A double-blind drug trial of treatment in young children with waking problems.

A double-blind trial using trimeprazine tartrate was carried out in 22 children with severe waking problems. On parental verbal reports sleep was significantly improved on the drug compared with the original baseline and the placebo, but diaries kept by the parents showed that this improvement was clinically only moderate, with many wakeful nights still occurring. Taking the drug produced no permanent effect on sleep patterns and a follow-up of 14 children 6 months later showed persisting sleep problems in the majority.