The bedtime pass: an approach to bedtime crying and leaving the room.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate a novel intervention for bedtime problems.


METHODS
We used an ABAB withdrawal-type experimental design.


METHODS
The intervention was prescribed in an outpatient primary health care context and evaluated in the home setting.


METHODS
Two normally developing boys aged 3 and 10 years were the primary participants. Twenty parents and 23 practicing pediatricians rated the acceptability of the intervention.


METHODS
A bedtime pass, exchangeable for 1 excused departure from the bedroom after bedtime.


METHODS
For both primary participants, instances of crying and/or coming out from the bedroom after bedtime; for the 20 parents and 23 pediatricians, comparative ratings of acceptability for the pass and 2 other commonly used approaches to bedtime problems (ignoring crying and letting children sleep with their parents).


RESULTS
Crying and coming out from the bedroom reduced to zero rates in both children. Pediatricians rated using the pass as significantly more acceptable than letting children sleep with parents and equivalent to ignoring. Parents rated the pass as more acceptable than either alternative.


CONCLUSIONS
The bedtime pass provides pediatricians with a readily usable, potentially effective, and highly acceptable novel intervention for bedtime problems, one of the most common complaints in outpatient pediatrics.
Friman
P C
PC
Clinical Services Department, Father Flanagan's Boys' Home, Boys Town, Nebraska 68010, USA. frimanp@boystown.org
Hoff
K E
KE
Schnoes
C
C
Freeman
K A
KA
Woods
D W
DW
Blum
N
N
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009329:Nebraska; D016487:Parenting; D010372:Pediatrics; D015143:Philadelphia; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000628:therapy*