Insomnia ¦ Trouble Sleeping: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, Remedies for Kids and Adults (My child can't sleep)

If your child finds it difficult to fall asleep or keeps waking up multiple times during the night, he might be under stress. Find out what causes it and try to resolve it. There are many reasons for insomnia in kids, which could cause your child enough stress to prevent him/her from sleeping properly:

• Too many homework assignments that are also very hard to solve;
• Moving to a new school, town or even country;
• Problems with friends;
• Bullying;
• Constantly seeing his/her parents arguing.

If your child's insomnia lasts for more than a few weeks, it might be time to see a pediatrician. Your child's doctor can run some tests and exclude any health conditions that affect your child's sleep (there are many reasons for insomnia in kids) and maybe even refer you to a specialist, if needed.

Most kids are afraid of the dark and/or monsters. It usually manifests when kids are 2 or 3 years old. This fear can cause bad dreams and affect the quality of sleep all on its own, but it can also make your child want to sleep with lights, which can furthet disrupt your child's sleep.

Here is what you can try:

• Explain your child what is fear and that fear is a normal emotion. Everybody is afraid of something.
• Don't get frustrated and tell your child that fear of the dark is stupid or cowardly. Acknowledge his/her fear but calmly explain that there is nothing to be afraid of.
• Don't intimidate your child with the dark and monsters to make him/her obey you. That way your child may think that the monsters are real and you are supposed to convince him/her of the opposite.
• Get a night light that has adjustable intensity of light and gradually lower the intensity until your child is able to sleep in complete dark.

Watching TV for a long period of time, every day, is a bad habit on it's own. But not only is it a bad way for your child to spend time, it can also negatively affect your child's sleep.

Every electronic device emits blue light (including energy-efficient lightbulbs) that can suppress melatonin that we naturally release at night. That can lead to poor-quality sleep and insomnia.

How long your child spends in front of a TV or a computer is not the only thing that's problematic. What he sees is also important. Make sure not to expose your child to movies or games that contain elements of horror or explicit graphic violence. These images can get stuck in your child's brain and cause night terrors, bad dreams, and subsequently, irregular sleep or insomnia.

Does alcohol cause insomnia? Can birth control cause insomnia? How to diagnose insomnia? There are many books out there elaborating on insomnia that can teach you about and offer solutions on how to deal with insomnia, for both long-term and new insomniacs.

Some of the popular books are:

• The Effortless Sleep Method
• Say Goodnight to Insomnia
• Sleep Soundly Every Night, Feel Fantastic Every Day
• The Insomnia Workbook
• Sleep Smarter

Not all children should go to bed at the same time. If you arbitrarily set a bedtime for you child, whether he/she is tired or not, that could cause your child to toss around, imagine things in the dark, think about all sorts of things, and get anxious which could make it impossible for him/her to fall asleep. 

Examine your kid's behaviour, the time it gets up, activities it engages into, during the day, and determine the right bedtime according to that. Once you find a bedtime that works, stick to it because going in the bed at the same time every day is important for good night's rest.

Even though the role of melatonin is complex and still not studied enough, it is certain that it affects the quality of your sleep. Don't spend an entire day inside. Go out and expose yourself to natural light as much as you can. That brings balance to your melatonin level, which can help you sleep easier at night. 

Bedtime routine is crucial for your child's good sleep. Decide at what hour should your child go to bed and when it should wake up, and stick to it. Have a ritual you can share with your child every night before bed:

• Play a game with your child or watch a cartoon that he or she can connect to bedtime.
• Give him/her a cup of warm milk, cocoa, or something else he/she likes.
• Give him a bath always at the same time (right before bed).
• Read to him in bed.

Sugar and caffeine can have a huge negative impact on your child's quality of sleep. Limit anything that contains sugar or caffeine during the day and completely avoid it in the evening.

Remember that caffeine is not only found in coffee or energetic drinks. It can also be found in tea, cocoa, carbonated beverages and all sorts of candies and cookies. Read the label to find out if a certain product contains caffeine.

Having a proper nap in the middle of the day can have lots of benefits for you child. Studies show that children with regular daytime naps ahve better learning and cognitive abilities. And of course, it gives you some free time.

But if your child continuosly sleeps 2-3 hours in late afternoon or evening, this could seriously disrupt his sleep-wake schedule and make it hard for him/her to fall asleep at an appropriate time. So, make sure that naps are taken early in the afteroon or before that.