Parent Management of Sleep Difficulties in Young Children

Abstract

Difficulties in settling children to sleep and night waking are common problems faced by parents with young children. The effectiveness of parent-managed behavioural intervention is examined in this study of four children which employs a multiple-baseline-design across subjects. Components of the intervention included: establishing regular bedtime routines; paying attention to the children before bed in the living areas and staying with the children only briefly when settling them in bed; adopting procedures for ignoring disruptive bedtime behaviour and night waking; and giving praise for appropriate behaviour. Complete success in settling the three children who were difficult at bedtime was achieved in five to fourteen days. Persistent night waking in all four children was eliminated in five to thirteen nights.