Putting children's sleep difficulties to rest

NEW YORK - In some good news for parents who wage bedtime struggles with their children, a new study shows that various forms of "sleep training" can put such difficulties to rest.

In a review of 52 previous studies, a panel gathered by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found several behavioral approaches can help children learn to fall asleep, and stay asleep, without a fuss.

These include methods such as teaching children how to "self-soothe" themselves back to sleep when they wake at night and creating quiet, enjoyable bedtime rituals.

The panel found more than 80 per cent of children who received sleep training showed significant improvements in their bedtime behaviour.

"We know that sleep training works," said the study's lead author, Jodi Mindell of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

And parents should know there are plenty of resources out there to help them.

With young children, "bedtime refusal" is often the issue; they may cry, cling to their parents or "stall" by repeatedly asking for food, a drink or a story. With babies, it's frequent nighttime wakings that last past the first few months of life.

But Dr Mindell said the exact definition of a "problem" behaviour was personal. Parents had to decide if their children's bedtime habits were affecting daytime behaviour - making them irritable or inattentive - or affecting the rest of the family.

Then they could find a form of sleep training that suited them.

In their review, Dr Mindell and her colleagues found a technique called "extinction" had particularly strong evidence to back it up. In its most stringent form, extinction has parents putting their children to bed at a particular time each night, then ignoring their crying and tantrums until a set time in the morning.

A variant of this is the "controlled crying" technique popularised by Richard Ferber, where parents gradually let their child's crying go on for increasingly longer stretches before checking in on them. When they do check in, the visit should be uneventful - no lights, no playing.

Dr Mindell said an important finding was that preventive measures - educating new parents on how to instill good bedtime habits - were highly effective. "You really can prevent these problems from happening," she said.

She suggested expectant couples ask their doctor about ways to form healthy sleep habits early on. There were also many books and other resources on the subject.

A key first step was for parents let go of the idea they were "selfish" for wanting bedtime to go smoothly; their children might benefit even more than they did from a good night's sleep.


Tips for parents

Children's sleep experts recommend these techniques

* Extinction: Parents put their children to bed at a particular time each night, then ignore their crying and tantrums until a set time in the morning.

* Controlled crying: If that sounds too tough, let the child's crying go on for increasingly longer stretches before briefly checking in on them (no lights, no playing).

* Most importantly, train babies and young children into good bedtime habits to prevent problems in the first place.

- REUTERS