Page 75 - summer2016

Homeopathy Journal

HELP FOR THE SLEEPLESS CHILD
By Joette Calabrese, HMC,CCH, RSHom (NA)

What drives new parents to the point of near that easily puts all children to sleep without any
insanity? A sleepless child. muss or fuss, like the promise of pharmaceuti-
I know. Until I had children, I had no idea cals, but when employing homeopathy, a more
the crushing effect a sleepless child could have exacting method is required.
on a family. In fact, I had no idea what it was like It is not a complicated process, however it
to have a child with any difficulties because up eluded me during the early moments of my bur-
to that point, I lived in a childless dream world, geoning motherhood, due largely to my sopho-
where sleep was taken for granted. Then I had moric understanding of homeopathy at the time.
one who wouldn’t slumber. I later learned that the homeopathic technique
I was a slave to his insomnia. I rocked forces us to tighten our observational skills,
him. Walked him. Fed him calming foods like become familiar with a handful of homeopathic
warm, raw milk. Sang to him. Yet no matter medicines and learn when to use them.
my efforts, he remained wide awake. I felt like Certainly the watchful eye of a mother is
crying in defeat because nothing I did helped. a critical component when rearing children. In
There were times he’d fall asleep in my arms fact, the survival of humankind depends on this.
after walking him for hours, but the smallest However, there is a contrary side to a mother’s
action of putting him down in his bed would attention to details in which she does not (or
wake him, leaving me no other choice but to cannot) see what is actually happening to her
either let him scream for hours (which I could child, in spite of obvious evidence. Perhaps
only endure a few times before collapsing into because it is too painful to admit that certain
comforting him), or continue pacing through intellectual theories she may have held in high
the wee hours of the night. My husband and I regard may not be at play. Perhaps she cannot
were so worn out by our sleepless baby that we see a clear overview when details are in hyper-
recruited my parents and a babysitter's aid on focus. Such was the case with my son and me.
some nights, just so we could squeeze in a few Possibly, I didn't want to believe there was an
hours of desperately needed rest. None of this underlying condition, such as a problem with his
affected our little one nearly as much as it did gut and how it may have influenced his sleep. I
my husband and me because he would snooze held to my reasoning that I had only consumed
on my shoulder a little, as long as I walked. At wholesome, pure foods for at least a decade
the time, I was a homeopathy student and barely prior to conceiving him; I had followed WAP's Sleep-inducing
knew how to treat simple acute illnesses, let precepts upon conception to a “T”; I gave birth drugs like
alone this chronic condition. at home, and he was never exposed to manufac-
As you can imagine, sleep-inducing drugs tured foods nor a pharmaceutical lifestyle. I was Ambien,
like Ambien, Restoril and Sonata are sometimes sure I had done everything right. So I readily Restoril and
administered to babies and older children in the dismissed what I should have paid attention to Sonata are
over-prescribed, conventional pharmaceutical most.
world we live in today. But for those of us walk- With the passage of time (which, in truth, sometimes
ing the path of a more wholesome approach, equated to many more months than I care to administered
drugs like these are out of the question. admit) and a dash or two of clarity, I was finally to babies and
Indeed, I wish I could tell you there is one able to unearth the cause of my baby’s sleep
simple solution; a single homeopathic remedy disorder. The sobering truth was that my child older children.
Wise Traditions SUMMER 2016 Wise Traditions 75