worried, dd is falling asleep in class

[binny]

Just got back from parent teacher conferences and found out that DD10 has been falling asleep in class pretty regularly.

It is only in the afternoons, after lunch and recess that this happens.

She is getting plenty of sleep at night. She is in bed by 8:30 and I make sure lights are out by 9 usually she is out way before then. She wakes up on her own by 6:30 usually.

She eats a decent breakfast and does get a lot of outside time. She eats school lunch, which I know isnt the best but she does drink her milk too.
This doesnt happen at home at all nor did it happen last year at school.
Any ideas?

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

You might want to talk to the pediatrician. It could be that she has a sleep disorder.

In the meantime, try having her go to bed even earlier. Maybe she is one of those kids that naturally needs more sleep. Maybe you can talk to her about what to do when she starts feeling sleepy. (Get up and walk around, stretch, etc.)

 

[tink_n_pooh]

Have you ever had her blood sugar checked? I get very tired after lunch when my blood sugar goes back down and I have fallen asleep on my desk at work

I would suggest talking to her pediatrician about it

 

[themarquis]

does she snore or make any noises while sleeping (gasping, grunting, stuff like that)? My first thought was sleep apnea, which is not that uncommon in kids. She should definitely get a full workup at the doctor to check for other stuff like diabetes and anemia. If all that is fine, you might want to push the idea of getting a sleep study for her. There are other sleep disorders other than apnea that could also cause that kind of sleepiness.

As someone who has apnea, believe me when I say that falling asleep several times during the day is NOT normal. Especially for a kid. Get her to the doc!

 

[binny]

Thanks, I have a call into her ped.

I also caled her school from last year and asked if I had missed something in the IEP or something, even though I couldnt imagine overlooking something so important. She was dumbfounded and said that had never happened to DD in her class and she had her for 3 years.


She isnt making any weird noises at night that I have noticed she had a cold this week but apparently this has been going on for awhile now and why the teacher had waited this long to tell me has me concerned as well.

 

[binny]

oh and I guess I should add that she is not an overscheduled kid. They have one activity during the school year and that is going to Caravans, its like a scouting program through our church. That is one night a week and we are still home and in bed by 8:30.


They dont have any other lessons or anything this year as I wanted to give them time to adjust to the new school.

 

[quasar4legs]

I think seeing the ped is a good idea and I would consider asking the teacher to keep a record of the sleeping during class so that you can get good data on the frequency.

Hope everything works out Ok

 

[teacups]

Let us know what your doc says. I'm curious. If it were my daughter I'd suspect she's coming down with something like an ear infection. Did you mention how long this has been happening? Does she drink enough water?
I wonder if she's entering "that age" and things are brewing and you just dont know it yet. I'm sure you're ready with the talk and all that. I need to get ready one of these years too. My DD is 9. We've talked but I know you are supposed to have a stash of supplies for when it happens. I dont yet.
Good luck.

 

[binny]

She said this has been happening for a few weeks now, which is why Im not too happy that I am just hearing about it now.
I had thought about the changes that are happening and maybe that has something to do with it but it is ONLY happening at school. She just doesnt nap at home or at church or anywhere else no matter how busy we have been. She has to be really sick to want to crash.


She is my worrier but I really dont see that it has disturbed her sleep. She has come into my room on a few occassions when she has been worried and we talk about it so I think she is getting that all out. I know she is sleeping most if not all of the night because we do check on them sometimes. She has always been a good sleeper.

 

[teacups]

Prayers for her.
See what the doc has to say.

 

[CajunDixie]

It could just be that she is the type that needs a little power nap during the afternoon. I used to worry about DS15 when he was little because he could come home from school and if the weather was good play until dark then eat dinner then go to bed around 9. If the weather was bad he'd come home and crash on the sofa and sometimes eat dinner or sometimes sleep through the night. Our then Dr checked him out but just said it's part of who he is and not to worry. To this day if he's bored and the weather is crappy he'll fall asleep early. He and DH are "morning" people while DS17 and I are "night owls"

 

[weregoingtodw]

My DD is a teen and actually still sleeps more than that. When she was your DD's age, she was in bed by 8:00p, lights out by 8:30p, and awoke at 7:15a. My DD still even now sleeps a tad more than that (about 30 min).

I used to worry. Now I just have accepted the fact that she simply needs more sleep than others.

FWIW I absolutely think it's something worth calling your ped over. Keep us posted as to what she has to say.

 

[goodeats]

Is it possible she's eating too many carbs at lunch? I know when I eat an unbalanced lunch I get sleepy?

 

["Got Disney"]

Is it possible she's eating too many carbs at lunch? I know when I eat an unbalanced lunch I get sleepy?

I was wondering the same thing...also has she been eating sugary cereals or to many carbs for breakfast. She may be getting a high from the carbs/sugar than crashing.....that will make them very tired.

Make sure she has protein every morning...like peanut butter on toast, or Turkey bacon or sausage... they need protein to start there day every day. If Cereal give than the above or a hard boiled egg with it.

Keep us posted

 

[Mouse House Mama]

That exact same thing happened to me as a kid. Turned out I had mono. I was out of school for over a month once I was diagnosed. Good luck.

 

[mamacatnv]

Binny I too have a 10 year old worrier. We have had all sorts of issues with anxiety and the inability to get to school without falling apart. Waking us at night, "not being able to sleep" etc. Now she wasn't sleeping in class but she was falling apart at the slightest provocation.

My DH and I started seeing a therapist for her and in less than 6 weeks we are living with a different child. All of her issues were tied into her sleep or lack thereof. She was going to bed at 9, reading until 9:30 and then doing what ever she wanted on the weekends.

The first thing Mr. Shrink had us do was start adjusting her sleep. No more late weekend nights and sleeping till noon. Over the last month we have adjusted her bedtime to where we are now at a comfortable level. She goes to bed at 8, reads until 8:30 during the week and weekends are 9 reading until 9:30. This has taken some major schedule readjusting but it is worth it to be able to see her handle herself and cope.

He also had us perform a sleep experiment. You need 3 days to do this and Halloween weekend we had a 3 day weekend due to a state holiday. Have the child in bed at their regular time and let them sleep as long as they want the next day, repeat that night and the night after. On the 3rd night track how long they sleep, that is a good estimate of how much sleep they need on a nightly basis. We discovered that DD needs 10.5 hours of sleep, holy cow. Now that she is getting the sleep she needs, she goes to bed easier, doesn't wake us, sleeps all night and is able to handle the anxiety of the day with ease.

P.S. no radio or tv noise in her room while she is sleeping, just a fan for white noise which she has always had.

I was shocked that she wasn't getting enough sleep.

Talk with your ped, hope it all works out.

 

[ZPT1022]

I hope it all works out and the pediatrician has some answers for you

 

[a1tinkfans]

I hope it all works out and the pediatrician has some answers for you

me too!
Please let us know how it turns out!

 

[3jsmommy]

She could be anemic, one of my best friends in high school was constantly tired & her iron levels were extremely low.

 

[CowboyCO]

I'd certainly get her checked by the pediatrician. I used to do this when I was a kid. I'd try so hard to stay awake, but eventually I'd nod off. It continued all the way through college. Never knew why...