To help minimize these types of common sleep problems, mental health professionals recommend that parents be consistent. They should view sleep as a useful habit and develop regular routines. Parents often find that feeding and rocking help an infant to get to sleep. However, as the child leaves infancy, parents should encourage the child to sleep without feeding and rocking. Otherwise, the developing child may have a hard time going to sleep alone.
Nightmares are relatively common.
The child remembers nightmares, which usually involve major threats to the child's well-being. Nightmares, which begin at a variety of ages, affect girls more often than boys. For some, nightmares are serious and frequent. Sleep terrors are different from nightmares. The child with sleep terrors will scream uncontrollably and appear to be awake, but is confused and can't communicate.