A Harry Potter movie alerted Jennifer Armstrong to the fact that her son might have a sleep problem.

	John Heller, Post-Gazette Austin Armstrong of Sutersville waits for sleep during a polysomnogram test at Children's Hospital. Click photo for larger image. Related articles Night and nights of good sleep Here are some signs of sleep trouble

Afraid to sleep in his own room after watching the movie last fall, 10-year-old Austin slept on the floor in his parents' room.

"That's when we noticed that he quits breathing sometimes in the middle of the night. It frightened me," his mother said.

She and her husband, Dan, who live in Sutersville, Westmoreland County, took their son to their family doctor, who referred them to specialists in sleep disorders at Children's Hospital. Austin underwent a sleep study at the hospital last week to assess why he stops breathing for brief periods, a condition known as sleep apnea.

While they are unsure if more cases of sleep disorders are occurring, doctors believe a growing recognition of sleep-related problems has fueled a demand for treatment.

"The diagnosis is being made more commonly," said Dr. Todd Wolynn, medical director of the pediatric sleep disorder program at Mercy Hospital. "I think we're seeing more cases than in previous years because we're asking about it."

Dr. Michael Sateia, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, noted that the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that pediatricians screen all children for snoring, which can be a sign of sleep problems.

"This is part of the growing recognition of the importance of healthy sleep and sleep disorders in childhood," said Sateia, professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School. "Pediatricians are beginning to recognize how common sleep-related problems of all kinds are during childhood and what impact these disorders have on the healthy development and quality of life for children."

Children's Hospital, which began its sleep clinic three years ago, is conducting as many as 500 sleep studies a year, said Dr. Peter Michelson, clinical director of pediatric pulmonology at the hospital, and that could double within a year because of patients waiting to be seen.

Besides greater awareness of sleep problems, there is "some evidence that sleep habits among children have been eroded," said Dr. Ronald Dahl, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh.

Research studies have found that children are going to bed later, getting up earlier and getting less sleep than they were 10 or 20 years ago, he said.

Busy evening schedules and the proliferation of computers, cell phones and televisions may be a factor, Michelson said.

Poll results released last year by the nonprofit National Sleep Foundation found that America's younger children are sleeping less than experts recommend, and more than two-thirds experience frequent sleep problems.

The poll found that in every age group, children did not meet the low end of the range recommended by experts for daily hours of sleep.

"Across the board, we found that most kids are not getting the sleep they need," said Jodi Mindell, associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Part of the cause is our "24/7 society," said Mindell, a psychologist who chaired the poll task force. "Any time of the night or day, you can go to the store, go online."

"Television, no question, has had an impact on sleep," she added, noting that the survey found that 43 percent of children had TVs in their bedrooms.

The poll, based on a survey of nearly 1,500 households with children 10 and younger, also found that three out of four parents would like to change something about their children's sleep habits.

Some parents go to extraordinary lengths to try to get their young children to sleep, Wolynn said.

One racked up miles on the family car by driving the child around, he said. Another reported wearing out two vacuum cleaners, often leaving them on in an effort to induce sleep.

Besides posing challenges for parents, sleep problems can have significant effects on the children who have them.

Lack of sleep affects cognitive abilities like memory, attention and reaction time, all important factors in school performance, Mindell said.

In young children, sleep problems often relate to getting them to go to sleep on schedule and to sleep by themselves.

In general, children should be encouraged to fall asleep on their own, Mindell said. If they typically fall asleep with their parents present, they likely will need their parents to fall back asleep if they awaken later, she said.

For young children, having a set routine before bedtime that might include taking a bath, putting on pajamas and listening to a parent read a story is often effective, Mindell said.

Another common problem, enuresis, or bed-wetting, can be traced to a variety of causes and may require medication.

Some children also have "night terrors," that may cause them to scream, sit upright in bed and resist being comforted. Night terrors differ from nightmares, in part because children typically have no memory of the incident. Mindell said having a child go to bed earlier sometimes alleviates the problem.

Older children may have delayed sleep phase syndrome, in which they often go to bed very late and tend to sleep during the day. Treatment often includes establishing a firm sleeping schedule.

Children also can have restless legs syndrome, an uncomfortable feeling in the legs, alleviated by moving them, which can inhibit sleep. The condition is not the same as "growing pains" in the legs, Michelson said.

More common, he said, is periodic limb movement disorder, which occurs during sleep and can disrupt it. Both conditions may be linked to iron deficiency.

A nighttime sleep study known as a polysomnogram is sometimes used to diagnose sleep disorders. The test, typically conducted over a single night, measures a variety of activities.

At Children's, 12 electrodes are placed on the head and face to determine not only when a patient is asleep, but the different stages of sleep, said chief pulmonary technician Steve Walczak. A probe is taped under the nose to measure oral and nasal air flow, and small tubes in each nostril measure exhaled carbon dioxide.

A sensor taped to the neck measures vibrations from snoring. Electrocardiogram electrodes are pasted to the chest.

Bands placed around the chest and abdomen measure movement in those areas. A sensor clipped to the finger or toe measures oxygen levels in the blood.

And belts around the ankles record motion in the legs.

The test is frequently used to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea, which occurs in 2 percent to 3 percent of adults and children, Wolynn said. A variety of factors can cause the airway to become obstructed, resulting in disrupted sleep. Loud snoring can be associated with sleep apnea, and removal of tonsils and/or adenoids is often an effective treatment in young people.

Jennifer Armstrong said her son snores loudly, has trouble falling asleep at night and sometimes seems sleepy during the day. But before she noticed that he stopped breathing while he slept, she attributed those problems to his allergies and asthma.

Since then, she has found herself listening at night to make sure her son is still breathing.

She hoped that treatment for his sleep apnea will allay her concerns and also help her son to "sleep better, and maybe do better during the day."