Article Review Day 6: Insufficient Sleep Syndrome

You struggled with your baby's sleep; you struggled with your toddler's sleep; you continue to struggle with your preschoolers sleep. "Insufficient sleep syndrome arises when a child regularly fails to get an adequate amount of sleep to maintain appropriate wakefulness during the day. The child's usual sleep period is shorter than predicted by age-based norms, and the child may experience daytime sleepiness or other behaviors indicative of sleep loss in child (e.g. problems with attention and concentration, irritability, and hyperactivity). Hmmm, could this have been the problem with some of my students all those years?

Besides the guidelines on the number of hours of sleep children need I often give which I find to be pretty accurate, (In general newborns should nap after 1-2 hours of being awake and then sleep for a large amount of time with a feeding or two mixed in. Infants will then transition to a three or maybe straight to a two nap a day schedule through 12-18 months. They should get 14-15 hours of sleep. Toddlers will have an afternoon nap and should get about 12-14 hours of sleep per day. Preschoolers may or may not have an afternoon nap and will continue with 11-13 hours of sleep per day. School age children should get 10-11 hours per day.) a few questions to consider in checking if your child is getting enough sleep are:

• Can he/she fall asleep easily at night (in less than 20 minutes)?
• Can he/she wake up easily at his/her normal wake time?
• Does he/she require a daytime nap? (if a nap is age appropriate please make sure they nap)

Some Tips for Addressing Insufficient Sleep Syndrome:

• Take inventory of your busy life- what can you cut out to allow for your child to get their needed sleep? What activities do you need to cut out or limit in your child's schedule?
  
• Check out your child's sleep environment- can something be changed to make it a more suitable sleep environment?
• Are you too tired to enforce bedtimes? What can you do to fix this problem?
• Do you need to subscribe to Lullaby Luna to stay up on sleep ideas? Do you need to read a sleep book? Do you need to come up with a consistent discipline plan with your children? Are you educated on the "importance of sleep to a child's health and well-being?"

"Many adults do not realize the pervasive and profound effects that even a small amount of sleep loss can have on a child's cognition and behavior."