Ensuring Restful Sleep In Kids: Pediatric Sleep Disorders

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

Thank you. It’s so good to be here. Thanks for having me, Dr. Wells.

Audrey Wells, MD

Great. I’m so happy to get to speak to you. I wonder if we can start with some basics, like how are pediatric sleep disorders different from adults?

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

That’s a great, great question. now when it comes to pediatric sleep. First of all, the architecture is different. Now, for newborns, for instance, we don’t talk so much about stage one, stage two, stage three, and REM sleep. We talk about active and quiet sleep. Then, as they get older, the sleep architecture starts to change. We start to see them start to form those different sleep stages. Then, in terms of the proportion of those different levels of sleep and the stages of sleep, there’s also a very severe reaction as well. We know that newborns, for instance, have predominantly R.E.M. or REM sleep; the rapid eye movement sleep is about 50%. Then, of course, as they get older, it becomes less up to the time when they are teens, and it’s like 20%, like 20 to 25%, like adults. That’s a completely different thing. then even the manifestation of sleep disorders is different. A lot of adults who might have sleep problems or sleep disorders may present with excessive daytime sleepiness and difficulties concentrating. But our younger age group may present with hyperactivity, which seems like their energy levels are through the roof. That’s also something that differs as well. Then another piece I would say is that there’s a type of sleep disorder like behavioral sleep disorder that tends to be more prevalent in our pediatric age group compared to what we would see in adults, too.

Audrey Wells, MD

Underlying this conversation is the backdrop of all of the brain development that takes place in children, which is something that sleep helps to enhance and preserve. There are lots of important processes that take place in a child’s brain right up to the age of 25 or so. I’m happy to elevate the discussion about optimizing sleep for kids. I want to start with some behavioral sleep issues, and typically we’re looking at the school-age group of toddlers who are learning to sleep. What can you tell me about how you approach this in your practice?

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

Yes, when a child comes with a parent to see me, my practice is that they just say I’m not sleeping because my child is not sleeping. Because if the parent was sleeping, you might probably never have seen the child; we might never see the child unless they’re showing up at school and they’re having learning issues or things like that. But initially, the parent comes in and says, My child cannot sleep, or my child is having sleep issues, and it’s affecting their daytime function. so they’re so exhausted. Everything seems to be chaotic at bedtime. So taking a step back to say, “Okay, where is the problem?” I use three categories typically. We talk about that behavioral bucket. The second bucket, or category, would be other medical sleep issues. The third would be other things that are present in this child during the day that also have their manifestation at night. If you have a child with ADHD or autism, they might also have sleep issues. Now, when we talk about behavioral sleep issues, one of the things that I’ve found is that it’s been most helpful to help talk parents down the ledge when they say nothing; it’s awful. It’s horrible. There’s no sleep at all. My child is up all night. We say, “Okay, when is this problem a parent? Is it at the onset of sleep? that’s important. Or is it? Is it with sleep maintenance where they’re having issues staying asleep, or is it early morning awakening?” Once we can tease that out, then, from there, I can say, “Okay, what is happening at bedtime?” I can tell you from my experience and even with research that a lot of times when kids have issues, especially those behavioral sleep issues, it’s around difficulties with sleeping independently or around the fact that they have a lot of what we call bedtime resistance. then sometimes you would also see a combination of both. 

What does it mean in terms of difficulty? Sleeping independently is when you start to have those sleep associations. like a sleep crutch. This child needs a parent to either rub their back, lay in bed with them, or give them a bottle before they’re able to fall asleep. then what happens is that when that parental presence is not there in the middle of the night and the child wakes up, like everybody wakes up in the middle of the night, we have this arousal, then your child is going to wake up even more because they’re like, Well, what happened? The last time I was here, a parent was rubbing my back. So they need that parental presence and that specific action to be able to fall back asleep and maintain sleep. That’s the bulk of the situation that we see. then, of course, that early arises when you have your child who wakes up at four thirty or five a.m. and is ready to take on the day. That’s also another common reason why children tend to have these struggles. So most times, again, they will come and say, Well, my child wakes up a lot at night, but they will say, the parent will say, but there’s no problem falling asleep. He falls asleep. Fine. Then we have to delve in and say, Okay, he falls asleep. Fine. But how does he fall asleep? Well, there’s a bottle, and I’m rubbing his back and rocking him, and then he falls asleep. Fine. But then we have to say, okay, that situation needs to be recreated. Every time you call, wake them up for them to be able to fall back asleep. Addressing that right at the beginning of the night ends up improving the nighttime.

Audrey Wells, MD

I love that because it’s an organic approach to the sleeping problem for a child. I want to bring to the surface this idea that when you’re treating a child’s sleep disorder, you’re looking at the whole family; you’re looking at the whole family dynamic, the whole family sleep. Parents will struggle if they are having issues with their children sleeping. In effect, they turn into shift workers, both moms and dads, and caregivers. How do you address that when the patient is a child?

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

Yes. and that’s why that was one of the reasons why I was so passionate about starting this practice, because, again, it’s beyond just handing you a PDF of a list of things to do. It’s stepping back and saying, What are the things that matter in your family? How does it affect family dynamics? Because if we’re going to implement any interventions, we have to make sure they work. If you have a father who’s not going to get home until eight p.m. and the child hasn’t seen them all day, then how are we going to integrate that into this situation where you want your child to go to bed a little bit earlier? Or if you have a mom who says, “What’ve heard of Cry It Out, and I don’t want to have anything to do with it. I can’t imagine my child even whimpering.” It’s a step toward making them where they are. That’s the first step, as well as helping them identify what their goals are, because some parents say, I don’t mind him sleeping in bed with me. He’s older; we’re fine. It’s just that he’s kicking. Okay, then we have to sit down and say, Okay, maybe that’s an area that we need to address first. 

Having that holistic perspective is important, as is seeing what steps they’re willing to take. Because, for instance, if you have a child who has bedtime resistance and also has sleep association or sleep crutches, we’re going to be unraveling quite many things. We have to say, What is the first step that you feel that you can tolerate? Is it saying that we’re going to start with a bedtime routine? There’s never been a bedtime routine in this house. How about we start with that? What if I establish a bedtime routine and an evening routine? Just establishing a bedtime routine. I’ve seen a large number of sleep issues improve with that strategy, especially in the pediatric population. It’s been partnering with the family to see how we go about it and then making a plan to say, this is where we are, that’s where we’re going, and these are the steps we’re going to take to get there. of course if your child gets sick, there’s trouble if there’s a sudden change in the family. We anticipate that there’s going to be road bumps along the way.

Audrey Wells, MD

Definitely. But you’re always collaborating. You’re collaborating with the family to make a plan that’s tailored specifically for them. Fantastic. One of the questions I always used to get from parents who wanted their children to sleep better was, “Are there these gummies with melatonin?” or “My kid swallowed some capsules or tablets of melatonin? How about that? Is that safe? Is it effective? Tell me your thoughts.

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

One of the things that I always talk about is melatonin, gummies, patches, liquids, or tablets is a hormone. So in the same way that we wouldn’t give our child or our children estrogen without guidance or growth hormone without guidance from a doctor, we shouldn’t be given melatonin without some guidance. So we all know that our brains produce it. It’s produced in the pineal gland. We know that in response to light and darkness, melatonin is produced. So in the evening, it helps create an environment for us to sleep in. It’s not a sleep aid. A lot of times, parents are using it as a sleep aid. It’s not a sleep aid. It’s and doesn’t our body produce sufficient melatonin that help us fall asleep, and so many times when people are using it, the question is why. So a lot of times it’s because, yes, my child does not sleep easily or my child is waking up. So then we have to step back and say, But why is that happening? If you have a child who is in front of a TV screen or on the iPad at bedtime, remember that melatonin is in response to the night. Once the light is out, the melatonin starts to calm, like in the evening when it starts to emerge. So you balance that response with the blue light that the child is being bathed in. One thing I would also say is that children are more susceptible to that blue light because they have a much more transparent cornea. They’re getting that, and then they’ll have a harder time sleeping. so we might give the melatonin. 

We’re not likely going to see much of a benefit. Also, while it’s been shown in some studies that there may be some side effects, even though the side effects reported are not like what’s an onslaught of life-threatening, it still does have some side effects that we want to be aware of. balancing that to see why I am using it and either behavioral strategies I should be using instead that can help this child sleep better before I reach for melatonin. That’s one thing. The other piece is the safety profile, which I was just highlighting. So there are studies, as well as the fact that it is marketed as a supplement. It’s not FDA-approved. It doesn’t go through rigorous pharmaceutical checks like prescription medications would. Quite a few studies, including a few published in JAMA, have shown that there’s such a wide variation in the contents of melatonin that’s been said to be on the label. so you can get anything from as high as almost 400% of what has been reported to be on the bottle. Also, although this recent study saw that there were many of the preparations, including gummies, that also included CBD, We don’t want to give our children CBD; they have very rare genetic syndromes where CBD could be used, but not for sleep issues in children. Again, that is an eye-opener to say, Well, what are we doing? Are we sure that this is something that’s also been happening over the last ten years? There’s been such a high percentage of children in some of them that I landed in the ICU from melatonin ingestion or melatonin poisoning. 

Again, safety is a big deal. That being said, now that I’ve said all that, there are a few situations where melatonin could be helpful. when we have children that have, for instance, neurodevelopmental conditions. If you have a child with autism or a child with ADHD, Angel Man Syndrome, or a few other syndromes, we’re not sure of the exact mechanisms, but it seems like their melatonin production may be a bit defective, whether it’s because it’s released later or in smaller amounts. In those children, then using melatonin again with behavioral strategies and with the guidance of a doctor is important in implementing it. Before we decide to move along with melatonin, knowing that it’s readily available and you don’t need a prescription, we should step back and say, “Why? Why does this child need it? Are there other ways I can safely get this child to sleep without using melatonin?

Audrey Wells, MD

Fantastic answer. complete. At the end, I want to highlight the things that you said. The question of melatonin seems to come up because it’s seductive that a pill could take care of the problem. that a lot of people also underestimate the effect of skills for sleep instead of pills. What techniques do you use to recruit parents to the idea that these behavioral interventions work?

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

That’s a great question. To start, most parents start to look to supplements or medications when they are desperate. That’s the first step. It’s helping them understand that. Yes, you’ve been struggling with this for many months, sometimes a year. How about if I tell you that we can work on this for about four to six weeks or even shorter, depending on how motivated we are to get your child sleeping better? So, again, it’s about perspective. Today. They show up, they’re tired, and they need something to take all the issues away, but then, to step back, we can implement strategies that are going to help your child sleep better. It’s going to take some work, but it can only get better from where you are. You’re feeding and giving milk five times overnight. You were getting out of bed so many times anyway. How about we do this and equip you with the right tools? Once parents can see those, and then also many parents, even though they say, Yes, just give me something down in the heart, “In their hearts, they don’t want their kids on Medicaid long-term. That’s the other piece I tell them, like if you do decide, I’m willing to support the decisions you make. Of course, I have to make sure you’re safe. But if you do decide you want to take this or that medicine, what’s the long-term plan? Is this going to be something that your child will be taking? I don’t know. As they go to college, what’s the long-term plan? Again, gets to their side, and says, Where are we going with this? How can I make sure that we’re doing this in a way that is safe for you, that is sustainable, and that’s going to be implemented to give your child the skills that they need long-term to develop this sleep and confidence? Most families are like, Yes, let’s go for it.

Audrey Wells, MD

Woven throughout your answer is this desire to establish a relationship built on trust, which is so important. When you’re working with families, I hear you saying that you’re asking them what their preferences are, what their situation is, and how you can work together to create a positive result. I want to shift gears a little bit and move into the realm of teenagers. Teens are separating from their parents a little bit. They’re starting to establish their independence, but developmentally, they still need some guidance. They’re a different beast if you will, but some specific issues are related to teens. I want to ask you: How is it the perfect storm when you are coming up to be a teenager and having problems with sleep?

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

Yes, teens are just one of my favorite groups of people. They mean, Just listen; I’m in it right now. But it’s just a matter of understanding where they’re coming from. A lot of times I’ve seen teens who are so exhausted, they’re sleep deprived, and they’re undergoing so many hormonal changes. It comes out in their attitude and their perspectives on it. then people just like to stay away. But helping your child and helping parents understand that your child, your teenager, is not just inherently lazy; they’re probably just exhausted. What happens is that, as soon as these children get into puberty, there is a shift in their circadian rhythm. There’s just a circadian delay such that melatonin production is a little bit later. Your school-age child would go to bed at, I don’t know, maybe 8 p.m., and light was good. All of a sudden, you’re trying to get that 14-year-old to go to bed, and it’s already 10 p.m. or 10:30. so it is a physiologic shift. It is physiology. It’s not them just being defiant. That’s the front end of it. What would happen is that if you have a child who’s going to bed at a time that’s not necessarily aligned with their circadian clock, say, if your teen goes to bed at 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. What are they going to be doing? They’re going to be tossing and turning in bed. They’re going to be frustrated because they’re trying hard to sleep, and then insomnia can ensue. The other alternative is because their minds are racing. They can’t seem to settle down. 

They pick up their phones, and they’re exposed to the blue light on social media. They’re texting. so that further delays their sleep onset. behavioral issues, the physiology is there, and then there is the possibility of them having what we call psychophysiological insomnia. Then, on the back end of it, early school start times are a big issue. A lot of our teens are being told to wake up early to catch the bus at 7 a.m. in some situations, even earlier. This issue is that because of the way their circadian rhythms are delayed, they’re supposed to go to bed a little bit later and wake up later. If they’re able to do that, they don’t have any sleep issues. But we cut it short, and they’re told to wake up. Their circadian nightmare is what I call it. Think about it. It’s just telling our teenagers to wake up at 6 a.m. or 5:30 a.m. It’s just like telling us to wake up at 3 a.m. That’s when we’re at that deep, deep level of sleep. It’s depriving them on both ends. So they’re short on sleep for these reasons, and on top of all that, as if it’s not hard enough, there’s the pressure, there’s the social pressure, there’s the homework and after-school activities, and then on the weekends, what are they trying to do? They’re trying to take naps. They’re trying to sleep in. They’re trying to make up for that lost sleep. But then that delays their rhythms even further for them to start on Monday, and we’re back to square one. A whole lot is going on. I just say to approach this from a place of empathy and compassion as well. Of course, the boundaries that we need to set. But this is the thing that happens with their sleep, and it impacts their entire day. It impacts their learning, it impacts their mood, and it impacts their decision-making significantly. The other piece I should have added is that now they’re so tired and sleep-deprived, and they need to push through the day. Then they rely on caffeine, energy drinks, and things like that. Again, they are in the perfect eye of the storm for sleep issues.

Audrey Wells, MD

It creates friction with the family. The parents, the siblings. A lot is going on. I was always surprised to see how emotionally attached teens could be to their phones, but it makes sense because there’s a lot of emotional connection to peers, and it can act negatively at night when they’re checking text messaging or social media and then having an emotional and agitated response that also interferes with their sleep on top of what the blue light is doing. I want to channel a mom. My kids are not quite teens yet, but yours are. Is that right? Yes, they are. Okay. Okay. I’m going to channel. I’m going to channel the mom and say, How do I have the discussion with my teen about their screen time at night so that they can sleep better without the phone?

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

That’s an excellent question, and it starts with having a conversation with them. I have had teens come to me with no idea, and it was just a wrestling match every night because they didn’t understand. All they were told was that the phone was bad for them. Get off the phone and get into bed. Meanwhile, especially if you have a teen who is maybe anxious or nervous, with the pandemic, a lot of our kids have a lot of mental health issues. Now they’re using the phone as an escape from all the pressure. So taking that away from them is disempowering them. So that makes them push back then the attitude and all that comes in. But it comes from a place of staying with them and having that conversation to help them understand what’s going on with their bodies. Because all they keep saying is that I’m not sleepy. Or they’re sneaking the phone in. But if you can sit down and have a conversation with them, and this may be where your child’s physician may also come into play to have that conversation as well, to say this is what’s happening with your body, your inability to sleep is not all your fault. These are the things that are going on. But this is the amount of sleep you need. 

This is how if you notice, and also in these situations, I will use motivational interviewing, like, “How do you feel in the morning? What does your day feel like? What do you feel like on the weekends when you can sleep a little bit more?” So shedding some light on how their sleep impacts their performance and their function and meeting them where they are. For instance, you might have a child who wants to get all A’s. I’m helping them understand how sleep is impacting their grades. You might have a child who enjoys basketball and likes to have those free throws and score as many points as possible, and then you connect that with precision and accuracy. Or you have a child who wants that driver’s license, but he’s so drowsy during the day, so finding what motivates them then takes them along before we start to say, how is the phone impacting your sleep? How is screen time affecting your ability to sleep and helping them understand? Apart from just the blue light, as you said, the increased cognitive arousal and excitement they’re getting from the content they consume that night are affecting their sleep. This is where the magic happens. It’s finding that compromise to say, I know you want to engage with your friends; you’re done with your homework; you’re done with after school; but you want that space. How about we do this up until X, and you set a time again? It’s inviting them to the table to have that conversation. When we do that, we’re more likely to be successful in getting them to engage in prioritizing their sleep health.

Audrey Wells, MD

Again, you’re involving the patient with their care, and that’s an empowering thing to do, especially for this group, which is laying down the foundation of their self-esteem, their inner self-talk, and looking for external cues that they’re doing okay. You’re right; sometimes they can’t hear it from mom and dad. Finding an experienced and knowledgeable physician like yourself is key. Now, I know you’ve listed some things. I just want to make sure we have a complete list of the consequences of poor sleep for children. Academic problems, mood issues, physical performance, concentration, and memory—potentially some brain development—especially for the younger group, but the older group, too. What if I missed it?

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

I would say that at least 80% of the growth hormone that’s secreted is secreted at night during sleep. Growth issues are such a big one for children. Also, especially again, when we talk about teens who may be involved in sports and athletics, the ability to have muscle repair occurs during sleep. That’s another one, and then immune function as well. The ability to even fight the common cold or respond to vaccines appropriately is related to having good quality sleep. We’ve seen this in studies where they exposed people to certain viruses, like the influenza virus, and compared those who had sufficient sleep with those who were sleep deprived, and those who were sleep deprived had a higher chance. so higher susceptibility to those infections. Those are big ones. The other ones are metabolic. Some of our children are at increased risk of obesity, which is becoming a major issue even for our young teens and young adults. then with that increased risk of hypertension as well as diabetes. Those are also things that we’re seeing a lot of, even in our children.

Audrey Wells, MD

It’s surprising because normally a condition like diabetes is considered to be an adult condition. But all of these things overlap and interact. that helps us understand the importance of healthy sleep. Now, people complain about sleep studies. People complain about the CPAP. I like to let adults know that kids, go through sleep studies, and kids use the CPAP sometimes too. Can you talk about when a sleep study is indicated for a child?

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

Well, there are different reasons why we would get a sleep study for a child. I would say respiratory indications would be looking for sleep apnea, or what we call sleep-disordered breathing. If your child is snoring and if they pause and breathe in, it is not cute. It might be a sign of sleep apnea. You should get a sleep study to do that, to check that. If you have a child who is significantly restless at times, having a condition like restless leg syndrome or periodic movement disorder is something that we would see from a sleep study. Sometimes, in some children who maybe have what we call nocturnal seizures, where something is going on at night and you’re not sure, we’ll get a sleep study as well to study that in more detail. Then also in children that we’re concerned about, narcolepsy, that’s a group where you have this uncontrollable urge to sleep. then you may also have a sudden loss of tone with emotion and things like that. So you would bring the child into the sleep lab. For most children, we’re still doing lab sleep studies, unlike adults, where we do the home sleep test. They will be brought into the sleep lab to get tested. In a few older children where there’s not much by way of comorbidity, you might be able to get away from home with a home sleep test. But this is still something that we’re studying extensively to see in what group of children would we feel safe and confident that we’ll be able to diagnose this sleep disorder with some success?

Audrey Wells, MD

Yes. A lot of times, the sleep study is simply needed to get a deeper look at what might be going on beyond what can be observed at home because, presumably, the parents are sleeping for the majority of the night to prevent sleep apnea in children. There are a few different treatment modalities, some similar to adults, some different. Can you touch on those? What people who have a kid with sleep apnea may be offered treatment?

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

The most common reason why children have sleep apnea compared to adults is enlarged tonsils and adenoids. These are tissues that are behind your throat and your nose, and the first line of treatment for that is removal, a procedure we call adenotonsillectomy. So if that diagnosis has been made, we’ll have the child referred to our air nose and through colleagues so they could take a look and then schedule them for surgery in situations where the tonsils and the adenoids are not enlarged or the adenoids and tonsils were enlarged. They were taken out by the child, still have residual sleep apnea, or are in a situation where, for some reason, another surgery is not indicated or based on parental preference. We then start to talk about other modalities, but that’s also dependent on the severity. the effect it’s having on the child and the family. So what are some of these other modalities, such as continuous positive airway pressure CPAP?  That’s one of them. This tends to involve the mask’s interface with the tubing on the compressor that’s just continuing to the back of the child’s head. It does take some period of desensitization, meaning that we’re getting the chance to get used to it. Similar to adults, we don’t expect that your child will put the CPAP on and sleep through the night the first time. We work very closely with them to get them to tolerate it. Then we also talk about a few medication options, especially if you have more of the milder type. Sometimes we’ll do nasal sprays, especially because some of the adenoids may be swollen. that might shrink it, or other medicine. It’s a pill. It’s called Montelukast or Singulair. 

Again, it also shrinks those tissues a little bit. if you’re in the milder category. That’s another one. Another treatment option that we recommend is weight loss, especially since we’re in an obesity pandemic, even with our young children. We’re recommending weight loss. But that being said, we are offering some treatment as a bridge until they achieve that goal. Weight loss. Hypogloss, or nerve stimulator, is becoming more and more used in children, especially in children with trisomy 21, or Down’s syndrome. That’s another treatment option where you have this implantable device,  almost like a pacemaker, or that just helps with causing contraction of those upper airway muscles. It’s been shown to be effective in our children who are intolerant of CPAP and things like that. Those are a few of the options. then I would say there are a few studies that have been done. One was a milestone study that was done back in 2013; I believe it was in 2013. Now it was called the chat study. It’s about what we call watchful waiting. especially if you have a child who is otherwise doing well but has some mild sleep apnea. You can observe them clinically and follow them, and some of these children can just improve over time. Quite many options for treatment are available for treating sleep apnea in our children.

Audrey Wells, MD

That’s reassuring for parents because when you have a bunch of choices in front of you, it helps you understand what is a good fit for you. I just want to piggyback on what you said with the idea of palate expansion and making sure the upper face is growing appropriately and that the gentle arch is maintained for good tongue posture. That’s a fun thing in kids because there can be such a dramatic response, and that will carry through to adulthood. All of these things are foundational when you’re looking at pediatric obstructive sleep apnea and how to proceed with it. As we wrap up here, I want to hear more about your coaching and how that affects sleep because it’s such an intimate experience to have a professional like yourself look at a person’s sleep problems, tailor a program, and help somebody understand what steps they might take and what mindset they might adopt to get through their sleep problem organically.

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

Yes. Thank you. This came from just the conversations I was having with my patients because there are the 30-minute-long visits where you hand them a handout, and then hopefully you get to see them back in three months. However, I realized that the model was just not fulfilling for the families and also not for me as a clinician who went into this profession because of people. So taking that coach-sleep-coach approach for the family has been helpful because we are walking through everything to see where the issues are. Beyond just a diagnosis, of course, if there’s a clinical diagnosis that impacts sleep, then we’re addressing that. But then if their mindset issues, if they’re in the parent issues with setting boundaries, maybe need for some parenting strategies around bedtime where implementing that as well. then I’m following them in my program, and I will tell them, Well, your child’s sleep issues and your sleep issues as a mom did not start overnight. We’ll see over time. We’re going to meet every one to two weeks. We’re going to set goals. At the end of the day, the goal is for you to have your sleep confidence back. Doing this with a very holistic approach that resonates and aligns with the family’s values leaves everyone where they should be. I’ve seen this effective, and it’s been fulfilling, especially seeing the change where families come in and there’s so much chaos, and they’re empowering them with the tools they need. With their sleep in bed, their kids are sleeping better, and of course, the parents are sleeping better. So that’s just the majority of the work that I do in this regard.

Audrey Wells, MD

I have to say that I coach for the same reason. It’s so gratifying. It makes you feel like you’re touching a family member or a person way more effectively than you ever could behind the doors of a clinic. So I’m cheering you on. I know that everybody that you meet benefits from your expertise and your awesome care. Doctor, Dr. Funke Afolabi-Brown, where can people find you?

Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD

Thank you so much for having me. Dr. Wells, this has been such a fun conversation. On my website, you can find me at www.restfulsleepmd.com. There, you can learn a lot more about the work I do. You could schedule a free consultation call with your family or if you work for an organization. One of the things that I also do is work with organizations and leaders to make sleep a priority when it comes to the wellness culture. That’s another way you can connect with me and also with my clinical practice, which is focused on caring for children and young adults with sleep issues. You can schedule an appointment through the scheduling link on my website. Those are ways to work with me and find.

Audrey Wells, MD

That sounds awesome. It was so nice to talk to you today. Pleasure. I hope you have a fantastic day.