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It Can Take My 3 Year Old Up To 2 Hours To Fall Asleep

My 3 year old son has difficulty falling asleep. It can take him anywhere from 1-2 hours to sleep. He often tells me "I don't know how to go to sleep" I don't know if I'm to blame.


I nursed him to sleep as a baby and he needs one of us to hug him to sleep. As a baby he only would stay asleep if he was held.

My mother (his grandmother) needs to take sleeping pills to fall asleep and it can also take me hours to fall asleep. Could this be something he inherited from me?

It may take my son a long time to fall asleep, but once he is asleep, he sleeps throughout the night. He was sleeping 10 hours every night, but lately it has been only 8! And he doesn't take naps during the day...so he can be awake for 14 hours and he still can't fall asleep quickly!

I don't know if to be concerned. He does not snore or have night terrors. When I talk to my doctor, they just told me its normal behavior for his age....is it?

Thank you for your help :)

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Welcome! This site is continuously being created by students of Dr. William C. Dement's Sleep And Dreams course at Stanford University.

We made this site as a call to action for people all over the world to live healthier, happier, safer, and more productive lives by learning about their own sleep. We have faith that reading the information provided on this site will motivate you to be smart about your sleep deprivation and strategic about your alertness in order to live life to your fullest, most energetic potential.

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