For some parents, getting their child into bed is a struggle that can take hours. Others get up at midnight to help their child fall back to sleep. Sleep problems like these affect one in four kids?and their parents, too.
As a pediatric sleep researcher, I?ve grappled with the question of why these sleep problems in children happen. My team?s research delivers the largest synthesis of why kids develop these sleep problems, capturing over 30 years of research. We have identified the 10 biggest reasons these sleep problems occur for kids ages one through 10 years.
Why kids develop sleep problems
This is a complex question. We identified nearly 60 factors that could play a role, from a pool of 98 studies. Ten of these factors were supported in several rigorous studies. These factors fall under three ?lenses? we can use to understand where children?s sleep problems come from: biology, psychology and the environment.
Biology
We identified two reasons kids develop sleep problems stemming from their biology?their temperament and their age. Biology involves the child?s internal functions, their make-up.
Temperament, or disposition, is the personality you see in your baby. Babies who seem more fussy or irritable can have a hard time responding to change and may not settle easily. Babies with this type of temperament may be more likely to have sleep problems later in childhood.
As children get older, they are less likely to have sleep problems. This may be because their brains c...