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Sleep Disorder, Language Development and Panic

by Umberto
(Taipei, Taiwan )

My son is two years and 5 months old and he has the following symptoms:


- he falls asleep very late (11:00 PM or later) and wakes up every 2-3 hours until 4:00 or 5:00 PM. Usually when he wakes up I need to walk holding him in my arms for about 10 to 15 minutes until he falls asleep again (this for 2 or 3 times per night).

- His language development is very slow: at this age he only speaks a few disconnected words. I have to add that I and my wife moved to Taiwan from Italy when he was 6 months old, so at first we thought that this delay was normal, but now we start to worry. However he understands most of what we say to him.

- Recently he manifested some strong fears: for example we had to get out from the underground (tube) because he began to scream and shake. We could not proceed further (we had to get a taxi). We are very confused because, apart from the fact that we moved to another country as I said earlier, there can be other factors:

- two months ago we had another son and he hardly accepts that he cannot have his mother's milk when he sees that his little brother can.

- until a few weeks ago, we let him watch too much TV till late at night, unaware that this could be bad for his language development and sleep (could it be the cause of his problems?).

Since last summer he is going to the kindergarden from 9:00 to 18:00 and the teachers there did not notice any particular strange behaviour: he seems happy and likes to play with other children.

Thank you for any advice or suggestion.

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