Dr. Schnoes: Honestly the way to help them get more sleep is easiest for those kids who are in bed trying to fall asleep, because they are more motivated. They want more sleep, they’re just struggling to fall asleep and the way that we do that is that sleep is a learned behavior, we learn how to fall asleep, and if they’re in bed awake, they’re not learning to be in bed and fall asleep and so we look at the whole picture. What kind of habits they have, what the room environment is like, how long it’s taking them to actually fall asleep, and then we match the actual sleep time with bed time initially, and then gradually move that sleep time earlier and earlier along with healthy hygiene habits and holding the morning wake consistent so that they don’t make up for sleep in the morning. So, more consistent schedule helps with that too. The other thing we have to manage is making sure they’re not napping during the day, because if they can make up their sleep in naps then it’s going to be much harder for them to fall asleep at night when they are trying to go to sleep.
