My first child slept like an angel. We?d put her to bed around 8 p.m. and she?d sleep a full twelve hours. Yes, it was parental bliss. Another one of our children, though, threw us for a serious loop. We?d put them to bed, and they?d be up off and on for hours.
We tried a serene bedtime routine: We applied lavender lotion to their arms, legs, and back, read several bedtime stories, and dimmed the lights. When this wasn?t enough, we had the kids do running races and yoga before bed.
We tried a weighted blanket, cut out the daily nap when they were barely two, and, at the suggestion of one paediatrician, instituted a reward chart. The same doctor told us our child needed more discipline. If they came to our room after bedtime, we were to escort them right back to bed?no nonsense. If that didn?t work, the doctor said a low dose of melatonin may be in order. At age six, we did a sleep study, unfortunately resulting in no diagnosis. We also saw an ENT, who said that perhaps their enlarged tonsils and adenoids were to blame. We opted to have all of those surgically removed, but it didn?t improve our child?s sleep. As they got older and much more verbal, they frequently mentioned that their legs felt strange at night, like crawling bugs. This was a clue as to what was going on?though we didn?t recognize it at the time.
One day, I confessed to a fellow mom?who is also a nurse?how tired we were. She asked if we had considered that our child may have restless leg syndrome. One of her...