The Woolcock Institute of Medical Research

Sleep deprivation is par for the course when you’re a parent to young children, right? Waking regularly at night to feed your baby or settle your toddler, rising before dawn for a child who just won’t sleep past 5am, spending more time trying to settle them for their daytime nap than they spend napping and managing overtired toddlers goes with the territory. You just have to find a way to get to the other side – whenever that is.

Or do you?

Sleep deprivation might be common for new – and not so new – parents with studies showing it can last up to six years, but it’s not normal. There are negative impacts for the whole family, so it’s important to prioritise sleep and, when that isn’t working, to get the right help to make sure everyone gets a decent night’s sleep.

FEELING HOPELESS

Lucy knows all too well the effect that sleep deprivation can have on everyone in the family – the “brain fog”, irritability and anxiety, the impact on your professional life and the strain it places on relationships. She’s also aware that a child who isn’t sleeping well is more likely to experience learning problems, behavioural issues and increased risk of illness which only serves to increase parental anxiety.

“I can see how people end up feeling hopeless and becoming depressed,” she says.

It’s been four years since Lucy and her husband welcomed their second child Luca into the world. While she believes his sleep was “normal” at first, there was a significant regression at six months and “we just never got out of it”.

By the time he was 12 months old and still waking to be fed every two-three hours, Lucy decided to see her doctor. That started a cycle of tests and visits to specialists that, more than three years later, still hasn’t provided the family with the answers they need.

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

“We’re regulars at our GP, Luca has been referred to ear, nose and throat specialists, he’s seen sleep specialists, allergists, he’s had a sleep study (and a second failed one). They showed he had low iron levels, he had enlarged adenoids and tonsils, his oxygen saturation was dropping to as low as 80 percent during the night, he moved a lot during his sleep, he was borderline for sleep apnea. He wasn’t sleeping and I was concerned that it was affecting his growth and development.”

“It took months to find a way to increase his iron levels. I felt like I was getting bits and pieces of advice that addressed just one part of what was happening. It was pretty horrific. We just weren’t getting answers and none of us were sleeping well. You’re exhausted, your family life is disrupted, your professional life is suffering and you’re concerned that your child isn’t thriving the way he should.”

“I’ve taken Luca to one doctor after another and they all seem to focus on one piece of the puzzle, whatever it is they specialise in rather than the big picture. Luca is over it, he’s very sensitive and he’s been traumatised by treatment after treatment. When we tried to do a second sleep study, it failed because he wouldn’t let them put the sensors on him. So, we’ve been told to wait another six months, hoping that he’ll be more ‘cooperative’ as he gets older. But that’s just another six months without a solution.”

Lucy now understands that Luca’s sleep issues won’t be solved by addressing any one of the things that have been identified over the past three and a half years, but she believes the search for answers could have been smoother and shorter.

“You end up feeling like it’s all being driven by you rather than the medical professionals. Finding an answer is now even more complicated because I have a little boy who is wary after all the tests and treatments so far. If our doctors had looked at what was happening in a more holistic way, if there had been more information available, if they’d listened and communicated better, if they’d worked better with all of us ...”

PROVIDING SOLUTIONS

This year, the Woolcock Clinic has continued to expand its paediatric sleep services, in keeping with its established multidisciplinary approach to sleep issues. Dr Chris Seton specialises in paediatric and adolescent sleep, we have two paediatric sleep and respiratory physicians (Dr Mimi Lu and Dr Chetan Pandit), an ear, nose and throat surgeon, a paediatric allergist and immunologist, sleep psychologists, psychiatrists and neurologists all working together under the one roof. They come together for monthly case conferences to look at complex cases with multiple inputs like Luca’s.

“We want to provide families like Lucy’s with the information and solutions they need,” says Chief Transformation Officer, Renae Lopez-Buckley. “We don’t want anyone to feel like they’re alone on their journey to a better night’s sleep.”

Find out more

• Welcome to the Woolcock Clinic
• Paediatric Experts at the Woolcock Clinic
• Paediatric Sleep Clinic