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I'm a proud parent of a wonderful 4 years old boy. He's healthy, smart and kind.

Nonetheless, my wife and I have been struggling with a sleeping disorder since his first year. When falling asleep (or sometimes when in deep sleep), he violently shakes his head sideways, "singing" loudly something like "aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaa". Sounds funny, but believe me when he does this for hours at night, it quickly becomes unbearable. Beyond that, we fear that someday he might hurt his neck doing this...

We tried dozens of methods to make him stop, none worked: more hugs, more bed-time stories, homeopathic medication, music (I selected a few classical songs for him, but he doesn't like music when trying to sleep)... We took him to a kid psychologist, all she said to us was that it's a way for him to chill out/revive his day and that there was nothing to do but cope with it...

It seems that he does this unconsciously, because when we wake him up to stop him, he almost never understands what's happening.

We are quite in despair with this situation, I must admit. The last palliative we found is sleeping with earplugs...

Did some of you have similar issues and found a solution?

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    Have you tried music? If there's an aural component to what he needs to do to sleep, you might be able to find some music which would substitute. Of course, you would have to hear the music, but if it proves effective you might be able to reduce the volume to a level you can tolerate. Personally, I'd recommend starting with Enya, who I have found works well as a relaxant for both children and pets.
    – Francine DeGrood Taylor
    Aug 14, 2017 at 15:43
  • Yep, done that too, not with Enya though. I selected a few classical songs for him, but he doesn't like music when trying to sleep. And anyway, that would only solve half of the problem, as he also does in the middle of the night.
    – X99
    Aug 14, 2017 at 15:45
  • You might try Enya, just to be sure. Is there something you do that he finds relaxing? Maybe if you played Enya softly in the background, it might help him associate it with relaxing. The only reason I suggest this is because I find classical music an irritant. I could never sleep with it playing. Enya, however, I find almost hypnotic. As for the other half of the situation, have you had his ears checked out? He might be experiencing some kind of discomfort that he can't articulate.
    – Francine DeGrood Taylor
    Aug 14, 2017 at 16:35
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    Sounds like earplugs are the short term answer. You might want to talk to your doctor about parasomnia (medical-ese for doing random things while asleep) in toddlers. It is not uncommon, and normally resolves itself over time. However, you really should talk to your primary care physician.
    – pojo-guy
    Aug 15, 2017 at 3:25

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Teach him meditation. Meditation helps you to calm yourself and connect with inner peace. Try to do for a round 5 to 10 minutes each day right before bed and pray for a while. teach your 4 yr old son to meditate. it is not a hard task .. just to close the eyes while in the meditating stance and ask him to think about the day or count 1 to 10 or vise versa in mind.. try it few days..

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