Sleep Habits and Good Health

During the first year of life, a child's sleep habits change greatly as he or she begins to sleep for longer periods at night and less during the day.

"During the first year, there is a physiological need for the consolidation of nighttime sleep. This is common to all humans. We have a circadian rhythm we need to follow," said Le Bonheur Pediatrician Gail Beeman, MD.

However, there are "all kinds of practices dictated by culture and family that may or may not help a child develop physiological sleep habits," Beeman said.

Beeman advises that parents and pediatricians focus on the physiology of sleep to be sure that the belief systems aren't blocking the consolidation of sleep.

By 3 or 4 months of age, children will begin consolidating their sleep by sleeping longer at night and less during the day. Once a child reaches 12 months, he or she should be sleeping nine-10 hours a night with a couple short naps during the day. Parents run into two types of problems with sleep typically: the child not wanting to go to sleep and reawakening in the night and not going back to sleep.

Beeman suggests that parents begin developing a bedtime routine that helps a child become sleepy yet not quite asleep. This routine can include rocking, reading books, dim lighting, etc. The child should be placed in a safe place to sleep and then should fall asleep on his own. So when the child reawakens in the middle of the night, he should be able to put himself back to sleep. For younger infants, the feedings in the middle of the night should be kept calm and happen in a dark room. This will help the child develop his own sleep patterns.

Beeman emphasizes that the "Back to Sleep" campaign has saved children's lives. This program educates parents to place newborns and young infants on their backs for sleep. Also, during those first 3 or 4 months of life the safest place to sleep is in the same room with the parents but in a separate bed - a bassinet or crib, she said.

The researchers were interested in the physiological aspects of sleep because short sleep duration is associated with obesity, learning problems, school problems, attention deficit disorders, among others.

"When we see well children in the clinic, we weigh them, measure their height, we ask all sort of developmental questions like ?Is your child rolling over?' The physiologic development of sleep is something we haven't been paying as much attention to and we probably need to," said Beeman.