Aim
To describe parent‐reported child: (i) sleep duration; (ii) sleep quality; (iii) sleep hygiene practices; and (iv) the proportion of children meeting sleep duration recommendations.
Methods
A convenience sample of parents of Australian pre‐school‐aged children (3–5 years) were surveyed from the Hunter New England region of New South Wales. The cross‐sectional survey was conducted via computer‐assisted telephone interview. The survey assessed parent and child demographic characteristics and parent‐reported child sleep duration, quality and sleep hygiene practices.
Results
A total of 488 eligible parents or guardians took part in the study. Parents reported that children slept an average of 11.03 h per night. Approximately 96% of children met daily sleep duration recommendations from sleep guidelines for their age group. The majority of parents reported that their child had ‘good’ sleep quality (86.89%). Almost 40% reported that their child woke at least once a night. Sleep hygiene practices were relatively well established; however, a small proportion of parents indicated that they had no rules surrounding bedtime (13.52%) or television use before bed (14.52%).
Conclusions
The current study describes the sleep duration, quality and sleep hygiene practices of a sample of pre‐school‐aged children in New South Wales, Australia. Future research using objective measures of sleep duration and hygiene, as well as assessing a broader spectrum of sleep hygiene practices, is needed.