As you might already know from reading this blog, Avery is not the best sleeper. He never has been. He is super restless when we put him to sleep for the night, wakes up often, and seems uncomfortable all the time, which makes him wake up more, etc. We are having a hard time getting him to stay asleep and to sleep on his own. I have thought a few times that maybe he has Restless Leg Syndrome as I have it, and toss and turn all night like Avery does. My mom mentioned tonight that she thought he might have it as well, so we decided to do some more research to see if babies/children can actually have it.
After looking online, I am pretty certain that Avery has RLS, which would explain his sleep problems. He has all the signs and symptoms, especially the fact that when he's tired and trying to sleep, he scratches himself a lot, to the point of bleeding sometimes (which kids with RLS can do because they feel like they have things crawling on their skin). According to one Mayo Clinic study, 72% of children that have RLS have a mother who has it. Avery's 18-month appointment is coming up soon, so I plan on talking to his doctor about this and I hope to God that we can remedy this problem and help him to sleep better (especially before the baby comes). It seems like the number one way to treat it in kids is to give them iron supplements but I doubt Avery has low iron levels as he eats meat at about a 3:1 ratio of all other foods. I hope there is something he can take or something we can do to solve the problem so we can all sleep better (and I will finally know why he's had so many problems sleeping!).
What I Learned: Kids can have Restless Leg Syndrome, and it's possible that Avery has it.
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