Night awakenings, bed-time resistance, and short-term insomnia are common sleep problems in children. It’s important to correct these problems because children secrete growth hormone during their sleep time, and solidify at night what they learned during their waking hours. Insufficient sleep can cause drowsiness but also irritability, or hyperactivity in children.
25% to 50% of infants over six months and toddlers awaken during the night. Prolonged nighttime awakenings are one type of disturbed sleep. It usually starts with rituals such as being rocked or fed before the child is put to bed. During the night, children normally have brief awakenings between sleep cycles or wake up to use the bathroom. But children with prolonged nighttime awakenings don’t self-soothe and get back to sleep. Instead, they automatically seek their bed-time rituals, calling for their caregiver. This pattern can be broken by stopping the rituals and instead putting the child to bed while they are drowsy but still awake. This routine should be started at three months of age.
Resistance to bed-time most frequently encountered in pre-school-aged children and those in the lower grades. It may be expressed as fears, but usually those protests are really just another form of stalling. Sometimes an event will cause the child to get out of their routine and it may be hard for them to get back into the routine. This behavior can be corrected as well as prevented with making consistent bed-time rules and consistent bed time. It is essential that the parents and other care-givers stick to the rules and enforce that same bed-time every night.
Sleep walking, sleep apnea, and night-time terrors are also common sleep disorders. Snoring, gasping, and pauses in breathing require urgent evaluation. Pediatricians are well-equipped to help you manage any and all sleep-related problems. Helping children get into a good sleep routine is an important gift to give them, one with benefits that can last all their life. Here’s a helpful You Tube video on managing sleep problems in children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkKrw2gxznw
References:
1. Marcdante, Dr. K., and Kliegman, Dr. R. Nelson Essentials of Pediatrics, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier, 2015.
2. Owens, Dr. J. “Behavioral sleep problems in children.” Up to Date, 8/18/2020.
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