Childhood insomnia: why Chris can't sleep

Abstract

Children of all ages experience difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep, which is known as childhood insomnia. Insomnia is a symptom that may be caused by a primary sleep disorder or is associated with other sleep, medical, and psychiatric disorders. The sleep disturbance causes significant impairment in daytime functioning and impacts negatively on family life. This problem is managed primarily by behavioral or cognitive-behavioral approaches. Medications are frequently prescribed, but there is a lack of data from controlled studies to support the use of pharmacologic agents in the management of childhood insomnia.