Child Sleep Issues

Many families find themselves facing common child sleep issues. These issues can be devastating to some families. If a child in the family is not sleeping, one or more parents are also not sleeping. Sleep deprivation causes all kinds of problems with normal child development and can cause adults to become unproductive at work.

Learn More About How to Solve Your Child’s Sleep Issues

Sleep Deprivation

Older children still need between nine to twelve hour sleep per night. When they are school age, children tend to become sleep deprived. With everything that kids have going on during the day, they have less and less time available for sleep. Parents need to help determine if their child is getting enough sleep. Determining this can be easy. If your child falls asleep within fifteen to thirty minutes of lying down, can wake up on time without being tired and go through the day without getting tired, he is probably getting enough sleep.

For a child sleep is very important. In order to develop normally, children need to get the right amount of sleep. Establishing a set bedtime is one way that parents can ensure that their children are taking enough time to sleep. Children often can’t sense for themselves when they are tired, so it is up to parents to be sure they get to bed early enough.

Sleep Disorders

Many children suffer from child sleep disorders. While sleep disorders in children are similar to the ones that adults suffer from, the symptoms are often manifested differently. One of the most common disorders that children suffer from is sleep apnea. It is often missed by health professionals, but can be easily corrected through tonsil surgery. Many sleep disorders are typically outgrown in many children. As the central nervous system grows and matures, many sleep disturbances are eliminated. One of the most common sleep disorder, nighttime wetting is often resolves as the child grows and is able to gain better control of their bladders.

Help Available

Many healthcare professionals have parents in their offices that complain, “my child will not sleep”. While healthcare professionals are the best place to start when parents are concerned about their child sleep issues, some issues are behavioral and can’t be treated medically. Parents need to consider seeking help from sleep specialists. Because of their training in child development, sleep specialists are able to evaluate each child and determine the cause of their sleep problems. They have different sleep help techniques based on the child’s developmental stage. Many times, simple sleep training techniques are all that is necessary to correct the problems. Many sleep specialists are available for phone consultation, seminars or face-to-face evaluations. Be sure to choose a sleep specialist whose philosophy is compatible with your parenting style.

It is important to help your child develop good sleeping habits early in life. Children that suffer from disordered sleep in childhood are more likely to suffer from disordered sleep as adults. Taking control of child sleep issues while they are still young is one of the best gifts a parent can provide to their child.