ABSTRACT
Sleep can be affected by the ongoing preoccupations of the young child. There are many issues that may contribute to sleeping difficulties at this time of life. Anxieties around separation, concerns about the child’s relationships with his parents or with his siblings, as well as dilemmas in expressing strong feelings, may all show in sleeping problems. The child may experience this as an interruption to his play, a cutting across his pleasure. Sleep may be experienced as a time when the child struggles to withdraw, not only into sleep, but away from his relationship with the parent. Parents often develop bedtime rituals that are familiar to the child, providing a known experience that eases the transition into sleeping alone. Less troublesome sleeping difficulties may occur when the child’s usual pattern is disrupted by external changes, for example, sleeping in a strange environment at holiday time.
