Ahh, autumn. Halloween costumes, fall foliage, carving Jack-O-Lanterns and enjoying the crisp bite of a fresh apple. Those of use who live in New England often cite this season as the finest of the year, prior to the long nights and cold days of winter. There is one part of it that I don’t look…
A recent study shows that melatonin overdoses have risen a whopping 530% in the last ten years, with a more rapid rise since the COVID-19 pandemic began. As a parent and a sleep physician, this is concerning to me. Parent who give their children melatonin need to be aware of the risks. Here’s what parents…
Pretty soon, the clocks go forward as we “spring ahead” on Sunday, March 95h th at 2 AM. We set our clocks ahead an hour as we re-enter Daylight Saving Time. If you do not have children (and are not working overnight), this is a bit of a bummer and you lose an hour of sleep. If…
Night time awakenings are THE most common reason that parents bring their child to a sleep physician or consultant. Dr. Craig Canapari and expert sleep consultant Arielle Greenleaf join forces to give advice on the most common reasons that kids wake up at night. The first step to getting your child to sleep through the…
Pediatricians frequently recommend melatonin for children with sleep problems, or parents might try it themselves. However, the proper use of melatonin is frequently misunderstood. Here is a guide for parents and pediatricians to decide if a child should try it, and to understand how it should be used. A common thread I find in children…
Crawling into bed with your child after a long day can be comforting. But this habit might interfere with her ability to sleep alone. Learn how to transition a child out of your bed and stop co-sleeping for good, even if your child has always slept with you. In an earlier post, I reviewed reasons…
When I see children or teenagers with sleep difficulties, the first questions in my mind are, “What is bedtime like? What time is it? How long does it take to fall asleep?” Often, one of the best treatments for insomnia is adjusting the timing of bedtime at night. It does not entail any prescriptions or…
What do the families who come into Sleep Clinic have in common? Almost all of them have tried sleep training and failed. There are some common sleep training mistakes that parents make. Knowing about them may make the difference between success and failure. (There are definitely some myths that some pediatricians share about sleep that…
I’ve been thinking a lot about habits related to sleep issues in children, after having finished The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (affiliate link). The dictionary defines habits as “a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up: this can develop into a bad habit | we stayed together…
Six tips for better sleep in lockdown, online school, and quarantineWatch this video on YouTubeThis video is hosted by YouTube. By clicking play, you consent to YouTube’s use of cookies and data processing as described in their privacy policy. (Check out the video! My kids had a heavy hand in this one. . .) As…
I was pleased to be quoted by Catherine Zuckerman in this very nice article on insomnia in the Covid-19. Between election stress, Covid stress, kid stress, it’s clear that many people are struggling with insomnia. I’m going to put together another post as we head towards another lockdown, but here’s what I talked about in…
Is your child struggling with sleep during the Covid-19 lockdown? You are not alone. Many parents have told me that their child can’t sleep during quarantine. I reached out and heard from hundreds of parents about their struggles. I found a few types of problems. Here, I review them and also talk about what you…
Periodically I get emails from subscribers to my list. I like to share some of the more interesting questions that people have. These entries are edited for privacy and brevity, and shared with permission. S. writes: Our youngest, Tommy, is almost five. Being the youngest of four, getting him into bed before 8 is almost…
Teenagers are more sleep deprived than ever before— about 85% don’t get enough sleep at night. There are lots of reasons for this: excessive homework, too early school start times, and the intrusion of the internet into the bedroom. Here are some of my best teen sleep tips which I suspect you haven’t heard before….
Restless leg syndrome in children is surprisingly common, but is frequently missed. If your child is fidgety or has leg pain around bedtime and problems settling down, it’s worth considering this condition. Sleep doctors get restless leg syndrome too When I was a kid, my parents used to avoid giving me Coca-Cola after lunch. Not because they were overly…
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