Child behaviour medication

[stevensmummy]

I'm having serious problems with my 2 and a half yr old just now. hes not sleeping and having terrible night tremors (as the doc calls them) and is horrendously badly behaved during the day. I'm practically at my wits end with him. 75% of the day is a tantrum. He throws stuff, kicks, punches, bites etc. Hes even started reacting negatively toward the baby which he never did before.

We were given homeopathic meds for the sleeping, which the doc says may have affected the behaviour, I'm to give it 2 weeks then try again. But he is referin us to a behavioural specialist at the hosp. He was mentioning medications. When I mentioned Ritalin, my bro was going to be getting it, he nodded and said yes, those sorts of possibilities. The thought of med for his behaviour in one light seems so extreme, yet in another I would welcome the help as he drives me to tears most days, and the sleep issues are undearable, can last over an hour in the middle if the night.

Has anyone experienced this medications before or indeed any of the things I describe?

Plz help, I'm slowing drying of exapseration

Sarah x

[Scarlet]

Stevensmummy,

I think it's pretty early to be talking of meds for ADHD. Mind you the behaviour specialist should be able to help by observing his behaviour and giving you techniques to work on at home, which will help change it.
Did you ever used to watch that that programme, 'little house of tiny terrors' can't remember the exact name, where families and their children stayed in this house for a week, whilst the psychologist Tanya (?) observed their behaviour and helped change it... she was a behavioural psychologist.

It sounds to me as if he's not getting restful sleep either, which could be resulting in him being over-tired in the day and playing up..
I should get yourself some magnesium for him, and some massage oil and give him a massage before he sleeps.
I can't imagine the homeopathic remedy would have affected his behaviour in any way. Perhaps it's a stage he's going through, and maybe he has some insecuries and is jealous of his brother. All these things can be ironed out without medication hun...I'm sure of this.

My eldest had night terrors for ages, and he still sleepwalks to this day. It runs in my family though, so I never worried about it. It did disturb our sleep for a while though. I used to use a night-light for him and read him a story, a nice bath and a massage, lots of things to calm hm down before bedtime.

I wonder how long you will have to wait for the referral, any ideas hun?

Also how about putting him in a nursery a couple of mornings a week to burn off some of his excess energy and tire him out? It'll give you a break as well. Would that be possible?

Did you also try cutting out the additives in his diet hun?

Let us know how you get on

Hugs

Scarlet
X

[stevensmummy]

Hi Scarlet, Thanks for the speedy reply.

I've tried the additives it made a fractional diff. The nursery not really an option, we live in countryside and with epilepsy I cant drive. And apparently one of the sideeffects of the homeopathic stuff is what I described to the doc. hes a homeopathic specialist and said its something that will need sorted outwith homeopathy but we can try to help in the short term.

Noone has ever defined him as having ADHD and I assumed he was a little young for that but I guess maybe not. I agree totally with the lack of restful sleep, he doesnt sleep well at all. What will magnesium do?

I'm beginning to think the end is close and I'm about to jump in a hole. This is really topping off all the issues thats going on just now. I have so little time to do anythign without this. My stress levels are running at about 90% and I feel like I have a constant migraine. Hes not helping, and i think i am blaming him to a degree. I discussed it with my dad last night and came away with the opinion that I dont want to discuss anything with him now. In a nut shell he blamed me for it. Said it was a result of my epilepsy and what he saw re seizures, and all my pni outbursts just recently ( although he didnt use that exact words). Things like that kick you when you're down and I really didnt need it. I am considering calling my HV to talk with her 2day. What do you think?

[stevensmummy]

I called the HV, shes coming at 2pm, I called thinking I could discuss it on the phone but ended in tears and asking for help.

What do I tell her? The steven stuff? my stuff? everything? I'm afraid I might fall in a heap in tears. I'm scared!

[yoyo]

I know it may be hard but try to tell the HV about most of it - to talk about these things does help and gives teh HV a better picture of how to help you best.

Thinking of you x x x Hope things go ok x x x x

[Scarlet]

I see hun, I remember taking my eldest to a homeopath and he said sometimes the symptoms worsen before they get better. I like alternative remedies for children. Did you ever try cranial osteopathy? (I took my son for attention problems). They state that they can sort out childrens sleep problems with a few sessions as well.

As for magnesium, it's a natural calmer. I read that deficiencies in magnesium can cause sleep problems in children.. so perhaps up his intake.

Here's some foods that contain magnesium hun
www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=75

Glad you called your HV. Nothing is your fault Sarah, and sorry if your Dad implied it was, so if you do fall down in a pile and bawl your eyes out then so be it... As for Stevens behaviour, it'll be sorted...there's lots that you can try.

Just a thought, but have you tried some one-on-one time with him. Does he get a bit of mummy time to himself. Is is possible you can get someone to look after Stuart for an hour each day whilst you give Steven some quality mummy time (a bit of play, reading to him, taking him to the park on his own, messing about in the garden with him, planting seeds etc..stuff like this), I think this will work wonders. I don't know if you are feeling well enough to do this, but it might be what the behaviour specialist suggests.

Hugs and let us know what the HV says.

Scarlet
X

[winegirl]

Hi Sarah

Sorry I cant offer any advice on the meds for your soon, it i snot something I know anything about. Just really wanted to offer an ear and to say I am thinking of you, hope it goes well with HV.

(()) Hugs

Winegirl x

[stevensmummy]

Yep floods of tears and a pile on the carpet! But I think i do feel better. We talked over the things the doc had discussed and she gave me leaflets on night terrors and sleep patterns. Some stuff on the controlled crying mechanism and said to think about them and discuss it with my OH. I tld her pretty much everything, most of it related to my dad and how he reacted but alot about other silly stuff that I was struggling with and i do feel much better. If not a little silly.

With regard to the sleep stuff, I'm going to talk it over with Michael see what he says. Has anyone tried the controlled crying routine? It seems quite difficult, but it also sounds like it could work. She said something about being80% effective in 4 days, surely that can only be better than what we have now. As for the night terrors we're to leave him if hes asleep and just keep a watch then reassure when hes awake.

xx

[Scarlet]

I have done the controlled crying with my baby (1 year old) and it's worked after 3 weeks. He sleeps through the night now. There are some nights he wakes up, but only for a second or two...

It really does work Sarah, but you have to persevere and be prepared for a few nights (could be a week) with little sleep in the beginning, but it's definitely worth it in the long run.

[stevensmummy]

cheers scarlet, I'm really tempted to try it. Will discuss it with michael, let you know how it goes

xx

[Scarlet]

Try it Sarah you've nothing to lose, by the sounds of it you aren't getting much sleep anyway.

I think there's a thread on it somewhere that Caterina started....I'll have a look for you. Better go, gotta cook. Hope you have a lovely evening hun.

Hugs

Scarlet
X

[winegirl]

I did it too Sarah. My LO always slept through the night then at just over a year old wasnt having a bar of being left alone! It took me about 2 weeks, and it was really really hard. But she has gone back to sleeping through the night again and it was so worth it x

[southerngirl]

I have a 1 year old who doesnt sleep so know how you feel.
I have a daughter who suffered night terrors and my heart goes out to you. K use to stare straight through us and just scream. She was about 3 then and we ended up giving her a drink in a beaker which seemed to bring her around enough to snap her out of it but not wake her fully. Not something the drs would say but it worked for us.
When you have a child that is hard work it makes everything else seem so much worse but you will get support here any time you need it
Liz
x

[stevensmummy]

We've had a long talk about this sleeping and the whole controlled crying stuff. We reckon we'll maybe give it a few more weeks yet. Theres a pretty good chance we'll be getting another house and moving within the next 4 weeks and I kind of think its prob a bit pointless as there is going to be so much upheaval and stress from the move he'll be a little upset anyway.

thanks liz re your advice with the night terrors, I might just try that. We've also since discovered hes afraid of shadows. He was at mums and got upset at the cats shadow on the wall thining it was a monster. So mum played the whole bunny shaped shadow game and he seems not so worried. He waves to his shadow now when he sees it, so maybe some of it is related. Well I hope so!

Thanks for everything. Reckon I'll start another thread about moving house advice see if anyone knows any good ways to introduce it and make it not scary.

Sarah x

[southerngirl]

I may have a book that could help. Will see if I can find it for you.
My daughters terrors were based on spiders, a friend gave us a tarantula skin which he told her would eat all the bad spiders which reassured her a lot. Its amazing how their minds work isnt it.
Liz
x