Pediatric Sleep Disorders are common

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Pediatric Sleep Disorders are common

Thursday, May 10th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

Pediatric sleep disorders trouble many children. From simple insomnia to more serious problems, researchers work to study the reasons behind the treatments for sleep disorders. Here are just a couple of reasons that may give an idea of the range of pediatric sleep disorders that exist.

Insomnia

Simple insomnia is one of the most common pediatric sleep disorders; most parents know of a child who simply wouldn’t go to sleep when put to bed. The director of The Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders in Boston, Dr. Richard Ferber, is an expert on solving insomnia problems. The basics of his method involve slowly adjusting a child’s sleep habits until they’re more in line with what parents want their child to sleep in, and proper enforcement of a regular sleeping routine in order to make falling asleep a habit. In this manner, treating childhood insomnia is more a matter of gentle adjustment and proper sleep hygiene, certainly one of the easiest pediatric sleep disorders to treat.

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is one pediatric sleep disorder that is an increasingly major problem with adults as well. This sleep disorder is caused by a blockage of the air passage, causing breathing to stop in the middle of the night. This can cause snoring, as well as interrupt sleep and cause wakefulness, resulting in poor sleep patterns, as well as cause damage to the heart and lungs if it occurs for a prolonged time. In adults, this is sometimes worsened by obesity, and while that is the case in children as well, it is most often caused by swollen tonsils or adenoids blocking the air passageway.

This is one of the pediatric sleep disorders that can often be treated with surgery, with a tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy. If swollen glands are not the problem, then a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, which uses air pressure to keep passageways unblocked, may be the solution. In the case of sleep apnea and all other pediatric sleep disorders, make sure to speak with your pediatrician before attempting any treatments yourself. Do not self medicate a child of any age for any reason, it is just not worth the risk.