Sleep Anxiety in Children: Why It Happens and How to Help Your Child Sleep Peacefully
Brittany Ferri, PhD, OTR/L Occupational Therapist, Writer
May 22, 2026
It’s common for anxious or nervous children to experience difficulty falling asleep as a result of their emotions. Some kids even have anxiety that is specific to sleep. Children with sleep anxiety may ask parents to check their room for monsters, request food or drink before bedtime, engage in preferred activities instead of sleeping, and find other reasons to delay the process.
Between 53% and 90% of children experience sleep anxiety, which impacts their energy levels, mood, and daytime performance. This health concern can also cause parents, caregivers, and other family members more stress as they attempt to ease their anxious child’s concerns ahead of bedtime.
In this article, we will discuss the specifics of sleep anxiety and offer some natural, relaxing solutions for sleep anxiety, including Sound for Sleep by SoundSory.
What Is Sleep Anxiety in Children?
When children experience sleep anxiety, they exhibit nervousness about the act of falling asleep. Sleep anxiety can also pertain to being able to stay asleep, as waking up during the night can be especially scary for young children. Sleep anxiety is an emotional experience that stems from fear about what will happen as they sleep or if they are unable to sleep.
Children who resist sleep, on the other hand, may be trying to test their parents’ limits, seeking more independence in light of a fixed time for bed, or simply prefer to play and spend time with their family a bit longer. Sleep resistance may also be an indication that your child needs less sleep than they are getting, which happens naturally as they age.
Sleep anxiety and sleep resistance are both most likely to arise in the toddler years. It’s perfectly normal for children to experience sleep resistance at some point in their childhood, and they often outgrow this as they mature. However, sleep anxiety isn’t considered a phase and this concern can persist through a child’s preschool years and beyond if it isn’t dealt with.
Why Anxiety Gets Worse at Bedtime: The Science Behind Nighttime Worry
For most kids, daytime schedules are packed with school, extracurricular activities, doctor’s appointments, homework, and more. While kids aren’t usually in charge of managing their schedules, these activities require them to be engaged to a certain extent, which leaves their mind less space to wander. Being that nighttime usually equates to less activity, it is common for people of all ages to seek out distractions. If children don’t have an outlet for their energy in the evening, normal feelings of worry may snowball into anxiety about sleep. In addition, older children with sleep anxiety may worry about things they said or did as they ‘rewind’ or mentally review what happened earlier that day.
Some scientific causes of sleep anxiety include high levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone that should decrease as the day goes on. Disruptions to the body’s natural clock (called circadian rhythms) can also lead to anxiety at night, as the body may be gearing up for activities other than sleep.
Signs and Symptoms of Sleep Anxiety in Children
Parents should keep an eye out for several key signs of sleep anxiety in their children in order to deal with this concern effectively.
Behavioral Signs at Bedtime
Children with sleep anxiety will experience mounting feelings of overwhelm as the evening goes on and it nears their bedtime. They may have difficulty focusing on conversations with you or playing as they typically would. They may be irritable and restless. Younger children may report butterflies in their stomach or similar feelings. Children who are able to articulate themselves may say they feel like something bad is going to happen but are unable to elaborate or describe why they feel that way.
Nighttime Symptoms
It’s common for sleep anxiety to disrupt a childs’ circadian rhythms, leading to difficulty falling asleep at night and waking up in the morning. Children with sleep anxiety may also wake up in the middle of the night and have difficulty falling back asleep, experiencing many of the same behavioral signs we discussed earlier.
Since anxiety is at the root of these sleep problems, it is common for the body to reflect this in some of the following ways:
- Shaking
- Sweating
- Muscle tension
- Fast, shallow breathing
- Increased heart rate
- Digestive difficulties such as increased need to use the bathroom or difficulty using the bathroom
Children with more severe sleep anxiety may also experience panic attacks during their sleep (called nocturnal panic attacks). These are unpredictable surges of extreme panic that often wake children from their sleep.
Daytime Symptoms of Poor Sleep
Depending on your child’s age, they may show different indications of poor sleep. Younger children will actually present as higher energy with increased motor movement, fidgeting, and other signs of hyperactivity.
Older children may present more traditionally as a result of poor sleep with irritability, low energy, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating at school. They may begin to take naps again (even though they are past the point of regularly napping) and may even fall asleep briefly during the day such as when in the car or during class. Children who are not getting good sleep may also isolate themselves from others.
Common Causes of Sleep Anxiety in Children
Sleep anxiety in children can result from medical problems, environmental stressors, or emotional concerns. It’s important to know of some of the most common causes of sleep anxiety in children so you can pinpoint what is causing this concern in your child.
Fear of the Dark and Imagined Threats
It is common for children to be afraid of the dark, but children with sleep anxiety may have significant fears related to the dark, monsters or ghosts in their closet, or someone hiding under the bed to scare them. These tend to be the most vivid once it gets dark outside, especially if their room is also dim with little to no light at the same time. Younger children are more likely to have this intangible fear, and may ask their parents to check their room before they go to sleep or to perform a routine that helps ‘get rid of the monsters.’
Separation Anxiety
Some children with sleep anxiety will cling to their parents at bedtime as their way of coping with their feelings. This may be the most common in infants and toddlers, who may cry when their parents put them in their room for a nap or to sleep for the night. Older children may ask parents to read them a story or stay in the room until they fall asleep to help with this.
Daytime Stressors and School Pressure
Tests, upcoming report cards, changing school schedules, increased academic demands, and spats with friends are just a few of the daytime stressors that place pressure on kids. It’s common for these fears to culminate at night before they go to sleep because this may be the time they think of what their day looked like today and how tomorrow will pan out. As we mentioned before, nighttime often has a lot fewer distractions than during the day, so it’s common for a child’s mind to wander toward their worries and fears in these late-night hours.
Overstimulation Before Bed
Some children respond well to exercise before bed, as this can help with insomnia. But others (especially those with conditions that impact their sensory processing and regulation) may get too overstimulated to sleep afterwards. High-energy play time, action-packed movies or television shows, and other intense activities can all activate the nervous system. This makes it more difficult for a child’s mind and body to wind down in the hour or two before bedtime, which can understandably keep them up.
Underlying Conditions (ADHD, Autism, Sensory Processing)
Health conditions such as ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Sensory Processing Disorder are some of the most common medical problems that lead to sleep anxiety. These conditions may come along with symptoms such as irregular sleep-wake patterns, heightened sensitivity to environmental input, and racing thoughts. We will discuss these conditions more later, as parents should be aware of their connection to emotional health.
Family Changes or Difficult Life Events
Childhood comes along with many life changes for some kids, such as changing schools, moving, parental separation, grief associated with losing a loved one, and entering a new grade. Children may seem to adjust well to these changes at the surface-level, especially during the day when there are things to do. However, it’s common for these concerns to appear in more subtle or seemingly unrelated ways such as bedtime anxiety.
How Poor Sleep Reinforces Anxiety
Anxiety and sleep tend to work in a cyclical way. When a child experiences sleep anxiety, that anxiety impacts their ability to get good sleep. In turn, a lack of good quality sleep increases their anxiety during the next day and leading up to the next time they go to sleep. This cycle continues, making it difficult to properly manage these two concerns. For instance, research shows that 88% of children with generalized anxiety reported experiencing at least one sleep-related problem while 55% of anxious children experienced three or more sleep-related problems. However, it’s possible to break the cycle if you adopt the right approach!
How Much Sleep Do Children Actually Need?
A person’s sleep needs vary across their life. According to experts at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, children should get the following amounts of sleep based on their age group.
| Age | Recommended number of sleep each day |
| 0 – 3 months | 11 – 17 hours (across nighttime and naps) |
| 4 – 12 months | 12 – 16 hours (across nighttime and naps) |
| 1 – 2 years | 11 – 14 hours (across nighttime and naps) |
| 3 – 5 years | 10 – 13 hours (across nighttime and naps) |
| 6 – 12 years | 9 – 12 hours |
| 13 – 18 years | 8 – 10 hours |
How Sleep Anxiety Affects a Child’s Health and Development
Poor sleep stands to impact various aspects of a child’s development and well-being. Children who don’t get good sleep as a result of sleep anxiety may experience mood swings (consisting of irritability, depression, anxiety, and even aggression) and generalized difficulty regulating their emotions. Children who get poor sleep are also at risk of concentration difficulties, meeting academic requirements, and hyperactivity.
Sleep is also known to worsen health conditions, especially neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, ADHD, and sensory processing disorder. Children may experience worsening symptoms impacting their ability to socialize, process information, follow routines, and listen to instructions.
How to Help a Child With Sleep Anxiety — Practical Strategies for Parents
There are a range of at-home strategies that parents can use to ease bedtime difficulties for children who have sleep anxiety. Try some of these and observe how your child responds.
Build a Predictable Bedtime Routine
Consistency is key to getting good sleep. Develop a nighttime routine with your child that not only distracts them but alleviates their anxiety. This may consist of a warm bath or hot shower, use of essential oil diffusers in their room, reading out of their favorite book, looking at pictures to remind them of good memories, and more. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but it should be easy to repeat and replicate over time. No matter what you choose, it should be of value to your child and instill a sense of predictability that helps lower anxiety during this time of day.
Create a Calming Sleep Environment
Adjusting your child’s environment is another way to help them sleep better. Dim the lights around an hour or two before bed, use comfortable bedding that they prefer, adjust the temperature to be slightly cool (maybe with a fan on to help regulate this the right way), and minimize other household noise that stands to keep them up.
Talk About Fears During the Day, Not at Bedtime
While nighttime may seem like a good time to chat about how their day went, it’s best to save this for when it isn’t too close to their bedtime. You can form a routine around this, too; maybe by sitting down to chat with them as soon as they get home from school or on the car ride to sports practice before dinner. It’s good to encourage your child to discuss their feelings, but it’s better to do so in the daytime when they can be more productive about managing them, as they can work through their feelings with certain coping skills.
Teach Simple Relaxation Techniques
You can guide your child through a wide variety of relaxation techniques that are simple and don’t require any tools or materials. Guided imagery (also called visualization) involves imagining themselves in a calming, soothing place to help ease their mind. Deep breathing (the most evidence-based is belly breathing) allows their nervous system to reset and prepare for the more relaxing state of sleep. Light massage or progressive muscle relaxation can also help. The latter involves gradually tensing and relaxing different muscle groups in the body, which can help manage the effects of anxiety on the muscles.
Introduce a Comfort or Transitional Object
Plush toys, blankets, action figures, favorite pieces of clothing, and more can all serve as transitional objects that provide your child a sense of comfort. These help anxious children feel more secure during difficult tasks such as falling asleep. Parents can provide these for their children or take note of objects that may already bring their child comfort and security. By offering these as an option at bedtime, children can learn to channel that feeling of safety the object brings.
Limit Screens Before Bed
Blue light from electronic devices (as well as overly stimulating content coming from those devices) is known to impact a person’s sleep. Electronic devices that give off blue light include digital devices such as phones, tablets, computers, TVs, and e-readers. Experts state it’s best to avoid screens between 1 and 2 hours before falling asleep, as this helps the body prepare for rest. This effect is particularly magnified after 9:00 p.m, which should be noted for older children whose bedtimes are within this range.
Use Calming Audio to Ease the Nervous System
Certain audio input (such as gentle music, white noise, and even structured sleep audio) can all help anxious children settle. Some devices have been specifically designed for this purpose, making them evidence-based solutions for sleep anxiety in children. One such option is Sound for Sleep by Soundsory. This bone conduction pillow speaker has a built-in calming music program to eliminate the guesswork about what to play and how long to play it.
Reward Brave Bedtime Behavior
You can use positive reinforcement (such as sticker charts and other forms of rewards) to incentivize your child to manage their anxiety ahead of bedtime. This not only reinforces their positive sleep habits, but allows them to feel a sense of accomplishment for controlling their emotions. This makes the idea of overcoming sleep anxiety and getting good rest seem more realistic and achievable for them. Plus, charts tend to be great visual feedback for kids of all ages!
Set Gentle but Consistent Limits
It’s important to explain to your children why these techniques and getting good sleep is so important. Be gentle in your approach, but stay consistent with setting limits around bedtime. Being inconsistent tends to make sleep anxiety worse over time, so keep in mind that this will help your child in the long-term.
Sleep Anxiety in Children With ADHD, Autism, or Sensory Sensitivities
Children who have certain health conditions may experience more intense sleep anxiety than their peers. We explain why below.
Children With ADHD
Children with ADHD commonly experience symptoms such as difficulty winding down, racing thoughts, and motor hyperactivity. Each of these can prevent them from falling asleep quickly and staying asleep. In addition, stimulant medications often prescribed to people with ADHD can have varied effects on sleep. These medications are intended to help with focus and attention during the day, but they tend to cause insomnia as a side effect.
Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
ASD tends to cause irregular melatonin production, making it more difficult for children with this condition to fall asleep naturally. ASD also causes rigid behaviors, difficulty with transitions, and sensory sensitivities that can get in the way of bedtime. Children with this condition respond especially well to structured bedtime routines, which help ease anxiety and increase predictability for them.
Children With Sensory Processing Difficulties
Environmental stimuli such as textures, noises, light, and other physical sensations can be off-putting to some children, especially those with sensory sensitivities such as sensory processing disorder. This makes adjusting a child’s bedroom and physical space even more important to encourage calm that prepares them for sleep.
Nightmares, Night Terrors, and Sleep Anxiety — What’s the Difference?
Just as with sleep resistance, it can be easy to mistake sleep anxiety for other concerns. Night terrors, nightmares, and sleep anxiety in particular are mistaken for one another. We outline the key differences between these concerns below.
| Definition | When it occurs | Child’s awareness and response | What parents will see | How to best respond | |
| Nightmares | Scary dreams that can produce feelings of distress, fear, or anxiety | During the later part of sleep, also known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep | Children are aware of nightmares when they wake up for the day and may even awaken in the night from these scary dreams | Crying, yelling, running into parents’ room at night for comfort | Listen to your child’s fears and help calm them before trying to sleep again |
| Night terrors | Feelings of intense panic that jolt someone out of sleep quickly | During the earlier part of sleep, also known as non-rapid eye movement (N-REM) sleep | Children are not aware of night terrors | Sitting upright, yelling, not responding when being talked to, appearing almost as if in a trance, sweating, breathing heavily | Do not attempt to wake your child, but stay nearby for the several- minute episode to ensure their safety |
| Sleep anxiety | Feelings of fear or anxiety about going to sleep or waking up during the night | Before a child falls asleep or if they naturally wake up in the middle of the night | Younger children may try to put off going to bed, make several requests of parents, while older children may be able to verbalize their anxiety about sleep | Physical symptoms such as nausea, sweating, muscle tension, heavy breathing; emotional responses such as anxiety, irritability, and restlessness | Guide them through relaxation strategies, form routines before bedtime, distract them from their worries |
Nightmares
Nightmares can impact people of any age, and are defined as scary dreams that elicit feelings of fear, distress, and anxiety based on the events and circumstances they contain. Children with sleep anxiety may experience nightmares, but sleep anxiety occurs when a child is awake and nightmares take place while someone sleeps.
Night Terrors
While nightmares and night terrors both involve feelings of anxiety and panic, night terrors are much more drastic and will always cause someone intense feelings of being terrified. People do not remember night terrors since they are not associated with any visual changes and they are still in a deep sleep. This differs from nightmares, which are often vividly experienced and remembered shortly after.
How to Tell Them Apart From Sleep Anxiety
The main difference is that sleep anxiety takes place before a child goes to sleep and in the event they wake up during the night.
Common Mistakes Parents Make That Can Worsen Sleep Anxiety
It’s possible that certain parental habits may worsen sleep anxiety. These are not intentional, rather they come from not knowing. Learning about them can help parents take the steps needed to better manage their childs’ sleep anxiety.
- Assuming their child needs more sleep than they do
- Having their child’s day action-packed right until bedtime
- Not having routines or limits surrounding bedtime
- Using screens before bedtime
- Sleeping with your child or having your child sleep with you
When to Seek Professional Help for Sleep Anxiety
If your child is experiencing persistent sleep problems, it may be time to contact a professional for help. Some signs of this include continual fatigue and low energy during the day (so much that it impacts performance in school, sports, or social activities) and isolation from others. If these signs pop up despite consistently using sleep anxiety strategies, it’s best to speak with a sleep specialist, child psychologist, or pediatrician. Any of these professionals can walk with you in the right direction to help your child overcome their sleep anxiety.
Sound for Sleep by Soundsory — A Gentle Audio Tool for Anxious Sleepers
Sound for Sleep is an integrated therapeutic sleep program that is an excellent fit for children with sleep anxiety among other conditions.
- What it is: A bone conduction pillow speaker that slides under the pillow for easy listening. Bone conduction pillow speakers offer a quiet listening experience that is only heard by the user, as it sends gentle vibrations through the bones of the head rather than through the environment and in the ears.
- What it has: A built-in 8-night structured music program that eliminates the need for a playlist or phone that you select songs on.
- Who it’s meant for: Children and adults with anxiety, sensory sensitivity, ADHD, autism)
- Key features: Sound for Sleep has an automatic shut-off, charges easily with any USB-C cord, and is Bluetooth compatible. This speaker also has an 8-hour battery life and is made with dual bone conduction transducers that give off high-quality sound.
- Why it’s good for anxious sleepers: Medication-free, screen-free, private listening experience with gradual sound modulation.
Learn more on the SoundSory website and online store.
Wrapping Up!
In the end, small and consistent changes make the biggest difference in improving sleep anxiety in children. Most cases of sleep anxiety greatly improve with parents who adopt a patient approach and offer predictable support. Remember that you can pair as many relaxation strategies alongside this approach as you’d like. In particular, sound therapy – such as that offered by Sound for Sleep – is known to encourage a calm nervous system that will help usher your child into a restful sleep.
FAQs
Is sleep anxiety in children normal?
No, sleep anxiety is not normal but sleep resistance can be something children experience and then outgrow. Sleep anxiety should be dealt with, as it can get worse if not addressed.
At what age does sleep anxiety usually start?
Sleep anxiety may start during the toddler years, but it can start later in childhood. The onset of sleep anxiety depends partly on its cause.
How is sleep anxiety different from regular bedtime resistance?
Sleep anxiety stems from fear and other emotions related to going to sleep and staying asleep. Children who resist bedtime may be testing their parents or wanting more independence.
Can sleep anxiety in children go away on its own?
Sleep anxiety in children does not usually go away. It’s important to determine why it’s happening and make a plan to manage it.
Should I let my anxious child sleep in my bed?
In order to build independence, it’s best to teach children to manage their anxiety and fall asleep in their own bed. This will give them valuable skills to manage bedtime anxiety over time.
Is melatonin safe for children with sleep anxiety?
Yes, melatonin is safe for children with sleep anxiety. However, you should consult your child’s doctor before giving them melatonin or any other supplement.
What is Sound for Sleep by Soundsory, and how does it help anxious children sleep?
Sound for Sleep by SoundSory is an integrated therapeutic sound therapy program. Sound for Sleep helps children with bedtime anxiety, sensory processing disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, and more to calm their nervous system and get better sleep.
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Brittany Ferri, PhD, OTR/L
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