| |  | | Rhythmic Movement Disorder for a 12 Year Old
Answered by: Susan Eagles
Question from: Nicole
Posted on: July 02, 2007
Do you have any suggestions about calming a child with rhythmic movement disorder, through any natural means? This includes head banging and rocking, RLS and humming very loudly. We did a sleep lab and their suggestions were to sound-proof his room and a prescription for clonazempam. I absolutley will not give him a highly addictive drug such as these. Can you please help me? It is depriving our family of sleep.
I have not worked with this disorder, and can only suggest that you consider some of the calming herbs for children: lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), skullcap, lavender flowers or catnip. They can be taken as teas by steeping 1 teaspoon of the dried herb in 1 cup of boiling water in a covered ceramic pot or mug for 15 minutes. Give your child one half to one cup an hour before bedtime. Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is stronger tasting, and is therefore easier to take as a tincture.
You can make calming massage oils by mixing a drop of essential oil of lavender or rose in a tablespoon of olive or almond oil, or add a few drops of the essential oil to a warm bath. Essential oils act strongly on the nervous system.
We have shown how to calculate children’s doses of herbs on the Q&A section of our website: http://www.richters.com/show.cgi?page=./QandA/Medicinal/20040719-3.html.
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