Sleep disorders in children often differ to those of adults.
The signs of sleep disorders in children are very often different to those of grown ups and parents, its important that caregivers are aware of this fact. Children are often scared of the dark, and this helps to make the sleep disorders worse for them. Being scared of the dark can lead to the start of a nightmare which intensifies the night terrors resulting in the sleeping children wakening with a start and screaming to escape a scary dream that they will probably not be able to remember later.
Some different sleep disorders in children, including sleepwalking and bruxism:
- One common sleep disorder in children is sleepwalking also known as somnambulism, this is generally harmless if special care is taken to provide a safe sleeping environment. Sleeping children can some times be heard talking in their sleep or sleep with their eyes open, and strange as these disorders seem, will not harm the child most of the time.
- Sleep disorders in children may also take the form of Bruxism which is a destructive habit of grinding and gnashing the teeth while they are asleep, this can be a very disturbing disorder that can also cause dental problems. Children also often bang their heads or roll their heads, this usually happens when they are about to fall asleep. Again this is another sleep disorder that is usually harmless and they will soon outgrow it, before becoming teenagers.
- Other sleep disorders in children include nocturnal asthma and nocturnal seizures that are often very scary and stressful for everyone, including the child and parents, and needs medical treatment to get it under control. Also, sleep apnea can attack children, including premature newborns and also, the elderly.
- Yet another problem is heartburn which can be dangerous and although not seen as a sleep disorder can often run along side some of the common sleep disorders in children. The danger arises in the sleeping children when stomach acids regurgitates into the throat, whilst this can be due to an underlying medical problem it can also be eating food to close to bed time.
- Children are also known to suffer from periodic limb movement as well as restless leg syndrome that are both very disturbing to the child as well as to parents. This condition can also lead to sleepwalking, insomnia as well as nightmares.
A number of the problems mentioned above can lead to Apparent Life Threatening Event (ALTE) which causes the child to become pail as well as becoming limp. With such a sleep disorder, it becomes very hard to wake the child who can be quite listless on being woken up, which can be very upsetting for the parents.
However, probably one of the most scary and feared sleep disorders in children is SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome of which not much is known, because of this there aren't many treatments available to help this disorder. Unfortunately, however, many children lose their lives because of SIDS each year.
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