Özet:

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the sleep patterns and habits of children in Kırıkkale to detect sleeping problems while informing the parents about sleep.Methods: Twohundredforty children with the age range of 2 months-16 years were divided into eight groups with respect to age (2-5 months, 6-11 months, 12-17 months, 18-23 months, 2-4 years, 5-6 years, 7-10 years, 11-16 years). Each group contained 30 subjects. Parents and children older than 7 years were questioned for sleeping paterns, disorders and factors affecting their sleep by multiple-choice questions and using face-toface interview technique.Results: Total sleep duration was comparable with the duration of other countries. No correlation was found between the existence of electromagnetic devices in the room and the sleeping patterns and disorders (p>0.05). Nearly 1/3 children older than 2-years of age were found to have nightmares at least once a week. There were no differences in sleeping disorders between different genders and socioeconomic levels of the children (p>0.05). Sleeping disorders increased with age were snoring (8%), sleeping with open mouth (7%), talking in sleep (5%), teeth grinding (4%), snoring and apnea (3%). Children who do not have any sleeping disorders have school success higher than the others with sleeping disorders (p<0.05). The education levels of mothers who carry out sleep rituals including tooth brushing, reading book, listening music were higher than the other mothers (p<0.05) and school success of children who do sleep rituals were lower thatn the other children (p< 0.05).Conclusion: Parents should ask to their children about the sleeping patterns and disorders of the children, because this would be an important occasion to discover an underlying disorder. Furthermore, parents should be given information about sleep disorders and sleep hygiene

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