This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Sign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages without signing in

Assessment of the problem

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Obtain a good account of the problem - what happens when the child is unable to settle at night. Why is the lack of settling such a problem with the parents eg lack of privacy, tiredness.

Establish what the child's sleep pattern is. This may lead to the identification of a possible solution immediately. However often the account of the child's sleep pattern given by the parents is not clear and a parent should be asked to keep a sleep diary over the following week. This diary should include:

  • the time when the child wakes up in the morning. Did the child have to be roused?
  • what was the child's mood on wakening?
  • details concerning times and durations of naps during the day
  • the time that the child is told he must go to sleep
  • the time at which the child is known to have gone to sleep
  • details of any waking in the night - the time, duration and parental reaction

The sleep diary can be drawn up on a sheet of paper with the points listed proving columns of a table and the days in the week providing rows.

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.