Behavioral Parent-Training Approaches for the Treatment of Bedtime Noncompliance in Young Children

Bedtime noncompliance is one of the most common and treatable types of child sleep problems. Children who are noncompliant at bedtime are more likely to exhibit daytime somnolescence, which may in turn lead children to exhibit daytime misbehavior, impaired social functioning and poorer school achievement. In addition, these bedtime problems can have a number of negative consequences for members of the child’s family, including parental sleep deprivation and depression. Behavioral parent-training approaches are considered the treatments of choice for bedtime noncompliance in young children. In this paper, we describe the evidence supporting a number of such approaches. We highlight several gaps in the treatment literature and we make recommendations for future research.