ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Sleep problems are extremely common during childhood, from infancy to adolescence. Unfortunately, despite the prevalence of sleep problems, childhood sleep disorders are often under-recognized and undiagnosed, despite being either preventable or treatable. According to information gathered from the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep in America polls (1,2), two-thirds of young children experience at least one sleep problem at least a few nights per week, and greater than half of all adolescents report feeling sleepy during the day. But greater than half of all parents surveyed reported that their child’s physician did not ask about their child’s sleep; and the older the child, the less likely the discussion. Table 1 shows the recommended amount of sleep that children should be getting and the actual amount of sleep that children achieve (1-3).
