Roy Benaroch, MD
Q My eight-year-old son has a tough time falling asleep. Any tips for helping him?
A Many children have trouble falling asleep. Sometimes there's a specific, easily identifiable problem - they're too hyped up from after dinner activities, or too excited by having a friend sleep over. An occasional difficult night is nothing to be alarmed about, but a few simple measures can help many children whose sleep habits need work.
Good sleep routines start in the morning. To help your child fall asleep easily at bedtime, you may need to wake him at the same time every morning, seven days a week. Sleeping in on weekends leads to difficulty falling asleep Sunday night, and disrupts the entire week's sleep habits.
Make sure your child isn't consuming caffeinated products such as colas, citrus sodas, iced tea, or chocolate. Because caffeine is metabolized slowly in children, even a small daily dose can lead to bedtime problems. If your child takes daily medicine, ask your doctor if it might be interfering with sleep.
Avoid television or other video-based entertainment in the evenings. Even calm-appearing video is very stimulating to the areas of the brain involved with sleep-wake cycles.
Have a fixed, rigid bedtime routine that will serve to cue your child every night that bedtime is approaching. Your routine might include tooth brushing, reading, singing, stories, reading, prayer, or any other calm activity. The exact routine doesn't matter, but it should be consistent every day.
Some children don't seem to need especially rigid sleep routines, but if you're struggling night after night to get your child to bed, you'll want to make sure that you've got a definite plan to establish good sleep habits.
Roy Benaroch, MD, FAAP is an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics with Emory University, and is in private practice with Pediatric Physicians, PC in Atlanta. His first book, A Guide to Getting the Best Health Care for Your Children, is now available.
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