kidsleepinfo

Causes of Pediatric Insomnia

The most common cause of sleeplessness in children are sleep-related breathing disorders. These sleep disorders are caused by difficulty breathing which intensifies during sleep as the muscles in the body relax. Even mild breathing difficulty, like a stuffy nose, can wreak havoc on sleep, as anyone who has had a cold can verify. Children with mild breathing difficulty may look almost normal during the day, and many times the real cause of a sleep problem is missed because of this. They may only have nasal congestion and mouth breathe and it is dismissed because physicians are unaware it can be linked to sleep problems. Children with obvious breathing problems usually also snore, which is always abnormal in children and should be discussed with the physician. Children who don't snore may still be having mild breathing difficulty during sleep and the only obvious clue may be insomnia. Children with allergies, asthma, and any condition that blocks the nose or throat, including big tonsils and adenoids, can cause difficulty falling or staying asleep. The most important thing to examine when evaluating insomnia is these areas because these affect breathing and sleep-related breathing disorders are the most frequent cause of insomnia.

Children with an allergy to Cow's milk, which is contained in many formulas and breast milk if the mother eats dairy products, can be very irritable and sleep poorly. Most of the irritability is due to gastrointestinal pain caused by a direct action of the milk on the gut,  but these children also frequently congested, leading to two reasons for sleeping - chronic pain and difficulty breathing. These children are also overtired, which increases irritability.

Mild attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is linked to mild sleep-related breathing disorders in over 70% of patients.

Restless leg syndrome is a sleep disorder caused by abnormal movements of the arms or legs during sleep that leads to frequent waking. These children kick or swing their arms and legs while asleep, and the movement actually wakes them. Most of the arousals don't last long enough to be registered consciously, but they disrupt the normal sleep cycle prevent the child from getting rest.