Sleep Baby
October 23, 2008
One of the biggest concerns of new parents is the quantity and quality of sleep that newborns and infants require. Especially since sleep has been proven to improve physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing.
It is true that babies require adequate sleep, just as adults do, but quantity and quality are not static. Because needs vary among infants, sleep requirement is based on ranges at different stages of development, rather than a single academic number.
QUANTITY
Newborns require between sixteen and nineteen hours of sleep per day. Of this, nine to eleven hours are at night, and seven to eight hours during the day. Usually, sleep periods are broken into defined three to four hour spans, after which babies wake to feed. Newborns should not be allowed to sleep for extended periods without being fed, as this leads to depletion of food stores, which results in malnutrition.
Three month olds sleep for a period of thirteen to fifteen hours, nine to ten hours of which are at night, and four to five hours during the day. At this age, nighttime wakes are limited to once or twice. If they do wake, it is important to feed and change them quietly, without much stimulation, by light, talk or play. This demonstrates to them that night is intended for sleep.
At six to twelve months babies require twelve to fourteen hours of sleep, which are split between night and day, ten to thirteen hours, and two to three hours respectively. Parents should be able to differentiate between cries of fatigue, hunger and pain, by this time, and respond accordingly.
Toddlers between the ages of one and three years, sleep for ten to twelve hours with the great majority of these hours, at night, and one to three hours during the day. At these ages it is important to establish a bedtime routine, which will be valuable in the years that follow. Bedtime routines should be adhered to each night. Most find a routine that consist a change period, a bathroom period, and a tuck-in period, to be effective.
QUALITY
In order to ensure infants acquire quality sleep that is comfortable and restful, it is important to examine ‘how’ and ‘where’ they sleep.
For the first three months of life, it is best that babies sleep in cribs that are located wherever their parents sleep, as it is comforting to them, and is an ease on parents.
As for position of sleep, parents should get babies into the habit of sleeping on their backs, since research indicates that babies who sleep on their stomachs are at greater risk to digestive problems, experience grater obstructions, and breathe their own
carbon dioxide, which are all unhealthy.
Deprivation
Proper sleep habits ought to be developed immediately, in order to avoid sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation in infants and children leads to a number of immediate and long-term complications, such as moodiness, irritability, temper tantrums, hyperactivity, grogginess, oversleeping, and increased risk of ADHD.
FINAL WORD
Sleep deprivation in infants and young children is attached to a number of grave short and long-term ills; thus adequate quality sleep is necessary for proper growth, development, health and wellbeing.
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