it is not advisable to give medicine to make the child sleep.
the medicines act at the level of brain and obviously this medicines have got side effects.
better to go for natural sleep engagement in the child compared to medicines.
please see for any disturbance like abdominal colic or environmental disturbance which is affecting the sleep of the child
Next Steps
sleeping pattern in small children changes from time to time but will improve with increasing age of the child
you have to just see for any environmental factor which is affecting the sleep like temperature variations as well as the child might be having some digestion problem or breathing difficulty due to nasal blockage has to be looked into.
if the growth of the child is proper do not worry much about the sleeping pattern of the child as it always improve with time
you can increase the physical activity during the daytime as well as avoid more sleeping time during the day time and this will help in improving the night time sleeping time .