My 5 year old son won't sleep and when he doesn't it's only for a couple of hours and then he is up all day. what can i do?

Thorough evaluation: Your child would need a thorough medical and psychiatric evaluation to determine the cause of the problems. Sleep disorders in childhood are common and persistent. Mood disorders can affect sleeping. Emotional disturbance and ptsd are reasons for nightmares. Anxiety is commonly associated with insomnia. A child psychiatrist and psychologist will test and help in diagnosis.

Sleep hygiene: Make sure he does not have caffeine intake ( sodas., tea) , no tv in his room , no violent or overly exciting shows at bed time . If he takes naps during day time he probably does not needed it. Over the counter melatonin 1-3 mg at bed time may help. May need to see child psychologist if above does not help for evaluation.

Have him evaluated: It is very unusual for a 5 year-old child to need only a couple of hours of sleep. However, there are many sleep problems that can cause that degree of insomnia in a child. I would recommend that he be evaluated by a sleep physician. If you go to the american academy of sleep medicine site you can find sleep doctors in your region who would be happy to help.

Doctor: It sounds like it's been going on for a few days? If that's the case, perhaps there's something bothering him a lot emotionally. Talk to him and see what's going on. Make sure he's not drinking caffeine, like in energy drinks or soda. And take away his video games. If it's been going on daily for a week, he should see a doctor.

Youth sleep: As we age from infant to toddler to child the need for sleep dramatically decreases. Having a set wake time and strict day time routine is important but you can't force sleep to occur. However to reinforce the routine you should make sure there no arousing stimulus like tv at time of sleep. Probably one nap a day is enough at this age.