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The sleep disorder of sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, affects approximately 14% of school-age children between five and twelve years old at least once. Approximately one quarter of the children with this sleep disorder have more frequent episodes. Sleepwalking is more common in boys then it is in girls. Most children that sleepwalk outgrow the symptoms of this sleep disorder by adolescence as their nervous systems develop.In children this sleep disorder is thought to be the result of the immaturity of the brain’s sleep / wake cycle. Normally the entire brain wakes up at the same time. However, in the case of a sleepwalker, the entire brain does not wake up together. The portion that is responsible for mobility wakes up while the portion responsible for cognition and awareness stays asleep. The child is actually in a deep state of sleep. With this sleep disorder the brain remains partially asleep but the body is able to move. It is common for the sleepwalker to get out of bed and walk around. Sometimes they get dressed or go outside. Even though the sleepwalker’s eyes are open and they see what they are doing, their expression remains blank. They do not respond to conversation or their name being called. A sleepwalker’s movements usually appear clumsy. It is not uncommon for them to trip over furniture or knock over things as they move around. A sleepwalking episode usually happens one to two hours after the child goes to sleep. Most of these episodes last for fifteen minutes or less, but some can last for an hour or more.This sleep disorder in children is usually outgrown and treatment is not generally necessary. In most cases, a parent gently guiding the child back to bed is all that is needed. There is not any need to wake the child. However, there is about 1% of the population that sleepwalk as adults. Adults that have this sleep disorder did not necessarily have it as a child. In adults a sleepwalking episode can be triggered by stress, anxiety, sleep fragmentation, sleep deprivation, or certain medical conditions such as epilepsy. Treatment for adults with this sleep disorder is often dependent upon the amount of danger they are in during an episode. For example, a sleepwalker who opens doors and goes outside onto a busy city street is in danger. A sleepwalker that gets up and goes into the living room and sits down on a chair most likely is not in danger. Treatments can include behavioral therapies, self hypnosis, or prescription medication. A sleepwalker, whether adult or child, needs to have a safe area so that they do not get hurt during an episode. Precautions can be taken to eliminate some dangers. Parents should make sure the child’s bedroom does not have any sharp or breakable objects. Doors should be locked at night to keep the sleepwalker from going outside. Sometimes it is necessary to put bells on doors to alert the sleeping parent that their child is sleepwalking. Large glass windows and doors should be covered with heavy drapery to lessen the chance of having the sleepwalker walk through it while it is closed.A child with the sleep disorder of somnambulism needs to be protected and kept safe during an episode. It is the environment they are in that is the danger more then the sleep disorder itself.

Each year when a child makes that transition from months at home to going back to school, there is always a transition. As adults we might compare it to that feeling when we go off on two weeks vacation and then return to work. Except the transition is much more difficult for youth because each year it is a new school routine, new teachers and they have often been out of school for months, not weeks.But the transition from being a child in the home to the classroom is most extreme for a very young child facing that first day at kindergarten. It helps to think about that transition by trying to look at the challenge through the eyes of your little girl or boy as much as you can. In most cases, being at home with mom, dad, siblings and the family pet may be all that he or she knows. Not only does it seem that the world revolves around family, the family home is a place of comfort and other than brief outings, the world is not a place that the child feels comfortable with yet.So if you take your child to school for that first day and leave her there, the environment she is now in could not be more strange to her than if you put your child in the middle of the rain forest to fend for herself. Small wonder so many children undergo extreme anxiety that first day of kindergarten when their parents leave them to the first major adjustment of life and they are doing it from a cold stop with absolutely no preparation whatsoever.There is a lot you can do to make that first day they are stetting in the classroom less strange to your child. By taking your child through some preparation times in advance of the first day, you can do a lot to make the idea of going to kindergarten normal to your child and to make that first day seem more routine and even fun when she finds her desk and begins to listen to a teacher for the first time ever.Videos can help your child visualize school and be of tremendous help. Look for children

For many moms the idea of driving up to a big scary elementary school and dropping off their child for kindergarten can be pretty frightening. And in preparing for kindergarten, getting your child ready for that moment of separation can be one of the most difficult things to do. That is why a great option for a lot of moms is not to completely separate from the child in their first weeks of kindergarten but to be an active parent and get involved volunteering at the school even in the summer before kindergarten gets underway.Kindergarten teachers are notoriously under funded and often depend heavily on the help of parents both to get ready for the school year and during the year to serve as

Going off to kindergarten is a big deal to your child. For parents who already have kids, big transitions in the lives of the kids is often taken for granted. But to put in perspective in your life, an equivalent type of event in the life of you as an adult might be a relocation to another country for a new job. For your five year old, going to kindergarten is launching into a new world, a world she has never known before. It is going to a place to do things she doesn

At some time in their childhood almost all children experience the sleep disorder of having a nightmare. They are common in children and can begin as early as two years old. They are most common in children between three and twelve years old and are considered part of the normal developmental process. However, only about 3 percent, experience night terrors, also called sleep terrors. Both of these sleep disorders can be very frightening to a child.Nightmares are dreams that are so frightening that they wake the person up. Everyone has had nightmares occasionally throughout their life and they usually are not something to worry about. Nightmares occur several hours after going to sleep during the REM stage of sleep when there is general body paralysis and active dreaming.A child can remember the nightmare once they awake and they still remember it in the morning. Sometimes this nightmare sleep disorder can become a problem if the child has nightmares very often and becomes afraid to go to sleep or becomes sleep deprived. When a nightmare occurs it is important that the parent remains calm and reassuring. There are several things that a parent can do to prevent nightmares. Discuss calm and comforting things with your child just before putting then to bed. Reading to them, or telling them a story can also be very comforting. Don’t let a child watch violent or scary shows on television, especially just before going to bed. Maintaining a relaxing bedtime routine is also important. Sometimes, nightmares indicate a more severe emotional problem within your child.Night terrors usually occur during the first few hours of sleep, during deep non-REM sleep. They often occur at the same time each night. Night terrors are characterized by screaming, crying or moaning. It is not unusual for a child experiencing a night terror to sit straight up in bed and scream. Their heart rate is increased and they experience rapid breathing. An episode of this sleep disorder can last from 10 minutes to over an hour. Although the child’s eyes are open, they are actually still asleep and when they wake up in the morning there is no memory of what happened during the night.Although night terrors can be frightening, they are not dangerous. They usually are not a sign of any type of mental distress. A parent should not try to wake the child, or comfort them, during a night terror. The best thing for a parent to do when their child is experiencing a night terror is to make sure they are safe. Generally, most children outgrow this sleep disorder after a few months or years.Several of the factors that can contribute to night terrors include being overly tired, staying up extremely late, eating a heavy meal just before going to bed, and taking certain medications. Although nightmares and night terrors can seem like a very scary type of sleep disorder to both the parents and the children involved, they are generally harmless.

Parents can celebrate a back to school party or kids may prefer to call the festivities an end of summer party. Other way, it is a fund way to look back on the summer and have a get together with everyone before school starts again (or for some the first time).An outdoor party with a barbecue is the perfect way to feed the party guests. Ask the children what their favorite parts of the summer were and what they are looking forward to most when going back to school. Try and incorporate these things into the party.Make a school bus cake using two square cake pans. Use one cake as the body of the bus and cut up the second cake making wheels and the front part of the bus that jets out. Make goodie bags for all the children to take home and place them in brown paper bags with their names written on them. Things to put in the bags:* An apple* Small notebook* Pencil* Eraser* Calculator* Anything else school related Hold a spelling bee and give a prize to the winner (maybe a new backpack). Have a large jar full of jelly beans or another fun treat and have the children guess how many are in the jar. The closest person gets to take the jar home. Think of other activities that revolve around the curriculum the children will be going back to once the school bells starting ringing again.Invite children from your child

Ask any pregnant woman who is in her first or third trimester how they are feeling and the answer will almost always be “tired”. One of the first clues that many women have that they may be expecting a visit from the stork is the fact that they find themselves droopy eyed in the middle of the day for no reason.You may find that doing a simply task as walking around the block leaves your desperate for an afternoon nap. The energy you use to have is now faced with the challenge of growing a baby and your body is hard at work. You are also producing more blood, using more water and nutrients and have a higher heart rate and metabolism when you are pregnant. While the best defensive against the tiredness you will face is to get more sleep. There are also some healthy foods choices you can make that will help you get through your day if you do not have the opportunities to take naps. First, adjust the size of your meals. Anyone who eats a large meal is going to feel tired afterwards regardless of if they are pregnant or not. Being pregnant is going to make the effect of a big meal that much worse. Most of your energy is going to be used towards digesting the meal so of course you will feel sluggish and drained. Eat smaller meals and eat more often. Eating six small meals a day will help you combat fatigue. Eating a good breakfast is the best way to start your day. You are refueling your body after a long foodless night with a good breakfast. A good breakfast is not a cup of coffee and a piece of toast. You want to stick to complex carbs and protein. Whole grain cereal and a banana for example. These foods will stay with you and keep your blood sugar and energy level up for quiet a while. Do not skip lunch. There are many people who skip lunch thinking they will make up for it by having a big dinner. This is bad when you are not pregnant but it’s even worse when you are pregnant. You need that midday meal to help refuel your body. As with your breakfast, you should keep it filled with whole grains and protein. Have a whole grain pita and stuff it with chicken salad and add a side of grapes or an apple.Plan to eat most of your calories during the day. A pregnant woman needs an extra 300 calories a day throughout their second and third trimester. The first trimester those are not needed yet. You should eat these extra calories through out the day in the form of healthy snacks such as nuts, cheese, veggies and dip. Do not save your biggest meal until the end of the day. Your body needs these calories to help you get through your day. Steer clear of the quick sugar fixes like candy and soda. In the end these will only make you more tired.Lastly, make sure you are getting enough iron. Eat iron fortified food such as spinach and lean red meat to keep your energy up. There are times when extreme fatigue could be the symptom of an iron deficiency and you might need an iron supplement also. Besides eating well, make sure you get plenty of rest even if this means pushing your bedtime up and giving up those late night TV talk shows. As any parents of newborns will tell you, get your rest while you still can.

It is so important to teach your kids responsibility, but many parents fail in this area. I watch parents that will not allow their children to do anything because they don

Urinary tract infection makes urinating painful. The infected children thinks twice before going to the bathroom and they always get a feeling to go to the bathroom. The urine also smells bad because of the infection. Bacteria are responsible for infecting the urinary track. The urinary track consists of certain parts such as two kidneys, bladder, two ureters and a urethra. The kidney does the major job of cleaning waste from the blood. The waste material is urine which is passed to the bladder through the ureters. The shape of the bladder is very similar to a deflated balloon. When the bladder gets filled two hundred and thirty seven milliliters of urine, the brain sends signals to go to the bathroom. When the person gets ready to pass, the muscles located at the end of the bladder relax which lets the urine rush through the urethra, from the bladder, and out of the body. When children face any of the symptoms of urinary track information, they should talk about it to their parents as the symptoms are visible to the patient more than to others. Parents can observe the urinating frequency of the children. The child feels terrible pain while peeing. He/she is able to pass only small quantity at a time. He/she also gets up several times during the night to go to the bathroom. There is a strange sensation in the lower part of the belly. Blood can also pass along with the urine. Also the urine isn

This seems like such a simple idea, but many parents forget to protect their children

This seems like such a simple idea, but many parents forget to protect their children