Can a child naturally grow out of a behavioral sleep problem?

Can a child naturally grow out of a behavioral sleep problem?

Gary Feldman (Medical Director, Stramski Disorders Center, Miller Children's Hospital ) gives expert video advice on: What are the most common sleep problems for teenagers? and more...

Children can grow out of sleep problems but at a cost. If children are waking up frequently at night and that's the sleep problem then you should be concerned about giving your child enough time; then they might outgrow it. The question is how long is it going to take and if your family can wait the five, six, seven, eight years or even more for them to outgrow it. If so then that's fine. The cost of course is what and how it has affected the families quality of life with a child that's waking up multiple times during the night and how it has affected the child's quality of life in terms of the daytime functioning. The other thing is that children that have sleep problems have about a 30% chance that they will continue to have problems with sleep for the rest of their lives. So there is a risk, even if they appear to not wake up frequently in the middle of the night as they get older, maybe problems of going to sleep or developing problems of insomnia will occur.