To think that this is an unethical way to tout for business?

[CodewordRochambeau]

I'm fully prepared to be told that IABU but interested in other perspectives.

A sleep consultant is advertising on our local FB parents' page. All fine. As part of her ad, however, she has stated:

"Sleep debt can cause developmental issues in young children, it is also associated with ADHD." (Her comma splice, not mine...).

IABU to think that this is a bit low? Sleep deprivation is hellish and if support from a consultant helps you and you can afford it then more power to your elbow - but to imply that you could break your child if you don't buy in support seems a bit much to me.

A doctor at the hospital told me that if I didn't get ds sleeping better then there was a much higher risk of him later being diagnosed with ADHD. She also sighed about his behaviour in the consultation and said 'he's very active, isn't he?' With a raised eyebrow. Made me feel utter shit. I have tried everything to get him to sleep better.

The teachers at his preschool have commented on how mature he is for his age, he sits and listens at carpet time and he is very capable of following instructions and concentrating on an activity for an extended period. I'm still stressing about it now though. I don't want to break my beautiful boy

Has she backed it up with any evidence? It is shitty, but then nothing in the 'let's make money out of parental anxiety and guilt' market surprises me any more!

She's a cunt of the highest level. Scaring parents into thinking they need her to show them how to sleep train their child.

Lack of sleep can lead to ADHD?

Or is it the other way round, and bad sleepers already have it? But the doctor claimed you could prevent it by getting your ds to sleep better
How the hell do you force a child to sleep "better"?

Surely it is the other way round... children with ADHD are more likely to have sleep problems, rather than lack of sleep causes ADHD
Not great to use guilt in an advert, although many many adverts use guilt to get people to buy their products (not that that makes it right!!)

I think she has misunderstood and is attributing symptoms the wrong way around.

Children with additional needs often have sleep issues but I have never seen research that suggests lack of sleep causes behavioural disorders.

I highly rate the Children's Sleep Charity : www.thechildrenssleepcharity.org.uk/

They are a charity designed to improve sleep for families, they run accredited training schemes and focus on assessing the family in question and finding a sleep programme that works for the individual child.

I think this sleep 'trainer' is a chancer and I doubt her credentials and abilities.

Cross posts with Flogging Molly and whispers!

I'd call her on it and ask for her credentials and I'd do it publicly on fb. purely because that sentence would piss off many parents.

Its almost as if she looked a children who would not sleep because they were running around hyper and thought well if they slept they wouldnt do that. Thats just part of being a kid. of course being hyper does not mean adhd.

I read that as that 'DCs with Adhd are more likely to be poor sleepers'

Whether that was the intention and what people will understand from reading that sentence is a different matter.

Barbara I think that's plausible but generous! I think she's implying a causal link between poor sleep and behavioural or developmental problems.

I believe that chronically sleep-deprived children can be sometimes misdiagnosed as ADHD because the symptoms present very similarly, but that's rather different.

I would asks for the links to the research from which she makes her claim. "Source/Citation Needed". Yes, I am one of those.....

Children with ADHD are not 'broken'!!!

Jin apologies, I know - and I didn't intend to imply that. I was making a flippant catch-all comment to summarise how I'd read the implication of the advert.

Well if she is aking false claims like that then for me it would discredit any service she is offering. ADHD is a neuro-developmental issue that occurs in the womb, not from sleep debt (is that a new term?) I have a dc with ASD and ADHD and the amount of people that told me that young children watching TV causes ASD is astounding.

OP you have to comment now! A simple ??? will suffice and report back here