Article Review: "Sleep Baby Sleep: Parents' Behavior has Direct Impact on Children's Slumber

I just read an article conducted by the Department of Psychology at the Universit de Montral and its affiliated hospital. This study "investigated how parenting can affect sleep in children."

So, you are wondering? Can I mess up my baby/child's sleep? This study indicates that "the way parents put their babies to bed has a direct impact on how well children sleep when they reach four to six years old." I have always known that the way you put your baby to sleep is extremely important and lasting, but here you can statistically see how much it impacts them.

"The researchers found that the manner 29-to41 month old toddlers were put to sleep influenced how they would slumber between the ages of 4 to 6. Parents behaviors that most affected childrens' sleep included:

• Giving children food or drink after they awoke, which provoked bad dreams, sleep of less than 10 hours or delays in falling back asleep.
• Co-sleeping with children when they awoke delayed their falling back asleep by 15 minutes."

The researchers also found:

• Mothers often think that infants cry only when hungry and so they may continue to respond with food or drink when 29-41 month old toddlers awake- which can cause bad dreams and shorter total sleep when children reach 4 to 6 years old.
  
• "Parents often opt for co-sleeping as a reaction, but co-sleeping is not the best option to prevent future sleep difficulties. Co-sleeping and other uncommon parental behaviors have negative consequences for future sleep."

I just heard a mother of six speak on Creating Independence in Your Children, she said to be careful that when you make a parenting decision you are making it as a choice on how you want to parent and not as a way to avoid a struggle. Keep this principle in mind as you decide how you want your infant, baby, child to go to sleep for naps and each night.

Question for You

How do you balance school, extra activities, homework, and bedtimes?

Sunday Sleep Dilemma

Q: My child who still needs a nap and takes a long nap- usually until 4:30pm or so- has a very difficult time going to sleep at night so that he gets his RDA of sleep, what can I do about this?

A: You know best if your child is ready to give up the afternoon nap (usually happens between 3 and 5, maybe 6). So, if he is not I suggest moving his nap to an earlier time. My son had this same issue when he was 27 months. I moved his nap from 1:30 to 12:30 and he still took a 2- 3 hour nap, but he was able to go to bed easily at 7pm instead of talking and singing in there for hours. If you just set the new precedent that after lunch we read a book and go straight to naptime (or skip the book) it may make the timing more understandable to your child.

Courtney's Sleep Tips on Momtrends

Friends,
Check out Nicole Feliciano's blog, momtrends.blogspot.com. The August 24th entry features some back-to-school sleep tips from me and other back-to-school tips. Enjoy.

I will be out of town for a week and will resume blogging on my return.

Happy Sleeping!!

Sleep Dilemma

Q: How do I keep my independent three- year old in his big boy bed?

A: There are a number of options for attacking this problem... all of which you may have to try in an attempt to rectify the situation... and you will have to figure out what works for your child.

• Set an appropriate bedtime based on your child's age-appropriate sleep needs.
  
• Make sure that you have a calming, consistent, and concise bedtime routine- possibly a bath, a story (not a library but a couple and not TV in place of a story), and to bed- avoid long drawn out routines, lists of excuses, and whatever else your creative child may conjure up.
• Have children get a drink and go potty before you put them in bed- take care of those inevitable excuses before they use them.
  
• Take the sleep environment into consideration. Turn off the lights- a dark room triggers sleep. Other sleep environment pluses: cool temperature, quiet, white noise.
• Maybe your child needs something comforting to sleep with: stuffed animal, blanket.
• Development of nighttime fears is normal and common at this age- leave their door open a crack if that helps them feel better, but I would avoid leaving bedroom lights on or forming any other habits that you don't want to continue. Also, think about the things that they watch- we don't want to give them something for their fears to feed on.

So, that covers everything to do to help prepare your child to stay in bed and fall asleep easily.

BUT, what if they don't stay in bed?

• Create a list of sleep rules along these lines: stay in bed, lay still, stay quiet, go to sleep (suggested from Healthy Sleep Habits). Go over these with your child before they go to sleep. Maybe demonstrate what this looks like or coach them through each of these actions, "Show me how you close your eyes sweetie." etc.
• If they get out of bed, silently walk them back to their room/bed. Don't give them any positive or negative attention- anything to converse about or add to staying up later. Do this again and again if it happens.
• Create an award system. Possibly give them a sticker on a card each night that they stay in their bed and when they get five stickers they get ___. Whatever is motivating to them.
• Call me or another sleep consultant to help you and your child get the sleep you need.
  

Saturday Sleep Tip

Set an early and appropriate bedtime and STICK TO IT. Preschoolers need between 10.5 and 13 hours of sleep a night. Toddlers need between 12 and 14 hours of sleep per night. Figure out what time they wake up or what time they have to be up for preschool or whatever your morning needs are and decide on a bedtime accordingly. Fight against falling into their persuasions of staying up later. Good luck.

Ponderings from Me: Transition to NO Nap

The dreadful transition from that oh so precious afternoon nap to no nap occurs sometime between age 3 and age 6. Marc Weisbluth, author of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child states that at age 3- 91% still nap daily, at age 4- 50% still nap about 5 days a week, at age 5- 25% still nap about 4 days a week, and at age 6 the nap is pretty much gone.
My daughter transitioned out of her afternoon nap at around 3 1/2. She had been a good sleeper and good napper since she was 5 months old. Always had an early bedtime and no problem going to sleep at night. Then, around 3 1/2 my great napper started staying awake for hours when I put her to bed at night... just talking in her bed or whatever until 10 o'clock or so. This went on for a week or two. (I was not ready for her to not have a nap.) Finally, one day we skipped her nap and did a quiet time instead. That night she went right to sleep at 7 o'clock. From then on, she has been fine without a nap and goes to sleep immediately at 7 o'clock and wakes up at about 7 o'clock every morning. A nice, solid 12 hours of sleep.
And then, then follow-up question: what do they do during their past naptime? How can I continue to get stuff done?
I have a bunch of quiet activities that my 4-year old pulls out during her "quiet time". She knows that I have stuff to do during naptime and has become quite good about finding quiet activities to occupy herself. You may also try having them play in their room, spending sometime with them alone, having them watch a short show, giving them a stack of books to "read" on your bed, or?? Readers please share any of your ideas. And good luck finding solace in no naptime.

Question for You

How much sleep does your preschooler get a day?

Sunday Sleep Dilemma: Preschoolers

Q: My preschooler comes home from school wired. He has no interest in taking a nap but needs to, what do I do?

A: Preschool can leave a child very excited about their day. If you can leave sometime between preschool pick-up and naptime that would be ideal. You may need to eat lunch (do that first). Then, depending on the amount of dirt and sweat he accumulated in his busy day a bath may be a good idea. Then, take some time to cool down and calm down: read a few books, have him tell you about his day, cuddle. Maybe just take 10-15 minutes but make it calming. And then explain that he needs to take a nap for a little bit so that you guys can have more fun in the afternoon. Also, make sure that the naptime isn't too late- you don't want him to become overtired, and you want to leave enough wake time before bedtime. Be calm, firm, and consistent in your naptime routine. Also, remember that sometime between age 3 and age 6 kids drop their naps... look for more on that later this week.

Saturday Sleep Tip: Preschoolers...

Create a short and calming sleep routine. Take care to not give into all the pre-sleep requests and excuses- it is okay to say no.