Treatment of sleep disorders in children

The article is professionally consulted by MSc resident Nguyen Van Phi - Psychological consultant, Psychological Clinic, Vinmec Times City International General Hospital.

Childhood sleep disorder is a health disorder of sleep. Children with severe sleep disturbances affect physical, mental, social and emotional functioning.

1.1. Treatment of sleep disorders in children with psychotherapy To treat sleep disorders in children with psychotherapy, it is necessary to carry out 5 steps:
Step 1: Make a chart, specify the number of awakenings, crying times, refusing to sleep and staying up at night, from which a strategy is drawn up.
Step 2: Find the cause, ask if the child is tired at dusk. If yes, then it is due to lack of sleep during the day or too little sleep at night. Have to see if your child snores or breathes through his mouth at night. Look at the hour of pain (if there is pain), sleep time, sleep time, crying time to find the cause.
Step 3: Make a sleep rule for your child, do not let him out of bed. Speak softly, lovingly, admonishing your child to sleep, to sleep on his own, not to get out of bed.
Step 4: Choose a place near your child to monitor. If you see your child get out of bed, gently tell him to come back. Do this many nights, he will understand that getting out of bed is not beneficial and will lie still.
Step 5: Get up in the morning, instruct and encourage your child. If you obey, reward them, and the rewards get bigger and bigger.
Guide children to relax before sleeping: take deep breaths, relax muscles, count according to breathing rhythm.
Instruct the family on measures to prevent possible bodily harm when the child has a sleep disorder:
Do not put the child in a high bed, do not place sharp or fragile objects near the bed. Close stairways and doors and windows at night so that children do not leave the house. Help your child get back to normal sleep after he has had a nightmare or night terror by comforting, comforting, comforting, and gently putting him or her in bed. For children with frequent sleep disturbances, the frequency of attacks can be reduced by: Recording the time from when the child begins to sleep until the attack for 7 consecutive nights to know the pattern of when child has a seizure. Then take the initiative to wake the child up 15 minutes before the usual attack. Let the baby wake up for about 5 minutes, then put the baby back to sleep. If psychological trauma is determined, counseling should be given to the child and family to overcome this problem.

1.2. Drugs to treat sleep disorders in children If psychological measures are not effective, some children must use drugs to treat sleep disorders in children, anxiolytics such as Diazepam, antidepressants 3 Cyclic drugs such as Amitriptilin, or mood stabilizers such as Carbamazepine, valproate to reduce the frequency of attacks. Besides, the family should use some herbs that act as drugs to treat mild sleep disorders in children. : Perilla, passionflower ... if used properly, with the right dosage as prescribed, can help children calm their nerves gently, safely and easily fall asleep, avoiding disturbances. crying at night. If the child has a history of difficulty sleeping and staying up at night, the anti-night-wake pattern (finally) must be applied as mentioned above. It is necessary to practice good sleep habits, especially with children who are chronically tired and have long-term sleep disorders. In fact, some families often have children staying up at night due to colic (0-6 months), due to growth teeth (6-12 months), due to anxiety from mother (12-24 months), and due to panic (36-48 months). Each case should be considered carefully. Onset of narcolepsy usually begins between 4 and 8 years of age and peaks at 12 years of age. Many children can recover on their own as they get older due to the development and stabilization of the central nervous system. Some adults can still have this condition in the face of trauma, a few can be due to epilepsy. Night terrors can go away on their own if psychological trauma is excluded and the child is adjusted to a reasonable study and play regimen. When daytime sleep has been reduced from two to one, not sleeping during the day or waking up too early will lead to sleep deprivation. It is necessary to protect the child's sleep, follow all procedures when sleeping, have a decent schedule, the bed is not too wide, and the environment must be quiet.