Hypotonia Support Group

Hypotonia is a condition of abnormally low muscle tone (the amount of tension or resistance to movement in a muscle), often involving reduced muscle strength. Hypotonia is not a specific medical disorder, but a potential manifestation of many different diseases and disorders that affect motor nerve control by the brain or muscle strength.

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Children's Physical Health
/ Hypotonia Support Group

Hypotonia and Sleep Issues

deleted_user
deleted_user
Hi everyone. I'm new to this group and I'm trying to learn as much as possible about hypotonia and it's effects aside from the typical delayed motor milestones. My son is almost 4 and was diagnosed with hypotonia when he was 2. He presented with a 6 mo speech delay which from what I understand is pretty typical for a hypotonic child. He wears SMOs on his ankles, which seems to help with his stability, but he is still pretty unstable when he climbs and runs, and often stumbles. He talks non-stop now (a lot of it makes total sense and other times it's total silliness), although he drools a bit and has issues with articulation of certain sounds. Overall he's a very chatty, social, happy little guy - but just very loosy goosey when he moves and speaks. One of the biggest issues we're seeing involves his sleep and I'm trying to understand how it relates. He hasn't slept a single night through since he was born and is typically up 10-15 times a night. I''m thinking it's probably sleep apnea. We've had him evaluated by an ENT and his tonsils/adeniods are small so I'm starting to wonder if he has apnea due to a hypotonic airway. As a result of his poor sleep, he is often tired at preschool (on top of the typical fatigue associated with hypotonia) and often has poor attention (as to be expected with sleep deprivation). Does anyone else out there have similar issues with their child?

Thanks!!!
deleted_user
deleted_user
My daughter is six she has hypotonia and sleep is a big problem. When she was younger she would get up two to three times a night, now she goes to sleep at 8pm or later if we are out and always gets up at 4 or 5 am..I never realized the sleep issues could be related to the hypotonia until joining this group. My daughter also has issues with attention in school and has dark circles under her eyes from being tired. She looks and seems exhausted often...On weekends I try very hard to make her nap in the afternoon, helps a lot!!
deleted_user
deleted_user
My daughter never had a sleep problem. Just the opposite, she was exhausted from all the effort put into doing every day things plus therapy.
outsideboxmom
outsideboxmom
He sounds like my son when he was younger. My 12-year-old son has always had trouble falling asleep even though he tires easily physically. He always talked a lot. At four I remember he still had trouble pronouncing the L sound but by 4 1/2 he could speak clearly except that he would try to talk too fast when he got excited. He started a musical theater class at 4 1/2 and the teacher taught him to slow down and enunciate, but he still sometimes had to be reminded to slow down. He just always had so much to say and yes, sometimes it was silly things at age 4. I really enjoyed that age.

My son didn't go to preschool but half-day kindergarten at age 5 was tiring for him, especially since they did so much coloring, which he hated. I think all day school would have been too much for him. We have homeschooled since he finished kindergarten.

He still has trouble falling asleep so he spends a lot of time reading every night and because of this his reading and comprehension were always way above grade level. Now people describe him as smart, personable and articulate and they don't mention the loosey-goosey part because the physical skills don't seem as important at his age. The kids in his musical theatre group are used to him needing to rest after practicing dances. He usually gets enough sleep because he can sleep late when he needs to. I am sure he would have more trouble with attention if he did not get enough sleep.
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