SLEEPY TIME

I really don't understand why so many parents seem incapable of seeing that their children get enough sleep. I wish I had a dollar for every parent who tells me, "I just can't get little Joey/Catlain to go to bed!" Like they get a choice? Aren't you bigger than them?

For older children, caffeine consumption and a television in the bedroom were identified as major sleep disrupters.

Broch said lifestyle issues such as children and parents having overly-booked schedules and eating out more often result in later bedtimes than in prior generations.

Even on weekends, children are not catching up on their sleep, the poll found. In fact, about one-quarter of pre-school and school-age children actually sleep less on weekends than on weekdays.

"It's not just on the parents, it's in the community, it's in the after-school activities and play dates. Everything can start piling on top of each other. The process of naturally winding down and going to sleep doesn't happen until much later," she said.

Indeed, many sleep problems in children arise from a failure on the part of parents to establish routines early in life that allow the child to fall asleep at a reasonable hour, said Kendall Sprott, director of community pediatrics at Children's Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. Parents also can unknowingly reinforce undesirable behaviors by playing with children or giving them food when they wake up in the middle of the night.

"I have found a lot of parents would rather continue the pattern of having their sleep interrupted than trying to get the child to change their patterns because it might be met with resistance like crying," he said.

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