Trashing, Yelling and Whimpering in Sleep and Clinginess, a Child with Birth Trauma is Helped with Homeopathy

IN BRIEF

Traumatic births have the potential to impact children for many years if not for life. Homeopathy has the potential to help such children. This case describes a girl with very restless sleep as well as shyness and clinginess to the mother which may have been related to her traumatic birth.

By Anke Zimmermann, BSc, FCAH

Thrashing, crying, yelling and whimpering in sleep

Malia, an adorable 5-year-old girl was seen because she was crying out, yelling and whimpering in her sleep most nights. She would also thrash her arms about and sometimes kick her legs. Her parents were wondering if she had nightmares, but Malia was never able to report dreams.

When she was younger Malia had sometimes been inconsolable in her sleep and if mom tried to console her it would only make her worse so she would have to let her cry it out.

They were worried about her and this situation was also very disruptive to the other members of her family.

Shyness and clinginess

In addition, Malia was reported to be extra attached to her mother. She would be very timid and shy around new people and refuse to acknowledge them. Even with adults and children she knew and had spent plenty of time with she would look down and not answer direct questions from them.

During the interview Malia was able to answer some questions but she whispered the answers mostly to her mother. She reflected long before answering. Sometimes she did not answer at all.

Sadness and fears

"She has a tendency to sadness, it is her default emotion", mom shared. "She is triggered very easily by simple events and comments. She will hang her head or curl up and make herself small. She cries easily in general.

She has a fear of the dogs and is timid around them, and recently has developed a fear of the dark."

A traumatic birth

"I think she has birth trauma", her mother reported. "She was born prematurely and therefor in a hospital. Her lungs were underdeveloped so she was taken to the NICU about an hour after being born. The tried several times to put an IV into her tiny arm until they were successful.

"She was also treated for jaundice. She was too weak to nurse so I pumped breast milk ad fed her via syringe. I refused all medications during the birth was I was given Pitocin to encourage delivery of the placenta. 

"I was also traumatized by our birth experience. She spent 7 nights total in the hospital, during which time one of us, myself, my husband or my mother in law, were almost always with her, however, due to the jaundice treatment she had to be left in her bed for extended times.

"At the NICU they did a lot of testing and gave her a lot  of heel pricks, it was terrible to witness, awful to watch, she just screamed and screamed!"

Pregnancy

The pregnancy with Malia had been beautiful and uneventful until five weeks before her due date when mom started leaking amniotic fluid and went to the hospital. The hospital staff were concerned and would not let her leave again.

After 24 hours mom allowed them to break the water, labour started and Malia was born within two hours. Then her breathing became laboured and she was taken to the NICU.

Food likes and dislikes

Malia likes to eat noodles, ravioli, broccoli, bacon, mangoes, kiwis and oranges. She loves butter and can eat it by the spoonful. She also likes sushi and octopus. She has an aversion to zucchini, cooked greens and cooked carrots.

Family history

There was a family history of some abandonment, abuse and alcoholism in grandparents and great grandparents.

Assessment and plan

This was a five-year-old girl with a history of a difficult birth and subsequent NICU stay with medical interventions which may have been traumatic for her.

She seemed to have nightmares, sleep disturbances and possibly a history of night terrors and was very clingy towards her mother.

These symptoms were pointing to a remedy called Stramonium, which is often used after someone has developed nightmares, night terrors and various fears after frights and/or abandonment.

Plan: Stramonium 30C twice a week for two weeks.

Follow-up two weeks later

Mom accidentally gave Stram 30C twice a day instead of twice a week!

"Malia slept peacefully for two night, but then in the 4th night she was inconsolable and called for me but pushed me away at the same time, as if my presence made her aggressive. She was restless in the 5th night and peaceful the 6th night.

"During the 8th and 9th night I had to sleep with her all night, she was yelling, thrashing, pushing me away. The next day she told us that she remembered a scary dream."

In my opinion Malia had an aggravation from the remedy as she had it a bit too often. I explained what happened to mom and she stopped giving the remedy. I asked her to update me in a week.

One week later

"I'm happy to report that Malia has slept peacefully in her bed for the entire night for 3 nights in a row! She has woken up in a rested and cheerful state. Her sleep settled down as soon as I stopped overdosing her. Thank you!

Three weeks later

"Malia has not needed any more Stramonium. She is doing really well, waking up ready to go and excited about her day. She used to wake up very tearful and needy. She is way more confident now and started horseback riding lessons. She is only clinging to me for 30 seconds now in new situations."

A wonderful result from Stramonium! Mom understood to give the remedy as needed if any symptoms came back. There have been no more problems since.

Discussion

Traumatic births have the potential to leave imprints of trauma in the system which can remain for years or even life. Homeopathic remedies have the potential to help the body gently release and heal such imprints and trauma, freeing the individual to more fully enjoy their lives.

Stramonium is only one of many different remedies that can be potentially helpful in such cases. The remedies are given for the individual and their unique state and history, not a particular condition.

In any case, this child did remarkably well on just a few doses of this wonderful remedy Stramonium, a mainstay in my clinical practice!