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ילדים שאינם זוכים למספיק שעות שינה עלולים לסבול מבעיות במצב הרוח, אי שקט, ביצועים לקויים בבית הספר והתפתחות מודעת לקוייה. א הילד לא זוה למנוחה לאורך כל שעות הלילה, מוחים ממליצים להמנע מגלולות ולבחור בתרפיה במקום.

Children who don't get enough sleep can suffer from mood problems, irritability, poor school performance, and poor cognizant development. If your child can't seem to get a full night of rest, experts say avoid pills and opt for therapy instead.

"In our society, we always like to pop a pill and take care of a problem right away, but problems take time to develop and they often take time to resolve," William Kohler, M.D., Medical Director of the Florida Sleep Institute in Spring Hill, told Ivanhoe. "If you want to resolve the problem in the long-term, behavioral interventions are very important."

Researchers from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine reviewed 52 studies on sleep disorder treatments in infants and toddlers. They found 94 percent of those studies showed behavioral interventions significantly improve bedtime problems in small children.

"The importance of this study is we can use this to inform both parents and health care providers that this is the clear standard of practice for treating these types of problems in children," study leader Jodi A. Mindell, Ph.D., of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, told Ivanhoe. She said health care providers should stress the importance of regular sleep habits in keeping children healthy.

"It's important to get families early, during pregnancy if possible," said Dr. Mindell. "It's key to promote parenting education in the first place."

According to Dr. Mindell, there are several things you can do to improve your child's rest:

Establish a bedtime, and stick to it. For example, if 8 p.m. is your child's bedtime, do not let your child stay up until 9 p.m.
Spend about 30 minutes each night to get your child ready for bed.
Create a relaxing bedtime environment. Over-stimulation can prevent children from getting to sleep.
Interact with your child. Nurturing activities like bath times, reading, and sing-a-longs can help your child relax before bed.
Be consistent. Routine bedtime activities help make your child relax so they fall asleep easily.
Caregivers should practice behavioral therapies as early as possible, even before the child exhibits sleep problems. Children who get sufficient rest are generally healthier and have better cognizant function. It's not just the kids who suffer when they don't get enough ZZZ's. "The sleep problem in a child doesn't just affect the child, it affects the caregivers," said Dr. Kohler. "If a child isn't sleeping well, the parent isn't sleeping well, and the parent may miss work or have lower productivity because they are unable to function due to their sleep deprivation."

Dr. Kohler said there are no sleep medications approved for children. Some medications developed for other uses have been found to put children to sleep. However, these medications are not FDA-approved for sleep in children and can be dangerous to use for that purpose.

"There's always potential risk with medicine," said Dr. Kohler. "That's why I consider using medicine as a last resort."

For more information on sleep education and behavioral therapies, visit Sleep Education.com from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Jodi A. Mindell, Ph.D., of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia; Ivanhoe interview with William Kohler, M.D., Medical Director of the Florida Sleep Institute in Spring Hill, Fl.; SLEEP, 2006;29:1263-1276

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