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Do you have a sleeptalker?

Frequently children can be heard, seemingly having a conversation with an imaginary individual. Sleeptalking is quite common in both children and adults. It has been studied quite thoroughly in sleep laboratories. It is found to occur in all stages of sleep. Many parents say they notice that their child will sleeptalk if they are quite tired the day before their night’s rest.

The talking in sleeptalk usually involves a few words that are difficult to distinguish. Longer episodes of sleeptalk may involve the sleeper’s life and concerns, but the sleeper generally does not relate dreams during his sleep. Nor does he reveal deep, dark secrets. Sleeptalking alone requires no treatment. Sometimes sleeptalking is accompanied by night terrors and sleepwalking. (Source: Peter W. Welty, M.D., F.A.A.P.)

I just found this article. It’s very helpful for me to understand more about asthma and what had happened. It’s true that it is very often that my daughters have cough; it seems that the cough has never recovered fully. Now I know that it is just one of the symptoms. I hope this article will be helpful to some other parents.

When you think of the respiratory tract, picture an upside down tree that starts with a large trunk (or windpipe) that keeps branching and getting smaller and smaller until it ends in the tiniest of twigs (small bronchioles). The medium sized bronchioles are tubes that have an inner lining of muscle that can constrict and get smaller, or relax and get larger. When you need more air, the bronchioles will dilate, or open up as a result of the relaxation of the muscle, and this lets more air in.

In asthma, two things occur at the level of the medium and smaller bronchioles. First, there is a spasm or constricting of the muscles which causes a narrowing of the tube. And secondly, there is an increased production of mucus which further narrows the opening of the bronchiole. When this happens, a person can get air into the lungs, but it is difficult to get the air out. The air actually gets trapped in the lungs causing the lungs to overinflate. So an asthmatic has to forcibly exhale to get each breath out. Because of the narrowing of the bronchiole, you hear the wheeze as the air passes through the narrowed opening.

Asthma medications, or bronchodilators, work by causing the muscles of the bronchioles to relax and open up.

A person doesn’t have to wheeze to have asthma. Asthma can represent a whole spectrum from very mild, to very severe. In some cases there is mild spasm of the muscle and little mucus production. There might not be enough spasm to actually cause wheezing. But there is enough to cause the bronchioles to be “irritated”, and this is what causes the persistent and nagging cough. In most cases the asthma medications do relieve the spasm and make the cough go away.

The majority of toddlers engage in some biting between their first and third birthdays. Probably the most common reason is that it is one of the few ways of communicating that’s effective for them, before verbal skills are developed. However, not all children bite. Some choose other forms of communication, such as grabbing, shoving, or punching.

Another reason toddlers bite is to express frustration, a feeling which is very common with toddlers, because both their communication skills and their motor skills are so limited. Toddlers may also bite because they’re teething or because they put everything in their mouths anyway, so why not someone’s arm? It could even be something as simple as hunger.

But how do you teach your child not to bite?  Make it perfectly clear that the biting is hurtful and wrong and point out to your child how much pain their biting has caused. If you discover that your child is biting out of frustration, try giving them an alternative to express to people they are having a difficult time.  Though language is a difficult task at this age, most toddlers can be taught words that are appropriate for such a situation.  For instance, “You need to tell mommy or daddy that you need help and not bite us,” or “Show mommy what you need, but don’t bite.  You’ll hurt her if you bite and I know you don’t want to hurt mommy, do you?”

Experts agree that parents should try not to give biting so much attention that it becomes an attention-getter. This is true of all behavior that you don’t want to see repeated.  Firmly tell the child again that there is no biting allowed, that it is wrong, and that it hurts people.

A relative of mine has a 13 year-old son, a very nice young boy. Yet, I was surprised when I found out that he still sucked his thumb!

I talked to the mother. I asked her why she didn’t stop it.

Then, the story rolled.

She has been trying to stop it. So hard. But, it seems to fail, again and again. The reason is simply because the little boy still doesn’t feel comfortable with himself and his surrounding. Especially, knowing that the mother is working.

She planned to quit. It’s just, she got divorced and she had to support the family. And, the divorce made the thumb sucking worse.

All she can do now is to take the son–who has dental problems–to the dentist. And, she plans to take him to a psychologist to build his confidence.

That is very sad, for me. That could have been prevented or stopped earlier. It is harder to make him stop for he has been doing that for more than 10 years.

What parents can do to help their kids stop thumb sucking:

• First, make it easy. Don’t expect them to just stop right away. Start with an hour without thumb sucking, a day, a week, a month…and before you know it, they stop.
• Rewards. Challenge them. If you don’t see them sucking the thumb for one week in a row, promise them a toy or a dinner at the child’s favorite restaurant.
• No yelling, no bad words! This is important because the reason they do it is simply because they don’t feel comfortable. If you yell or say bad things, it means you encourage them to do it again for they need solace.

Have a nice try!