This page is about sleep in primary school children. It's part of a whole section on sleeping sound [1].
Some children are unable to fall back to sleep without a special person, thing or activity after waking up. This is called 'sleep onset association disorder' and can stop children getting to sleep too. Key features are:
Find out how to manage sleep association [2].
These can be really scary for parents. Your child wakes suddenly with a loud scream or cry and when you go in to them, they are often staring straight ahead and look terrified. They affect at least 3 in 100 children and are more common if children are sick or overtired. Night terrors:
Find out how to manage night terrors [3].
These are frightening dreams that usually wake your child up completely. They are very common in children especially if they are overtired or sick. Nightmares:
Find out how to manage nightmares [4].
We do not really know how common anxiety is as a cause of sleep problems in school children, but it is probably common. Children with anxiety may:
Find out how to manage anxiety as a cause of sleep problems [5].
Children with restless legs have an uncomfortable feeling in their legs when trying to fall asleep or during the night. Children with restless legs may:
Find out how to manage restless legs [6].
Starship Foundation and the Paediatric Society of New Zealand thank the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, for making this content available to parents and families.
© Copyright – Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2014. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part of this content may be reproduced by a process, electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.
This page last reviewed 16 March 2023.
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Links
[1] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/tags/sleeping-sound
[2] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/sleep-association-management
[3] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/night-terrors-management
[4] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/nightmares-management
[5] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/anxiety-management
[6] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/restless-legs-syndrome
[7] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/sites/kidshealth/files/pdfs/Night_time_waking_SleepingSound.pdf
[8] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/node/2772?language=ton
[9] https://sleepwithkip.com/strategies/
[10] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/contact?from=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kidshealth.org.nz%2Fprint%2F1798%3Flanguage%3Dton