Insights from Dr. Chris Min, a pediatric psychologist and manager of the mental health service line at Rady Children’s Health (Rady Children’s)
Key takeaways
- Watch daytime behavior for sleep clues: Irritability, trouble focusing, or falling asleep during the day often signal poor nighttime sleep and can even mimic ADHD symptoms.
- Consistent routines build better sleep: Predictable bedtime habits, reduced nighttime fears, and encouraging kids to fall asleep independently help strengthen healthy sleep patterns.
- Limit electronics to protect rest: Removing devices from bedrooms and reducing evening screen time supports natural melatonin production and prevents overstimulation that can delay sleep.
Improving your child’s sleep with expert-backed strategies
Sleep is one of the most important building blocks for a child’s physical health, emotional well-being, and cognitive development, but it’s also one of the most common challenges for parents. From bedtime resistance to night wakings and early morning risers, sleep struggles can leave both children and caregivers feeling exhausted and overwhelmed.
Here, Dr. Chris Min, pediatric psychologist and supervisor in integrated primary care with Rady Children’s, shares practical tips and research-backed strategies to help optimize your child’s sleep.
How much sleep do kids need?
From birth, babies don’t yet distinguish between day and night, so they sleep in short periods throughout the day. Typically, infants start with two naps—one in the late morning and one in the early afternoon—which eventually consolidate into a single afternoon nap by preschool age (around 4-5 years old).
Once children reach kindergarten, they usually drop daytime naps altogether and rely on nighttime sleep. During early childhood, kids generally need about 11 to 12 hours of sleep at night. As they grow older, their total sleep needs gradually decrease, with additional changes to sleep patterns often emerging during puberty.
Signs your child’s sleep might be disrupted
How can parents and caregivers identify if sleep patterns are being disrupted? Per Dr. Min, one of the best approaches they can take is to monitor their child’s daytime functioning.
“When I say daytime functioning, I mean things like, how are they doing academically at school? How are they doing on the behavioral front at school? Are they irritable? Can they follow commands and directions? Are they able to follow through and complete their daily activities or are they struggling? If they are struggling, you want to find out if it is due to lack of sleep,” he advises.
One of the clearest signs a child isn’t getting enough sleep is that they fall asleep easily during the day, such as dozing off in the car after school. Lack of sleep can also affect academic performance, causing trouble with concentration, hyperactivity, and behaviors that may mimic ADHD.
In fact, clinicians sometimes mistakenly diagnose children with ADHD when poor sleep quality or insufficient sleep causes the symptoms. Unlike adults who may simply feel tired when sleep-deprived, children often become irritable, cranky, moody, and struggle with emotional regulation and focus.
What causes poor sleep among children?
When helping young children establish good sleep hygiene, it’s important first to identify the underlying reason they may be struggling to sleep. In some cases, medical issues such as sleep apnea affect sleep quality and require evaluation by a healthcare professional. For many young children, however, fear and anxiety around sleeping alone in the dark are common challenges.
Parents can help by creating a consistent bedtime routine that promotes relaxation and a sense of security—such as putting on pajamas, reading a story, engaging in quiet, screen-free activities, and spending a few minutes together before lights out. It’s important to encourage independent sleep rather than staying in the child’s bed, which can create sleep associations that are hard to break. Transitional objects, like a special stuffed animal or blanket, can also provide comfort and help children feel safe at bedtime.
“I have two kids, and one of my kids has a purple blanket she’s had since she was an infant. That is a transitional object,” shares Dr. Min. “It helps her to feel safe, helps her to feel secure, and it’s a nighttime-specific thing she has so she knows, ‘Okay, it’s bedtime. And as long as I have my blankie, I’m good to go to sleep.’”
A special consideration: Electronic devices
Concerning electronics and sleep, it’s not just the blue light that disrupts rest, though blue light does suppress melatonin and signal wakefulness to the brain. The social engagement that often comes with device use (texting, social media, scrolling through apps) can also stimulate the brain, making it harder for kids to wind down.
For this reason, it’s recommended that phones and devices be removed from the bedroom entirely at night. In adolescents, additional challenges arise due to a natural shift in circadian rhythm during puberty, which makes teens biologically inclined to stay up later and sleep in longer. Early school start times combined with late-night device use often lead to significant sleep deprivation in this age group.
Addressing sleep issues: Next steps
When a child is experiencing sleep issues, the first step is typically to consult their pediatrician. In more complex cases, a multidisciplinary sleep clinic may offer the most comprehensive care. At clinics like the one at Rady Children’s, teams of specialists—including neurology, pulmonology, and psychology—work together to assess and treat the full range of factors that may be affecting a child’s sleep.
Since sleep problems often involve a combination of medical, behavioral, and emotional issues, having access to multiple experts allows for a more coordinated and personalized treatment plan, especially for children dealing with conditions like sleep apnea, anxiety, epilepsy, or autism.
“If you don’t have access to a multidisciplinary sleep center or a clinic, then I would urge you to seek out a professional based on the main issue affecting your child’s sleep,” advises Dr. Min. “So, if it is sleep apnea, going to a pulmonologist is probably the best bet. If it is something neurologically related, going to your neurologist is best. And if it is more behavioral-based, issues like ‘My child won’t go to sleep on his or her own tonight’ or ‘My child seems to be really afraid at night and doesn’t want to go to sleep,’ then going to a behavioral health provider or psychologist would be best.”
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