Children who do not sleep equal parents who do not sleep. Insomnia in children can become a very serious problem for the whole family, but what needs to be done to solve it? Much depends on the age of the little sleepless.
In fact, up to three or four years, children have a physiologically different sleep / wake rhythm than that of adults and the only truly effective remedy is to wait for them to grow up and that their maturing brain can allow them a rest similar to ours .
What to do to combat children's insomnia?
Children often experience the moment of going to sleep in particular because they perceive it as a detachment from everyday activities. If this is the problem, you can act by trying to make the time to go to sleep the least traumatic and as pleasant as possible .
It can be useful to organize an evening ritual, for example it is established that every evening, after dinner, people wash, put on their pajamas and relax with a beautiful fairy tale. It is not certain that the results are immediate but, with constancy and patience, the results arrive.
Children love habits, while unscheduled disorient them. It is useful to know, however, that before the six months it is almost impossible to establish a real sleep routine . After three years, on the other hand, a good sleep routine is essential as, after this age, the habit of going to sleep at irregular hours is associated not only with insomnia but also with behavioral disorders.
Another useful habit, which may seem trivial but if you think about it well, you realize that it is not, consists in always putting children to sleep in the dark or in the shadows and create a quiet environment, since they are very small. Therefore, for example, trying to make the child sleep by keeping the TV on is not a good habit; just as it is not trying to lead him to sleep in a room where there are other people making conversation.
Another deleterious habit is to use tricks that seem to work but that, looking at them with a bit of a critical sense, turn out to be a double-edged sword when it's okay. An example above all: to put the child to sleep in the car; if he wakes up during the night we do? Are we going to do another round in pajamas?
The insomnia of children is resolved above all with good habits . The gimmicks, the mezzucci that we sometimes use because we are exhausted and we only want the world around us to fall asleep, most of the time they prove useless, if not harmful. Sleep education, good sleep hygiene, this is the only real rule to follow and pursue; it takes a little time and a lot (a lot) of patience, but in the end the results come. Sooner or later the children learn and experience on their skin that abandoning themselves in the arms of Morpheus is a wonderful feeling. And who doesn't like the beautiful sensations?
All the children sleep
Insomnia in children older than four years
When a child over four years of age suffers from insomnia, the cause could be linked to psychological distress, for example anxiety about academic performance, tensions with parents, teachers or friends, to other situations that can upset him. In that case, as parents we can do a lot to help him relax. We could, for example:
- Avoid charging too much with expectations, I expect excessive results. We make an examination of conscience, sometimes it happens to everyone to exaggerate with the reproaches for a bad grade or for an unfulfilled expectation.
- Increase the moments of leisure of the child and thin out the afternoon commitments . There are children who really do too many activities: sport, the study of a musical instrument, dance ... they are beautiful experiences but they must be dosed in the right way so as not to favor mental and physical hyperactivity that can cause insomnia in the child.
- Try as much as possible not to express our anxieties and daily worries . Let us be serene and avoid fighting in front of the children. Sometimes it is complicated, but it is not right to charge the children with responsibilities that are ours alone.
Are there homeopathic, phytotherapeutic or herbal remedies for children's insomnia?
Yes: some remedies exist, but it is always advisable to consult an expert before embarking on this path. For example, as homeopathic remedies, you can use Chamomilla or Argentum Nitricum .
A simple chamomile herbal tea, thanks to the bland soothing qualities, can help relax the baby, but don't expect miracles.
In the case of younger children, the only real remedy for insomnia is time . In the larger ones, however, when an organic and / or psychological cause is suspected, it is advisable to contact the pediatrician who will indicate the way to follow.
