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Insomnia in children

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Opinion statement

  • •Insomnia in the pediatric populations is very different than insomnia in the adult population. Although both involve sleeplessness, the causes vary significantly.

  • •Sleeplessness during early infancy is normal, and the developing sleep-wake pattern of an infant is inconsistent with the normal sleep-wake pattern of parents. Asynchrony of parental and infant sleep patterns can lead to specific complaints of sleeplessness in infants.

  • •Parental response to the infant’s developing sleep-wake pattern may be a factor that determines the presence (or absence) of problem sleeplessness as the child matures.

  • •Problem sleeplessness in children may result from behavioral, circadian, or biologic or medical abnormalities. Therefore, evaluation of the sleepless child should not be limited to only behavioral etiologies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sleep Medicine Center, Children’s Memorial Hospital, 2300 Children’s Plaza, Box 43, 60614, Chicago, IL, USA

    Stephen H. Sheldon DO

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  1. Stephen H. Sheldon DO
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Sheldon, S.H. Insomnia in children. Curr Treat Options Neurol 3, 37–50 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11940-001-0022-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11940-001-0022-9

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