When Your Child Cannot Sleep Well at Night After an Accident
Table of Contents
Patterns of pediatric sleep disturbance after an accident
Children who have been in a traffic accident show a variety of sleep problems. Long sleep onset time, sudden waking with crying or screaming in the middle of the night (night terrors, yagyeongjeung, 夜驚症), inability to fall back asleep after a nightmare, and early morning awakening are typical. Such sleep problems affect not only the child but also the parents' sleep, so early treatment is very important.
Korean medicine cause — heart-gallbladder deficiency-fearfulness (心膽虛怯)
When a child is severely startled by an accident, the spirit of the heart (sim-sin, 心神) becomes unstable and the qi of the gallbladder (dam-gi, 膽氣) weakens. The heart governs sleep, so when the heart-spirit is unsettled the child cannot sleep peacefully. At the same time, the transport-and-transformation function of the spleen (脾) is impaired, often accompanied by reduced appetite and indigestion.
Spirit-calming (anshin, 安神) herbal treatment
For pediatric sleep disturbance, Gammaek-daejo-tang (甘麥大棗湯) is the foundational prescription. Composed of three herbs — licorice (gamcho, 甘草), wheat (somaek, 小麥), and jujube (daejo, 大棗) — it has a sweet taste that children take without resistance, and it excellently tonifies the heart-spleen and calms the spirit. For severe night terrors, sour jujube seed (sanjoin, 酸棗仁) and longan flesh (yonganyuk, 龍眼肉) are added; for severe fright, small amounts of mother-of-pearl (jinjumo, 珍珠母) and lodestone (jaseok, 磁石) are included.
Pediatric needling and acupoint therapy
If a child is afraid of needles, pediatric acupuncture (sochim, 小兒鍼, contact-style) or intradermal needles (piinaechim, 皮內鍼) are used. Light stimulation is applied at Shenmen (HT7) and Baihui (GV20), and auricular acupuncture (ichim, 耳鍼) is attached at the Shenmen point of the ear to sustain the sleep-calming effect.
What parents can do
- For 1 hour before bed, avoid stimulating videos and games and engage in calm activities
- When the child wakes up, do not scold — hold them and say "It's okay"
- Establish a regular sleep routine with the same bedtime each night
- Do not turn off the night light completely — use a soft sleeping lamp
- If symptoms persist for more than 2 weeks, please seek professional treatment