Help! My 9 year old has had ongoing insomnia.

[Caroline4kids]

My son has been up all night, or close to it, for months now with the problem going back years. He must get a little sleep, but everytime I get up to use the loo he is awake enough to talk to me.

 

I have cut out all sugar, am forcing him to drink green drinks and take his vits and am making him get plenty of exercise during the day.

 

I have no idea why this child cannot sleep and it is driving me crazy. He also complains of back pain which I had been attributing to growing pains, but maybe it could be something else?

 

I was a high-strung, light sleeper most of my life, but nothing like this.

 

Any ideas? :bigear:

[Scarlett]

My son has been up all night, or close to it, for months now with the problem going back years. He must get a little sleep, but everytime I get up to use the loo he is awake enough to talk to me.

 

I have cut out all sugar, am forcing him to drink green drinks and take his vits and am making him get plenty of exercise during the day.

 

I have no idea why this child cannot sleep and it is driving me crazy. He also complains of back pain which I had been attributing to growing pains, but maybe it could be something else?

 

I was a high-strung, light sleeper most of my life, but nothing like this.

 

Any ideas? :bigear:

 

Do you allow any electronics in his room? How long before bedtime are they shut off?

[Kimber]

Is he constipated? If he is, then he might have too much calcium and not enough magnesium in his diet. To help me sleep, I take liquid magnesium every night. I also give it to my kids to keep them regular, it also helps them to sleep.

 

HTH,

 

Kimberly

[Snickerdoodle]

Does he have a regular wake up time? Have you tried making him get up at the same time every day no matter what?

[AnnetteB]

Back pain isn't normal for a nine year old. Constipation could be the cause, but you should consult with a pediatrician. My kids will say that they can't sleep and try to sleep in. We've suggested that they "take themselves on a little walk in their mind" and imagine a trail through forest or somewhere else relaxing. It has worked for them. They can pick up on the same little story thread each night to help them drift off.

[Caroline4kids]

Is he constipated? If he is, then he might have too much calcium and not enough magnesium in his diet. To help me sleep, I take liquid magnesium every night. I also give it to my kids to keep them regular, it also helps them to sleep.

 

HTH,

 

Kimberly

 

That may help too if constipation is the problem. He says he has 1 bm in the morning. That is normal right?

 

I have some Natural Calm (magnesium) I will give to him a couple of nights in a row and see if that helps.

[Caroline4kids]

Back pain isn't normal for a nine year old. Constipation could be the cause, but you should consult with a pediatrician. My kids will say that they can't sleep and try to sleep in. We've suggested that they "take themselves on a little walk in their mind" and imagine a trail through forest or somewhere else relaxing. It has worked for them. They can pick up on the same little story thread each night to help them drift off.

 

I know it has bugged me that he has any back pain. He has been to the doctor and chiropracter and told them about it, but they couldn't find anyting unusual except some bad posture and tight muscles.

 

Maybe with magnesium and a little bedtime mind journey will help.

 

Thanks!

[Plucky]

Is he showing signs of anxiety? When my ds first started showing signs of severe anxiety/depression his sleep was the first to go. He couldn't sleep for months and it also affected my sleep. He still suffers from periodic insomnia.

[macdaddi]

Now he takes the Natural Calm or Cal-Mag (1 tsp. mixed with warm water) every night just before he lays down to sleep. He's been doing it for over a year and it still helps him sleep. I do have to make sure he gets some sunlight and exercise during the day, too.

[swellmomma]

Have you tried melatonin? My 3 older kids all have to take it because their body's just don't produce enough to make normal sleep/wake cycles. They come by it honestly, I have had insomnia since I started puberty as well. My oldest 2 take 2 tablets a night(so 6mg), my 3rd takes 1 tab(3mg) each night. Also ruling out constipation is a good start.

[Caroline4kids]

Is he showing signs of anxiety? When my ds first started showing signs of severe anxiety/depression his sleep was the first to go. He couldn't sleep for months and it also affected my sleep. He still suffers from periodic insomnia.

 

What did you do for his anxiety? I don't think he is depressed, but he is the younger brother of an overachiever and I think it stresses him out. He is a classic middle child who is often trying to get the spotlight once in a while.

 

I wouldn't want to use drugs if I could help it. I have had post partum ocd and depression that I finally was able to treat naturally. Maybe I should try some natural remedy? I used Bach florals with success after three pregnancies.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

I've been an insomniac for years and on behalf of your little guy I beg, beg, you to take him to some kind of health care provider.

 

As I said, it's been years. Really, life without sleep is a lousy way to try to live. I've been trying to self-diagnose/self-treat (quitting espresso, coffee, getting sunlight, vitamins, et c.) for a long time. I recently went to the dr. and they think it's a pesky little blood/heart problem I never knew I had. It's still undiagnosed -- the symptoms are identified but not yet the cause -- but I am thrilled, T.h.r.i.l.l.e.d! to know that it isn't just in my mind and that soon I'll have it worked out. Frankly, discovering that something was wrong with me was about the best news I'd had in years.

 

Please, take him in. Tell them straight up: we're not interested in drugs. We want to know the root cause and approach it from there. That's what I did.

 

God Bless!

[Plucky]

What did you do for his anxiety? I don't think he is depressed, but he is the younger brother of an overachiever and I think it stresses him out. He is a classic middle child who is often trying to get the spotlight once in a while.

 

I wouldn't want to use drugs if I could help it. I have had post partum ocd and depression that I finally was able to treat naturally. Maybe I should try some natural remedy? I used Bach florals with success after three pregnancies.

 

Well, his anxiety/depression was caused by his realization that he couldn't do basic things he wanted to do and was feeling very bad about himself. He ended up having ADHD and we have treated him for it. He's still an anxious boy but through medication and counseling he's happy again.

 

He cannot have too much computer/video game play late in the evening. One scary movie commercial during during a televised football game can set him off and he will not sleep. A documentary can cause it, too. So we're very careful with what he watches.

 

This is probably nothing like your son. However, anxiety can cause sleep problems, also a kid that just can't settle his brain can as well. I'd just take him to a pediatrician and watch him. I think the only thing they'll recommend for sleep problems even due to anxiety is melatonin, that's what my ped. did.

 

He may have something going on with his complaints about his back. Take him for a check up and give him some calms or melatonin. It didn't help my son but helps a lot of people.

[Amy from WT]

My son has had insomnia ever since he was an infant. He's also got ADHD, and yes, I do believe the two are related. He just can't slow down enough - his body OR his brain - to go to sleep. He's been helped by (a) regular chiropractic treatment, and (b) one melatonin tablet each night. The combination, plus the onset of puberty (!) has been enough to get him to sleep regularly each night by midnight. I know...doesn't seem like enough sleep....but for him, it is. And he doesn't like to read (also a by-product of his ADHD) unless the only choice he's got is to either read or go to sleep, so I have always tried to put him to bed at a regular time anyway, say 9 or 10 o'clock, without electronics and with a good book, so that bedtime has turned into his reading time.

 

He REALLY has anxiety when sleepovers or campouts with his friends arise. Because then, even with the one melatonin tablet, he is still awake all night long. I used to get phone calls at 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning from a very anxious child...lying awake all night with snoring friends all around you is NOT fun! Now I send him armed with melatonin AND a Benadryl tablet. I'm sure the other parents are shocked at me, but the combination is relatively gentle, and really puts him out when the time is right. Thanks to this thread, now I know it's OK for him to take TWO melatonins, so we'll try that next time instead!

 

I don't know if any of this is helpful at all, but I figure when you're looking for the right solution for your own situation, it helps to hear what has worked for everyone else. I hope you are able to find what works for your own son, and soon! All the best.

[Mommyof4ks]

If constipation is the culprit try giving him a fiber pill or high fiber foods several times a day.

 

Melatonin is not a drug, but rather something that the body makes naturally and some bodies just don't make enough of it. We use that combined with the mag. to help my youngest to sleep.

 

I am a bit of an alarmist, because our son had the 'worst case scenario' given his symptoms, but I would be sure that the ped does xrays and blood work since he is having back pain. Prolonged pain in kids is not something to mess around with as it could be a symptom of something more serious, and when you throw in the sleep issue...

[Debbi in Texas]

He sounds exactly like my son, including the back pain. He had ankle/foot problems as well. We have taken him to a foot doctor and hopefully are on the right track with tht.

 

For his insomnia he takes melatonin. I always wondered if his insomnia was related to his being in the hospital for 17 days when he was born. The light is never off in the nursery.

[Janna]

We went through a bout of this last year, and ironically enough, again last night.

 

Last year, starting in October maybe? All the way through January of this year I think, she wasn't able to fall asleep. She'd be awake until 3-4 am, and still getting up at her regular time. This bothered her, as well as us. A lot of times she'd be in her room crying because she wanted to go to sleep but just couldn't.

 

I took her to our family Dr. There wasn't anything wrong with her, and I even left her with the Dr. alone, thinking perhaps she needed to talk about stuff that she couldn't talk about with me (I was pregnant at the time and she was very upset at the prospect of a new baby, so we thought maybe she had things she wanted to say about - anxiety - but didn't want to talk to us about it). But the Dr. said she really didn't have anything to say. She truly was just not able to sleep.

 

She has always had an active imagination, and she is very, *very* talkative. She has always, since she was an infant, needed to talk (babble) for about a half hour before being able to fall asleep. Even when she was an infant, we learned that if we didn't hold her on our laps and just let her babble, telling us about her day (or so we thought she was doing, LOL) she would not go to sleep. Even as she grew, she would spend time telling herself stories before she would go to sleep. She still sometimes does this and she's 10yo (in fact right now, as I'm typing, she's talking to herself as she cleans up the room we're in).

 

So, we decided she needed to journal for as long as she wanted. She already had many journals -she loves to write. But I think she was afraid to have her light on, to have it be known she was awake. I think she thought she'd get in trouble. So having permission to have her light on and to write in her journal for as long as she needed, really helped her. We didn't let her read - I mean, she could right after going to bed, but then she had to journal some and keep doing that until she could fall asleep, because sometimes reading too long fed into her imagination. It didn't matter what she wrote about or if it made any sense. Also, because she was anxious about not being able to sleep, she was frequently looking at the clock in her room and becoming increasingly worried that it was getting later and later. So we took the clock out of her room~not as punishment, but just so she would be more relaxed. And finally, we started giving her a half of an adult Motrin. She has issues with her feet that we're still unsure about, and sometimes her feet would ache. Even when her feet weren't bothering her, we were giving her the Motrin, simply because I think it relaxed her a bit.

 

On New Year's Eve of this year, she had an overnight lock in party at our church. Up all night, of course. So yesterday she came home and took a long nap. Last night, around midnight, she comes in, crying, to say that she can't sleep again. It was because her mind was just so active in thinking about all of the fun activities that had done the night before. So again, we told her to journal. She ended up not needing to. I think her coming out to tell us she was still up, and crying about it, and seeing that we weren't in the least bit upset, made her feel "OK" about it and she was able to fall right to sleep.

 

I don't know why she always thinks she's going to be in trouble. She never is. Seriously. She's an extremely well-behaved, compliant child. But she has high expectations of herself and she is a worry-wart. My mother is the exact. same. way.

 

Anyway, after her doing the journaling and taking the 1/2 Motrin, she was able to sleep again. We haven't had the issue arise again until last night, after almost a full year of it not being a problem.

 

Hopefully this helps you some, or jump starts some ideas with you in your ds. Oh, and btw, I did ask my Dr. about giving my dd Meletonin. She was adamant that it would not be wise to give it to her at such a young age. I know that there are so many on this board who have/had given that and who would roll their eyes at what my Dr. said. Perhaps my Dr. *was* wrong, but the truth is, I don't know enough about meletonin myself to know whether I needed to heed what she said, or ignore it. Therefore, I decided to follow it. I never ended up needing to research meletonin, so I still don't know about it to tell you whether you should or shouldn't give it to your ds.

[Caroline4kids]

Well, last night I gave him 1 tsp. of Natural Calm magnesium. He said he fell right asleep!!

 

:party:

 

 

 

 

I am going to continue for a couple of weeks and see what happens. I talked to the chiro about melatonin and she said that was fine in a very low dose. I have taken it on and off for years too.

 

 

 

 

I was scared about the back thing so I am going to take him in again. I am trying to comfort myself with the fact his lymph nodes are rarely inflamed, no fever, and he is now getting regular supplementation. He

 

 

 

 

I know this may seem weird, but I have used this homeopathic

machine on myself for a couple years now and it has helped many people with cancer heal. Basically, it makes a homeopathic remedy from your own body. My mom died of cancer treatment (heart failure from Tamoxifin) so I have been a little obsessive about alternative treatment. I DO NOT sell them or anything, just so you know, but it has taken a fever down in my kids in minutes. My daughter, when she was an infant, had several high fevers and within minutes the fever would break and go away. Anyway, I have never regularily used it on my kids except when they appeared sick so I think I am going to try it on him for a few weeks on his back ( and see the doctor too) and see what happens.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for all your insight. It is nice to know that I am not alone in this. I thought it very strange at first, but I remember being a little like him, so maybe it is a genetic thing. :)