Sometimes want of sleep is accounted for by a real want of physical
exercise. Town children especially are apt to suffer from their
limited opportunities of running freely in the open. It is often
considered enough that the child seated in his perambulator should
take the air for three or four hours daily, while much of his time
indoors as well is devoted to sitting. It is necessary for his proper
development that he should have opportunities of daily exercise in the
open. If for any reason this is not always practicable, a large room,
as free as possible from furniture, should be chosen, with windows
thrown wide open, in which the child may romp until he is tired.
It is rare for children of two or of three years of age, whose case
we are now considering, to be troubled by bad dreams, nightmares, or
night-terrors. If these should occur, obstructed breathing due to
adenoid vegetations is sometimes at work as a contributory cause.
Finally, we should always remember that refusal of sleep is, for the
most part, caused and kept up by harmful suggestions derived from
mother and nurse, who allow the child to perceive their distress and
agitation, who speak before the child of his habitual wakefulness, who
unwittingly focus his attention on the difficulty. It is cured in the
moment that the suggestion in the child's mind is reversed, in the
moment when he comes to regard it as characteristic of himself not to
make a fuss about going to bed, but to sleep with extraordinary
readiness and soundness. Let every one join together to produce this
effect. Let the suggestion act strongly on his mind that all these
troubles of sleeplessness are diminishing, that night after night sees
an improvement, and soon his reputation as a good sleeper will be
established, and, as always with children, it will be rigidly adhered
to.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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