Sensory Integration (Processing) Disorder Among Children With Behavioral Insomnia and Children With Feeding Disorder

Behavioral insomnia of childhood is a prevalent condition, affecting 10-30% of children 6-36 months of age. If left untreated, bedtime problems and night wakings can negatively impact the daytime functioning and behavior of the child, as well as the entire family. Feeding difficulties are common in pediatric practice and encompass a spectrum ranging from children with physiological difficulties in ingesting food, through picky eaters to full fledged infantile feeding disorders. We have recently shown that feeding and eating difficulties are more prevalent among children with behavioral insomnia of childhood and that sleep problems are more frequent in children with feeding disorders. We hypotesize that SPD is a common etiology for both sleep and feeding disorders and that children with sleep or feeding disorder have increased rate of Sensory intergration disorder (SID) compared with healthy controls.