Chronic Insomnia, Restlessness and Excessive Crying in a Baby

IN BRIEF

A baby who had suffered from chronic insomnia, restlessness and excessive crying from birth is finally relieved with a homeopathic remedy made from the vitamin K shot she received at birth. A dramatic story and an unexpected lesson about the vitamin K shot.

By Anke Zimmermann, BSc, FCAH

Continuous screaming for the first three month

I saw a one-year-old girl I will name Erin on August 12, 2015. The parents were concerned about their daughter’s ongoing sleep issues and general emotional intensity. 

“Erin screamed almost continuously for the first three months of her life, a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream, whenever she was not sleeping.”

“She continued to scream very frequently until she was 6-8 months old. Even now she easily reverts back to screaming if upset in any way.”

“She also has intense emotional swings. She can go back and forth on a dime, she gets very wound-up easily. Diaper changes are and have been a total nightmare. She fights us every time and also cries big crocodile tears. She gets very angry from restriction, hates the car seat. She is not very cuddly either.”

“She is very volatile and intense. She gets easily bored and needs constant attention from us. She can’t be still, is always moving, restless. When she nurses she constantly squirms and moves her arms and legs.”

“Erin is a horrible sleeper, very light. She wakes up right away if we step into the room. She often wakes up at night and then has trouble getting back to sleep. She is also restless in her sleep, moving all over her crib.”
​
“She is also very touchy, if another child touches her on the playground she flips out and yells at the top of her lungs.”

Erin was also reported to have been rashy as a baby with break-out after break-out, especially on her face.

Medical History

Erin was born 10 days overdue after a 40-hour labour. Labour was induced and her mother also received IV antibiotics for a bacterial infection during her labour.
​
Her mother took Clomid to conceive here. There was some stress trying to get pregnant, but she very much enjoyed the pregnancy and was very healthy during that time. ​

Erin’s father had years of antibiotic treatment for recurring infections prior to his daughter's conception. Her mother’s paternal grandmother and her brother grew up in a TB sanatorium.

Of note: This baby had not received any vaccines at this time.

Analysis

Erin is a one-year-old girl who displayed intense screaming for several months after birth. She is described as very restless, emotionally intense, easily bored and easily angered with a dislike of restriction, which contributes to difficult diaper changes.

She has a history of very light and restless sleep and was rashy as a baby, especially on her face. She was never vaccinated. There is a family history of tuberculosis, and of Clomid and antibiotic use as well as an induction for labour. We could rule out vaccine injury as she had not been vaccinated.

As the child had difficulties from birth I carefully considered any factors around the pregnancy and birth as well as the family history. I chose the homeopathic remedy Tuberculinum as it fit the restlessness during day and night, the easy boredom, as well as the facial rashes, plus there was a confirmed family history of the disease.
​
Plan: Tuberculinum 200CH, one dose.

Update one week later

​“After we left your office Erin had an amazing 2.5 hour nap, two diaper changes without complaint and slept through the night. Her blankets were in one spot too.”

“The rest of the week she seemed her usual self. When she is nursing her arms and legs are always moving and she is climbing over me and the chair.”

“She is only happy when we are 100% engaged with her, even unhappy when we are brushing our teeth.”

Assessment: This report sounded promising but the remedy did not seem to hold that well.
​
Plan: Repeat Tub 200CH

FU 1 week later

“She seems kind of happier. A bit calmer overall. Still very fidgety nursing. Diaper changes up and down, but she is not fighting us.”

Plan: Wait and order Tub 1M

FU Sept 14, 4 weeks into treatment:
Gave Tub 1M on Sept 6.

“Diaper changes have been good. She can play on her own better and longer. But she has tantrums, as if does not know what she wants and can’t communicate it. She wants us to attend to her immediately.”

“Sleeping has been great, 13 hours a night plus 1.5 hour nap, before only slept 11 hours and woke at night to nurse and cry. Now she is not waking up when we enter her room. If she wakes up, she now she stays in bed and sings to herself.”
​
Assessment: Good response, wait.

​Email Sept 23, 5 weeks into treatment:
Has had four episodes of being up again at night last week. Took two hours to get resettled. Lot of screaming when trying to put her down in crib.
Plan: Repeat Tub 1M

October 1, email:
Was awake three hours at night with screaming and up again at 5:30 with screaming
Plan: Repeat Tub 1M

October 4, email:
Had two good nights, now another bad one, screaming from 2-4 am.
Assessment: May need a higher potency but I suspect that something else may be needed.

FU consultation Oct 13:
Reviewed history: Mom had antibiotics with delivery. Father had a lot of antibiotics in his life, years of it. She reports that overall Erin is getting happier. She has been fighting them on the change table again a bit. Better able to stay in car seat, before she was crying after 15 minutes.

Assessment: Tuberculinum always helps a bit, but I’m not convinced it’s the only remedy she needs. Overall Erin is continuing to improve, but some of that may also be due to normal development and maturation. I decided however to stick with Tuberculinum and give a 10M. 

Plan: Tub 10M

FU: July 26, 2016, almost a year into treatment:
I had not heard from the family in nine months. Erin is doing great overall but still gets upset easily: “She gets very excited before an event then when it happens she rapidly deflate. Emotions overcome her, she has rapid outbursts of anger.”

Her mother took Clomid to conceive and I decided to try a course of Clomid in homeopathic form to see if it would address the underlying and still continuing emotional volatility.

Plan: Clomid 30CH twice a week for two weeks, then Clomid 200CH twice a week for another two weeks

FU August 19 via phone:
“Still restless in bed and climbing all over parents. Taking longer to fall asleep again. But: After finished the course Erin constantly said ‘I want to cry’ and couldn’t really do it.”

Assessment and plan: Clomid may have brought up some blocked emotions. I decided to give Ignatia 200CH.

FU Dec 20:
Did not hear from the family in the meantime. Erin is still restless. Hates being in highchair. Restless in sleep again.

Assessment: Not sure if Clomid helped at all, main symptoms still same, but there was no real follow-up after the Clomid course and we did not try higher potencies. I decided to go back to Tub 10M as I could not think of anything better at the time.
Plan: Tub 10M

FU August 4, 2017, two years into treatment:
​Erin is still/again restless sleeper, but seems tired by 3 pm. Has had a couple of doses of Tub 10 M in the meantime
​
Her mother contacted me because I had posted a report about a baby having a reaction to a vit K shot on my facebook page. She said it sounded like Elise! They had forgotten to tell me that she had received a vitamin K shot at birth. I also had not thought about asking or even considering that a vitamin K shot could cause any problems up until that time.
Plan: Vit K clearing protocol as in CEASE therapy, 2 pellets twice a week with each potency of 30 CH, 200CH, 1M and 10M. 

Vitamin K

Vitamin K is routinely given to newborns, usually as a shot, to prevent hemorrhage in case of vit K deficiency. Vitamin K is required for normal blood clotting. The vitamin is normally made by gut bacteria and is also present in some foods such as Natto – fermented soy beans, aged cheese made from milk from pastured cows.

Newborns are considered to be low in vit K. In case of birth trauma, there could be internal bleeds, possibly into the brain, causing brain damage, which is why vitamin K is routinely given at birth to most newborns.
​
Factors that increase the risk of hemorrhagic disease of the newborn include:

• Preterm delivery
• Low birth weight
• A forceps or vacuum extraction delivery
• Mother's use of antibiotics, anticoagulants, anticonvulsants, and some other medications during pregnancy
• Undetected liver disease
• Extremely fast, or extremely prolonged labor, particularly during the pushing phase
• Delivery by C-section

Vitamin K healing reaction

FU September 2, 2017:
“On Thursday we gave Erin her last dose of the vit K clearing (10M). That night she was restless beyond words. She often crawls on the wall with her legs while we read to her and moves in her sleep, but this was crazy. She also woke at 2 and 3:30 am to pee and we could hear her singing at various times throughout the night. Last night was even more insane. She woke after an hour and stayed up until 1:30 am. I stayed with her and she tossed and turned and moved her legs ALL night.”

I advised that is was likely an aggravation and to give her Epsom salt baths 3 times a day and Melatonin if needed.

Mom gave the bath and Erin fell asleep after “CRAZILY” moving her legs and entire body for at least half an hour. Then woke up again after a few hours. The next two night were better.

Sept 5 email:
Up again every few hours, all are getting exhausted.

Sept 6 email:
Up from 9-12:30 again. But excellent energy during the day, “like that lethargy that used to exist disappeared and she was running and jumping and doing great all day.”

Assessment: I never knew that she was lethargic until now. Good response, but aggravation.

Plan: Support detoxification, milk thistle and dandelion extract, 10 drops in water every 3-4 hours.
Support nervous system with Passionflower or Avena sativa 15 drops 30 min before bed.

Sept 7 email:
Mom emailed at 3:30 am describing more of the same troubles.
Assessment: 10M has caused aggravation but the child’s system is stuck there. Use plussing of 10M in water to move her through this.
Plan: Give the 10M plussed in water, 1 tsp every hour for the entire day, shake before each dose.

Sept 8 email:
“She slept! If one single vit K shot did this to her, I truly can’t imagine what a full set of vaccines might have done!”

Sept 17 email:
Things are much better. Still much better energy, sleeping better.
​
FU Sep 28:
Sleep is off again. But has completely lost her lethargy, has tons of energy and is now interested in cycling!
Plan: Repeat vit K clearing but go slow, 30CH once a week for 2 weeks. Continue milk thistle and dandelion at 10 drops twice a day.

October 3:
Had 30CH Vit K 2 days ago.
“Big emotional melt-down at noon with high-pitched screaming! Just like when she was a baby! We were pretty shocked, hadn’t heard that sound in so long.”
But slept a solid 12 hours for the first time since starting the clearing.
Plan: Continue clearing, on the right track finally.

FU April 10, 2018:
I messaged the family to inquire about Erin as I wanted to present the case at a case conference in Vancouver.
​
“She's doing super!!!  Her energy is great, and she is thriving.  The clearing was SO dramatic, that it was obvious there was something there...it was SO worth it!!!!!
I would say her emotional situation is about right for an almost 4 year old... She will always be "her", but everything seems normalized now! She feels all emotions - happiness, sadness, anger - all strongly, is easily disappointed etc., but not the extremes we used to see. She sleeps quite well - usually 8pm to 6:30am, I think that's in range for her age. If she starts showing signs of being really over tired, I give her 1mg of melatonin to get her down a little earlier and it helps.
 
She's very interested in food, and a very hearty eater. She is surrounded by particularly tiny (vaccinated) friends, and she's a strong, healthy girl!
 
Thanks so much for everything!"

Discussion - Tubercular History and Adverse Reactions

The child had obviously been negatively affected by the vitamin K shot given to her at birth, as the remedy so elegantly identified. It was fortunate that she did not receive any regular vaccines or medications, so we were able to isolate her problem directly to this shot.

​I do believe that the tubercular family history played a role regarding predisposition. I have noticed time and time again in my practice that children with a tubercular history are more susceptible to vaccine and medication injuries. This also explains why Tuberculinum helped this child to a certain extent.
 
I also have to say, Kudos to the family for sticking with it. This case took almost two-and-a-half years to solve.
 
After this case, I can say that we should all suspect vitamin K shot injuries in children with irritability and restlessness as well as insomnia. Considering the epidemic of ADHD and other neurological issues in children I can’t help but think that many of those cases may have been impacted by vitamin K shots. Of course the many vaccines and even ultrasound and other modern medical practices can and do also irritate and impact the developing nervous system.
 
When advising expecting parents we can suggest oral vitamin K to be given after birth as a supplement instead of the shot. Using homeopathy during labour and delivery, especially Arnica, would also greatly reduce the risk of hemorrhagic disease of the newborn.
 
I am so grateful for homeopathy, we have at our disposal such a safe, effective method of care, not only for prevention and treatment of illness, but also for the identification of causative factors for illness. My special thanks go to Tinus Smits and CEASE Therapy for introducing me to thinking along those lines.
 
Homeopathy, especially isotherapy can easily identify the culprits causing chronic disease. This, of course, is a tremendous threat to the pharmaceutical industry as with homeopathy we can unmask all the horrible damage it is doing to our children and humanity in general.
 
But do not give up hope, I believe that the good wins in the end and that in the future, homeopathy will become the standard of care for the treatment of all pregnant mothers, infants and children!
 
Dr. Anke Zimmermann, BSc, FCAH
 
Dr. Anke is a classically trained homeopath who practices in Sooke, BC. She has been in practice for 26 years and has a special interest in childhood developmental and behavioural disorders.