The following is a visitor-submitted question or story. For more, you can submit your own sleep story here, or browse the collection of experiences and questions other visitors have shared here.

Son's Many Potentially Sleep Related Problems

This is a question as to whether or not I should get sleep testing done on my son, or seek a different specialist. My son was diagnosed around age 2 with constitutional growth delay. His current pediatrician now says that he does NOT have CDG because bone age is appropriate.


Now, nobody can tell me why my son is so small. At age 8, he is the size of a 5 or 6 year old (this size issue is a strong paternal family trait).

He slept poorly as a baby, I suspect with undiagnosed reflux (strong paternal family trait, and his brother had reflux too). He did not sleep for 3 - 4 hour periods until 1 year old, and did not sleep a full 8 - 10 hours at night until 4 years old.

His growth and size was normal until around 2 years of age, when it dropped to around 5th percentile. Immature behavior follows with this familial growth issue, and does not resolve until growth catches up, usually in college, resulting in completely normal maturity in every way.

He is also an occasional bedwetter, a few times per month. He often does not sleep for the 10 hours required at his age.

Bedtime routines are good, healthy, consistent. He gets to sleep easily and wakes up with no problems. He wakes up on his own most times, but only after about 9 to 9.5 hours of sleep.

He has dysgraphia,
and is currently ruled out for ADHD. We had psycho-educational testing done (just a few weeks ago) and in most areas of attention he was from average to superior. The only problem area was sustained visual attention. The neuropsychologist said this could be immaturity.

He also has high levels of anxiety and depression (could be dysgraphia related -- but could this be exacerbated by sleep problems?). All these things are making the kid miserable at school and preventing him from reaching his true potential. It is devastating to me to think that he will continue to suffer like this until he gets to college and the growth catch-up resolves everything.

One item that never resolved for my husband is that he still does not sleep well, and says even when he was little, our son's age, he remembers not sleeping well. He says he has never slept well in his life.

He has high blood pressure, another family trait. It is not affected by diet either. He is currently on 2 BP meds and it is barely under control, sometimes not. His mother takes at least 2 BP meds or more with the same lackluster results. My husband also suffers depression. There is too much family history of these problems to shrug them off as environmental. Our family eats healthy, exercises, and has consistent and healthy routines.

Should we seek sleep studies for my son and husband? Or do we need a different specialist?

Click here to post comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Experiences With Sleep Disorders In Children.




Enjoy this page? Please help us pay it forward to others who would find it valuable by Liking, Sharing, Tweeting, Stumbling, and/or Voting below.

About This Site

Welcome! This site is continuously being created by students of Dr. William C. Dement's Sleep And Dreams course at Stanford University.

We made this site as a call to action for people all over the world to live healthier, happier, safer, and more productive lives by learning about their own sleep. We have faith that reading the information provided on this site will motivate you to be smart about your sleep deprivation and strategic about your alertness in order to live life to your fullest, most energetic potential.

In fact, we challenge you to do so! What do you say, are you up for the challenge?


A Note On Visitor-Submitted Questions:

Publishing sleep stories and questions from our visitors is meant to create a forum for open and proactive dialogue about an extremely important portion of our lives (one that occupies 1/3 of it and affects the other 2/3) that isn't talked about enough. It is not meant to substitute a trip to the doctor or the advice of a specialist. It's good to talk; it is not good to avoid consulting someone who's profession it is to help you with this kind of stuff.

If you are in any way concerned about your sleep health, don't wait for an answer on here, and don't necessarily rely on them. See a sleep specialist in your area as soon as possible.

More Questions:

Ask | Answer

The Stanford Sleep Book

Stanford Sleep Book Picture

Dr. Dement's pioneering textbook has been the core text for Sleep and Dreams since 1980, but it has just recently been made available to the wider public for the first time.

In it you'll find a more detailed account of the most important things you need to know about sleep, alertness, dreams, and sleep disorders. Studies, statistics, plus plenty of Dr. Dement's classic anecdotes painting the history of sleep medicine.

Preface | Intro | Contents | Get A Copy

More Sleep Resources

The Zeo

A revolution in personal sleep tracking, the Zeo is a wireless headband that transmits your brainwaves in realtime to a dock (pictured here) or your smartphone. The result? You can wake up and see exactly what stages of sleep you were in during the night! Unprecedented personalized sleep knowledge.

Sleep Paralysis: A Dreamer's Guide

Sleep Paralysis Treatment Book

Ever woken up paralyzed? A surprising number of us have, believe it or not. But few know the actual causes of this phenomenon, and fewer still how to exert control over it. Dream researcher and sleep paralysis expert Ryan Hurd shares breakthrough insights into how to do just that.

Important Disclaimer

Please Note:

The information found on this page and throughout this site is intended for general information purposes only. While it may prove useful and empowering, it is NOT intended as a substitute for the expertise and judgments of healthcare practitioners.

For more info, see our
Terms of Use.