

How parents should deal with night waking depends on the sleep history and the possible causes of the waking. This, along with looking at  the parental response helps in the development of a plan to eliminate these regular night wakings. As with many sleep difficulties it is not true that one remedy will work for every child. 

If you would like help to resolve your child's sleep difficulties contact us ;- Info@dream-angus.com

 

Sleep Challenges

Dreaming can become a challenge to children because the dreams children have can be very vivid to the point where they are indistinguishable from real life.

Between 2 to 6 years of age children start to become aware of dreaming. These dreams can be very vivid and alarming. This is also the stage when night terrors, nightmares and night fears are most common. Dreaming is a normal part of development but if your child has frequent sleep disturbance as part of this stage of development, then it can be very difficult for the family as a whole to cope. On average, a quarter of all children may have one nightmare a week.

Nightmares are frightening dreams which occur during REM sleep that usually result in night waking. These nightmares may include monsters and other frightening imaginary creatures. The child may be afraid to return to sleep, young children may have difficulty in distinguishing between a dream and reality and may insist that the imagined monster still exists nearby. If these scary events persist then the child may resist going to bed and may also become fearful in the daytime. These events are often remembered in the daytime and, for some children, the opportunity to discuss them can be helpful. However, if your child does not want to, or cannot talk about this don't press.

There are a variety of strategies available to help children and parents cope with these events.

Night terrors are also frightening but usually forgotten by morning. A child experiencing night terrors will not be comforted. They appear to wake suddenly and are fearful but, although their eyes are open, they are often still asleep. Trying to comfort them at this stage is more about feeling that you are caring and doing something, the child is unaware of you and doesn't accept cuddles or reassurances. The return to calm sleep is usually quite quick. A child who has not napped well, is over tired, or has had a frightening experience during the day is more likely to have night terrors as their mind tries to rationalize the fright.

If you need help to help your child cope with these events;- Contact us, info@Dream-Angus.com

Dreaming and night waking

At 2 -3 years of age dreaming becomes vivid. By three years of age your child may not require a nap, but until that time an average of an hours nap in the day is usually helpful to avoid sleep deficit.
This is the stage when children’s sleep may be disturbed by Nocturnal confusion Night terrors or Nightmares and there is a difference.

Nocturnal Confusion occurs mainly in very young children who are distressed and agitated but do not respond to parents attempts to reassure them.

Night terrors occur early in the night, usually in the first third of sleep (deep Non REM sleep) the child is distressed and agitated, and although your child’s eyes may be open the child is not completely awake and no reassurance from you will comfort your child. Sleep returns fairly quickly and there is no memory of events in the morning.

Nightmares usually occur in the second part of the night (middle to late REM sleep)
Your child has had a frightening dream and will accept comforting and reassurance. It can take longer to re settle the child to sleep afterwards and it is important that the parents reassure and encourage the child to remain in his/her own bed and return to sleep. While the child was asleep, during this episode they are fully awake and remember this afterwards. Nightmares can be precipitated by illness or stress, in which case there may also be night terrors.

Nightmares usually peak at about 3 -6years of age. They are universal and a normal part of cognitive development.

There are things you can do to reduce the frequency of nightmares and night terrors for your child and Dream-Angus can help you with this.

If these are a problem for your child let us give you some simple strategies to try first.

In most cases simple measures are very effective; however, if the night terrors or nightmares remain persistent and severe and fail to respond to behavioural strategies, then a psychological assessment may help.


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