Does your child need more sleep?

[lmkirche]

My 2 year old child is allergic to nuts, dairy, egg, and wheat. He also has asthma and excema. I have always noticed that he needs more sleep than what doctors say he should need. When other kids are fighting to take a nap, my child is begging for it. He is awake for about 10 hours a day. His bedtime is around 7:30 every night, waking up around 6:30. He then will nap for about 3-4 hours in the middle of the day. My husband thinks that I am some sort of sleep nazi, but I am starting to wonder if their is some connection between allergies and sleep?

After reading resources on sleep it says that he should take a 1 1/2 to 2 hour nap and sleep 8-10 hours a night.

Have you all noticed your child being tired or needing more sleep?

[lmkirche]

Is this just my child? Maybe no connetion whatsoever....

[elmh23]

My daugher is allergic to peanuts and soy and possibly garbanzo beans. She needs very LITTLE sleep. For us, I think it's genetic. Her father and grandmother also don't seem to need a lot of sleep. My MIL goes to bed at 1am every night and is up at 5am. And she's perky! When I first met my hubby, he'd be up til midnight and up at 6 and perky! In case you're wondering, I am NOT like that. My daugher happily will go to bed at midnight and be up at 6. I've had to force her to go down at 8 because mama just can't survive on those hours! So now she's down at 8 and up at 5 (and because she's older now, she just gets up by herself until her brother wakes me up )

So all that to say, I don't think it's always related and may just be the way he is. I need more sleep than the average person, as does my hubby's sister (she got her dad's sleep genes.)

[goomjiji]

I wish.

DS's allergies (cats/dogs, dairy, eggs, nuts/peanuts, molds) seem to disrupt his sleep. He slept well as a newborn, but since about 3-4 months old, ergh! Exhaustion is a way of life. He can literally will himself not to sleep. He hasn't napped in two days. Only slept about 10 hours last night. By the sounds on the monitor, he's wide awake. YEA!

I guess I might as well go rattle around in the kitchen and have some lunch. If he ain't out yet, he ain't goin'.

[Acugirl]

Both of my kids have allergies/sensitivities and sleep much less than is recommended...I think they NEED more, but they just can't sleep!
My almost 5 yr old is finally getting the sleep she needs just recently and I think I am getting better at managing her sensitivities and she is getting better at sleeping through discomfort, but my 17 month old is up every hr, nurses all night naps for only an hr and is so uncomfortable it is a nightmare!

[menomena]

my older daughter is an extraordinarily poor sleeper. she's 2.5 and gets about 10 to 12hrs total a night, with no naps. When she was napping, she was getting 9 or 10 at night and about 90min during the day. Her allergies (dairy and garlic for sure, gluten STRONGLY suspected) definitely interfere with her sleeping at night and contribute to her multiple wake-ups, but otherwise, she seems like she's well enough rested. I wish she got more sleep, but we really don't have any cues from her that she could use more.

[chilliepepper]

My 2yo DS is allergic to something, but we don't know what. He also sleeps a lot---about 11 hours at night and 3-4 hours in the afternoon.

[duckmom]

My 21 mo DS has many sensitivities (more so than true allergies, I suspect) due to his leaky gut. We are supplementing and doing enzyme therapy to facilitate healing. He sleeps similar to your son. In our case, I think the food sensitivities cause such restless sleep that he requires more in terms of quantity to make up for the poor quality. If he got more sound sleep, I suspect he'd need less overall.

My DH makes similar remarks as yours re: sleep nazi. I am truly not hung up on making DS sleep more, it's just that by looking at him and observing him, it's obvious he needs more. If he acted well rested on fewer hours, I'd be fine with it.

[lmkirche]

Thanks for all the replys. It is interesting to hear how children are different. I also have been wondering if there is a connection with poor nightime sleep. DS has just started sleeping through the night and he is 23 months old. He does sometimes toss and turn at night or will wake up, chat to himself or look at books, then fall asleep.

duckmom . . . what do you notice that makes you believe that your child is a poor sleeper?

[duckmom]

Originally Posted by lmkirche

duckmom . . . what do you notice that makes you believe that your child is a poor sleeper?

LOTS of tossing and turning, EARLY morning wakings (5am or earlier sometimes) where he can't get back to sleep. He refuses to sleep with us, but we have a video monitor in his room. I see/hear him thrashing around all night long.

[IntuitiveJamie]

This is an interesting thread. I have been wondering the same things about sleep and my two children. My first son was a good sleeper until about 9 months (which does conicide with when he started getting more solids and liking them). We now know for sure that he is allergic to dairy, soy and peanuts. But it also coincides with teething and developmental things. But after that he started waking up at night a lot and now at 23 months he still wakes up often. Anywhere from 1 to 5 times a night. Usually it's only around 2, but when it's more...man that's tough for me.
Now I have a 7 week old and we already know he's allergic to dairy, soy and more, but not sure what else yet. But he sleeps allll the time. I know he's a newborn, but man, this child can sleep all day and all night. It's beginning to wierd me out a little. By this time my last child spend many hours of the day awake. So we shall see as he gets older.
BUt I do suspect more food sensitivities in my older child and his night wakening. *sigh* I'm a little too tired to figure it out right now. But am slowly trying.
Thanks for the great question and letting me rant!

[crunchy_mama]

my toddler sleeps a bit more than usual, usually 9-10 hrs a night and a 3 hr nap- although lately it has been crazy busy. As a baby I couldn't hardly get him to sleep. Now I have noticed when he gets foods that don't agree with him he doesn't sleep well.