What are the treatments for parasomnias?
There are novel treatments to reduce these parasomnias, these events. The first one is to ensure that the child gets enough sleep. You've got to investigate why the child isn't getting enough sleep, and there could be a whole bunch of things. A child may not be getting enough sleep because they have some behavioural problems associated with it; they go into bed late, or it's a chaotic lifestyle in the home. They don't have good sleep hygiene and good sleep habits and they're going to bed at eleven. Your two-year-old is going to bed at eleven thirty because they're watching TV with the parent. One's got to investigate what's going on in the milieu to ensure that they're getting enough sleep, and if they're not find out why they're not getting enough sleep. If you've tried that; you've now ensured that this child's getting enough sleep and good quality sleep, but it's not working, and they're still having these events, then the next thing is to do something called scheduled awakening. These parasomnias are usually predictable. As they tend to occur when you transition from a deeper sleep to a lighter sleep, they tend to occur usually before midnight (this is because you tend to have more of the deeper sleep or slow wave sleep before midnight). So, most parents will usually be awake when these things happen, and they can be quite predictable. So, if you can identify that "Oh, my child is going to...", and usually they do this at quarter to twelve or eleven thirty, then this is when I know it's going to happen. In scheduled awakening what you do is about fifteen minutes before the anticipated event you briefly go in and you arouse the child, briefly, and you let them fall back to sleep. Somehow that seems to nudge the ultradian rhythm and nudge the sleep cycle, and seems to re-synchronize it. You may have to do that for a few nights but often that will cure the problem or at least reduce it. If that fails and it's a significant issue, then there are medications that one can do.
