This intervention was originally created to help young children (ages four to six) cope with trauma experienced during wartime. Dr. Avi Sadeh, an Israeli sleep physician, created it to help young children children affected by shelling in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.
In a second study, he and his collaborators assessed how well this intervention would work for children struggling with night time fears. They found a marked reduction in night time fears, as well as a reduction in sleep latency (the time it takes to fall asleep) and the number of night time awakenings.
This intervention was based on research that children with transitional objects tend to sleep better. This is my older boy’s teddy bear. When he was younger, it was perhaps the most valuable thing we owned. I was so paranoid about losing it on trips I considered buying another version and putting it in the laundry a hundred times to have a back up.
The initial intervention was based around the idea that children love to help, and this taps into their best instincts to care for others. The follow up study also tested a slightly different intervention where the stuffed animal was presented as a protector. For simplicity’s safe, I’m just going to review the initial version.
How to perform the Huggy Puppy intervention
Give your child a small stuffed puppy (or other animal of your choice) and tell him the following story (written by Dr. Sadeh):
This is my friend Huggy. Huggy is usually a very happy puppy. Right now, he looks a little sad and scared. Can you guess why he might be sad? [After your child replies, the story continues.] He is sad because he is very far away from his home and he does not have any good friends. He likes to be hugged a lot but he has no one to take care of him. Do you think you can be his good buddy, take care of him, hug him a lot, and take him to bed with you when you go to sleep?
After this, encourage your child to take the puppy to bed with him at night and to make him feel safe. Playing with the stuffed animal during the day can be helpful as well. It turns out that when children pretend to take care of Huggy Puppy, they become less focused on their own fears.
If you are struggling with your child’s sleep and he or she is fearful at night, try this out! This may also be a useful intervention for children with history of trauma, but in that case I would strongly encourage you to work with a mental health professional to meet your child’s needs.
Kushnir, J., Sadeh, A., 2012. Assessment of brief interventions for nighttime fears in preschool children. European Journal of Pediatrics 171, 67–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-011-1488-4
Sadeh, A., Hen-Gal, S., Tikotzky, L., 2008. Young Children’s Reactions to War-Related Stress: A Survey and Assessment of an Innovative Intervention. PEDIATRICS 121, 46–53. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2007-1348
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