SAFETY FACTORS IN THE TREATMENT OF SLEEPING PROBLEMS AMONG CHILDREN

Sometimes, it isn’t just adults that experience trouble getting enough sleep. Stress, anxiety, pressure, and work can all make a person’s problems with sleeplessness worsen enough to require the use of sleeping aids. However, these are not the only reasons that people cannot get to sleep, even if they are the most dominant.

In the same vein, it is not only adults and people put under tremendous pressure that have trouble at night and need sleeping aids. There are instances when little children need them as well, though they usually have different reasons for needing sleeping aids from the adults that keep an eye on them.

Anyone who has had children will understand that taking care of them can be a tremendous undertaking. To some, it is particularly hard during the earlier years, when sleep can be very difficult to attain and even harder to maintain. Sleepless nights and hours spent trying to figure out what is causing the child discomfort are not all that rare for parents of infants.

While some might consider using medical sleeping aids as a drastic option in getting a baby to fall asleep and stay asleep, fewer patient parents might view it as a perfectly acceptable solution to their problem.  That approach, however, is still being evaluated in terms of medical safety.

While it is perfectly acceptable to treat pediatric insomnia with milder sleep medication than those used on adults, there are questions on whether or not that should extend to regular sleeping problems. Some children simply have trouble sleeping, which can be caused by any number of reasons.

Using medication is a touchy area for the treatment of these problems, mainly because the doses designed for adults might prove to be too potent for a child’s body to process properly. The lack of testing on just how much of a dose would be safe for a child to take is a question that lacks an answer, because there hasn’t been too much research into that area.

Most sleeping aids geared for children fall under the umbrella of therapy and treatment. There are a number of techniques and approaches used for sleep problems in children that are tied to behavioural issues, but the pharmacological aspect is only rarely touched upon. Doctors are apprehensive to suggest any sort of medication for pediatric sleeping problems.

This is both due to the high risk of side effects if given conventional drugs and the lack of concrete, solid options for medications that are geared towards the use of children. The lack of research on the matter reflects the lack of willingness to venture into that area, ostensibly due to the higher risk factors involved.

However, that does not mean that medicating a child to sleep isn’t something that doesn’t happen. The fact that over-the-counter drugs that do this are enough proof that it is something that parents are willing to do.

Statistics show that there might be two distinct patterns to how this medication happens, with one reflecting short-term problems and the other reaching into medication for conditions such as Attention Deficit – Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

ADHD medications sometimes have components that have the effect of putting a child to sleep, though this is usually just a side effect of the drugs.