Sleep issues - are they ever due to a physical problem? Please help!

[egoldber]

I do agree that some kids are just good sleepers and some are not. But a mom in my playgroup had a little girl who was just as you describe, hard to get to sleep, woke many times during the night. FYI, they were co-sleepers and night nursers, and that did not help their situation at all.

By the time her little girl was 17 months old and after trying the No Cry Sleep Solution, she BEGGED her ped to do some testing. Turns out her little girl had undiagnosed reflux. After she started Zantac, she started sleeping through the night the next night.

So a call to the ped is not a bad idea. Sleep can definitely be related to medical issues. It makes me suspect that since she did better when she was on steroids.

HTH,

[jubilee]

My oldest son had a very hard time sleeping, and rarely slept through the night. I was at wits' end as well. No one had any idea why he was a bad sleeper. He didn't have any problem going to sleep, just STAYING asleep. Once he could talk, he would always request a drink several times a night. Finally, on my own, when he had just turned 3 I made an appointment with an Ear Nose Throat doc.... and guess what? Jacob had huge tonsils and adnoids. He had to have surgery to remove them, and after recovery he started sleeping through the night. I could have killed his pedatrician for not figuring it out sooner. So, after 3 years of disrupted sleep, we finally got a full night's sleep!! I'd have the pedatrician look the child over for physical issues.

[raynjen]

A friend of mine was having the same issue and it turned out her little one had sleep apnea due to large tonsils/adnoids which they removed. She's been sleeping through the night ever since!

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (2 3/4)
Architect in a previous life!

[Denyse]

Oh wow. I could have written much of this post! My Brett has always had such a hard time sleeping. He has never slept through the night. he typically wakes up at least 3 times a night. It has gotten better over the past few months.

From the very beginning (and it was BAD in the beginning) I've felt that there HAD to be some underlying reason for him not being able to sleep. He also has asthma/allergies. When he was treated for flare ups, he would also sleep better. He's been on pulmicort treatments for the last 5 months and is going to be on them for the next 6 months. That has helped him to at least develop a pattern. I definitely noticed a very direct correlation between the asthma/treatments and sleeping.

We can't pinpoint the problem and our doctor has little to offer in the way of help but I wanted to say, your friend is NOT alone. I would love to find a solution to this.