Insomnia is sometimes very troublesome in young children, demanding most
painstaking treatment. Most important in encouraging the habit of going
to sleep immediately on being put to bed is regularity in the hour of
bedtime. Unless the child is put into bed at a certain fixed hour with
clock-like regularity, the habit of getting sleepy (which is such an
important factor in going to sleep) cannot be normally developed.
Sometimes a subdued, shaded light will sooth a nervous child’s excited
brain and so induce sleep. A child who wakes in terror in a pitchdark
room may for years be nervous about going to bed in the dark. Any
attempt to stamp out this tendency to nervousness by refusing a
comforting glimmer of light in the room may bring on a habit of
sleeplessness on first going to bed which may be difficult to eradicate.
Sometimes a softly-ticking clock, by affording a sense of
companionship, encourages the child to drop off to sleep.