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Sleep Difficulties 2

My daughter wakes up from naps in an extremely agitated state…screaming, kicking, wringing her hands, and throwing herself around. She is very difficult to calm down and will fight us. She cannot seem to calm down without intervention. The only thing that works well so far is covering her completely with a blanket and rubbing her back. I do not believe it is due to pain as she will “snap out of it” suddenly and play happily like nothing happened. This only seems to happen after short sleep periods (naps, or if she wakes during the night) and rarely happens after a long night sleep. Other than this, she is very happy, active and healthy, with only mild gastroesophageal reflux. She goes to bed easily and sleeps well at night (usually 10-12 hours). We are concerned why she wakes from naps in this manner. She is very strong and we are afraid she will hurt herself.

I have heard of patients having difficulty with sleep-to-wake transition, however not to the extent that you describe. I cannot give you an explanation for her behavior, other than perhaps she is going into a very deep sleep and is disappointed to have to come out of it. I would suggest perhaps seeing if she is ready to phase out her naps. Some individuals, particularly individuals with CdLS, need less sleep than others and, by four years of age, may not need a nap. I would still try to enforce some quiet time. Perhaps also you could have some quiet soothing music by her bed, so if she is in that mode, you will have other ways of calming her.

TK 7-13-10

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Answer Published On: October 18th, 2018 2:08 PM