The current survey is an attempt to evaluate age-specific sleep charac
teristics and to identify the presence of sleep problems in Italian no
rmally developing preschool-aged children. A cross-sectional survey by
parental interview on sleep behavior was carried out on 2,889 childre
n (from birth to 6 years). Groups were formed based on age level. Resu
lts showed a developmental trend of some sleep characteristics, regard
ing mainly the length of sleep and rating of night wakings. Comparison
with other studies showed that the children in this study had a later
sleep onset time and slept less than children of the same age Living
in some other countries. These dissimilarities may be due to sociocult
ural and climate differences. Sleep problems (sleep latency longer tha
n 30 minutes or disruptive night wakings) were found in 35% of childre
n less than 2 years old, in 23% of 2-3-year-olds and in 14% of 4-6-yea
r-olds. Children with sleep problems slept significantly less (on aver
age 30-40 minutes across all age levels, required parental presence at
time of sleep onset and shared their parents' bed more frequently tha
n those without sleep problems.