[Current approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of behavioral insomnia in children].

Behavioral insomnia is the most common sleep disorder in young children. It significantly reduces the quality of parent's life and is one of the common complaints to a pediatrician or neurologist. The basis treatment of childhood insomnia is behavioral therapy, which includes sleep hygiene, age-appropriate daily routine and sleep associations, stable bedtime routines, positive reinforcement, bedtime fading, scheduled awakenings. Although a systematic ignoring («crying it out») is effective and widely used in behavioral therapy, it has low compliance and its safety is insufficiently studied. Therefore, a systematic ignoring is not a priority method of behavioral therapy and should not be used in children under 6 months of age. Behavioral therapy of childhood insomnia is complemented by psychological and informational support from parents, and in some cases, drug therapy. Prevention includes education of expectant parents on baby sleep hygiene.