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Insomnia

Insomnia

Children and adolescents with insomnia often struggle with falling asleep and/or staying asleep. Infants and younger children with insomnia may resist or refuse their normal bedtimes, may have difficulty falling asleep or need a parent’s help falling asleep or returning to sleep in the middle of the night. 

Children with insomnia may have one or more symptoms at the same time. Symptoms include:

  • Consistently taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep 
  • Spending more than 30 minutes awake during the sleep period
  • Waking too early in the morning
  • Sleep that is not refreshing

There can be multiple factors contributing to an individual patient’s insomnia. Contributing factors can include nighttime fears, anxiety about sleep, difficulty settling, racing thoughts or problematic sleep habits. In some cases, insomnia is the result of another behavioral or sleep disorder such as:

Effects of insomnia include:

  • Preventing a child from getting enough sleep
  • Causing distress to a child and parents
  • Irritability
  • Poor concentration
  • Fatigue

Diagnosis of Insomnia

Doctors at Riley at IU Health use the following tools to diagnose insomnia:

  • Sleep evaluation questionnaire. You will provide a detailed history of your family's and child's sleep habits.
  • Sleep diary. You or your child will keep a daily log of times when he or she is awake and asleep over a specified period of time.
  • Actigraphy. Your child will wear an actigraph, a wristband like device that makes 24/7 measurements of sleep-wake times over a period of one or two weeks.
  • Sleep study. This can help diagnose conditions such as sleep-related breathing disorders that may cause insomnia.

Treatments

Because pediatric insomnia has many causes and effects that vary from child to child, the sleep medicine doctors at Riley at IU Health begin treatment with a detailed evaluation. In some cases when both medicines and behavioral treatments are needed to manage the insomnia, your child will attend a specialized insomnia clinic. Certain complex insomnia patients will be evaluated by a pediatric neurologist with sleep medicine training and a pediatric behavioral psychologist with sleep certification. Both specialists evaluate the child during the same visit for your convenience.

Once this evaluation is complete, the sleep medicine doctors will work with your child's primary care doctor to develop an individualized treatment plan. Your child's treatment plan may include:

  • Sleep hygiene education. This includes learning the importance of a regular sleep-wake schedule, creating a good environment for sleep and avoiding bad sleep habits like drinking caffeine before bedtime.
  • Behavioral sleep intervention for infants and young children. Sleep training provides families with training and support to help infants and toddlers fall asleep independently.
  • Behavioral plans. A sleep medicine specialist will help you and your child develop a plan to resolve behaviors such as bedtime refusal and night waking. 
  • Cognitive therapy. This helps change thought patterns that cause insomnia, nighttime fears or anxiety. 
  • Biofeedback. Your child will learn to control body functions such as heartbeat and breathing using an electronic monitoring device.
  • Chronotherapy. Chronotherapy shifts your child’s bedtime each night until he or she easily falls asleep at the desired time.

Our doctors are specially trained in sleep disorders and have additional training in pediatric pulmonology, pediatric neurology or child psychology. Our care team also includes dedicated nurse coordinators, respiratory therapists and certified sleep educators.

Key Points to Remember

  • Children with insomnia have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.
  • Children may refuse normal bedtime.
  • Insomnia symptoms include taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep and/or spending more than 30 minutes awake during the night.
  • Causes of insomnia vary from child to child.
  • A combination of behavioral and medical therapies can help children with insomnia.

Support Services & Resources

Learn more about insomnia, its effects and treatments.

Riley at IU Health offers a broad range of supportive services to make life better for families who choose us for their children's care.

Learn More About Riley Support Services

National Sleep Foundation

The National Sleep Foundation provides in-depth information about insomnia on its website.

Sleep for Kids

A service of the National Sleep Foundation, this website for parents and teachers provides information such as how much sleep children need and how to encourage them to follow a schedule.

Locations

Locations

In addition to our primary hospital location at the Academic Health Center in Indianapolis, IN, we have convenient locations to better serve our communities throughout the state.

Sort through 3 facilities offering Insomnia care by entering your city or zip below.

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Departments Treating This Condition