Good Sleep is Good for Baby’s Development
Babies’ sleep quality is closely related to their growth and development. What are the benefits of good sleep for babies? What problems do babies often encounter when they sleep? How to improve the quality of babies’ sleep?
Benefits
- Promoting Baby’s Intellectual Development
Sleep has a very obvious role in promoting intelligence development for babies. Studies have shown that infants with better sleep have better IQ development. Sleep has a good effect on memory, creativity and mental state of older children.
- Promoting growth and development
Studies have shown that about 70% of growth hormone is secreted during deep sleep at night. Some children with poor sleep will gradually deviate from their height after more than three months to six months, which is caused by sleep disorders and insufficient secretion of growth hormone. Of course, diet, exercise and so on also have an impact on height and weight, but sleep is a major factor.
- Reserve energy
Sleep has the function of energy storage, that is, energy reserve for the human body to complete daytime activities. Sleep also has a great impact on emotional state, no matter small babies or older children, if lack of sleep or sleep quality is not high, there will be irascible, fidgety or appear symptoms such as behavioral disorders, memory loss, activity decline, and so on, and also prone to accidental injury. So good sleep is very important for children.
Children of different ages have different sleep patterns and characteristics. The younger the child, the longer the sleeping time. For example, the newborn sleeps 16-18 hours a day, the child aged from 6 months to 1.5 years old sleep 13-15 hours, the child at 5 years old sleeps 12 hours, and the child at school age sleeps 11 hours. Children under 2 years old sleep twice during the day and children between 2 and 6 years old sleep once during the day. In addition, babies’ sleep time has great individual differences, we can’t force them to be consistent. if the child’s mental state during the day is good, and he/she is lively, intelligent, well-developed, then sleep time is appropriate.
Problems and Reasons
Baby sleeps unsteadily and rolls over
Children loving to roll after falling asleep is not necessarily the manifestation of the disease, but at least it shows that children do not sleep deeply. This phenomenon may due to the following reasons:
- There is a discomfort in the bed. If the quilt is not even or too thick or the clothes are too hard and tight, it will make the children feel uncomfortable and roll.
- Excessive excitement during the day. The children’s nervous system is relatively fragile. If they are overjoyed or frightened during the day, their brain may not be completely calm after sleeping at night, which shows that they do not sleep deeply, sometimes accompanied by crying.
- Eat too much before going to bed. Some parents are always worried that their children are not full, and they let him eat a lot before going to bed at night, so that his stomach is full after sleeping, which makes him uncomfortable, so he will toss and turn.
- The intestinal parasites, such as intestinal roundworms, pinworms, often disturb at night, making children sleep restless.
- Fever, illness. If some children sleep well at ordinary times but suddenly feel uneasy, parents should be vigilant and observe carefully whether children have a fever or other abnormalities, to seize the opportunity to seek medical treatment.
The baby sweats after falling asleep
Some children sweat when they fall asleep and even wet their underwear. Parents are often very worried that this is due to the lack of calcium. So, why some babies sweat after fall asleep? In fact, children sweating after falling asleep mostly belong to the normal physiological phenomenon. Children’s metabolism is vigorous, calorific production is high, body water is much, the skin is thin, and blood vessels in the skin are abundant. Sweating helps heat release and maintains constant body temperature. Sweat can excrete metabolic wastes such as urea and fatty acids. Sweat can also moisturize the skin and keep it moist. Children’s nervous system is not well developed. When they fall asleep, the sympathetic nerve will be temporarily excited, leading to sweating. Therefore, children only sweat more, and the general situation is better, calcium deficiency is unlikely. If in addition to sweating, babies also have sleep disturbance, shock, occipital alopecia, and other symptoms, then babies may be calcium deficient, should seek medical advice in time.
Notices for Baby’s Healthy Sleep
- Sleep early
Children’s height is not only related to heredity, nutrition, and physical exercise, but also the secretion of growth hormone. The growth hormone is a protein secreted by the hypothalamus, which can promote the growth and development of skeleton, muscle, connective tissue and viscera.
Too little growth hormone secretion will inevitably lead to short stature. The secretion of growth hormone has its specific rhythm, that is, people can produce growth hormone after sleeping, and gradually enter the peak after one hour of a deep sleep, usually from 22:00 to 1:00 am. For growing children, if they sleep too late, their height will be affected. Therefore, children must sleep before 21:00, generally before 20:00 is the most appropriate. In this way, they will not miss the peak period of growth hormone secretion.
- Sleep enough
Adequate sleep is the best way for children to grow and develop. This is related to the amount of sleep children need. Newborns sleep 16 hours a day, 14 hours three months after birth, 13 hours from 6 months to 1 year old and 12 hours from 2 to 3 years old. That is to say, infants and young children sleep half of the day. Heterogeneous sleep is also known as “fast-wave sleep” and “eye beating sleep” which can make the brain rest the most. The heteromorphic sleep of newborns and lactating infants accounts for 40%-50% while that of adults only accounts for 20%. This shows how important it is for infants to sleep fully.
- Turn off the light when sleeping
Usually, when sleeping in the dark, the physiological function of the human body is coordinated and the metabolism is balanced. However, if exposed to artificial light for a long time, due to the delicate “light pressure”, the physiological regulation of the human retina will be disturbed, and the eyeball and ciliary muscles will not get enough rest. It will inevitably affect vision over time.
It has been reported that infants often exposed to light at night have a 25% reduction in calcium uptake. Calcium deficiency can also cause myopia. It can also cause many problems, such as waking up easily, prolonging feeding time and slowing weight gain, which is unfavorable to the growth and development of children. In addition, it may affect the protective inhibition of the central nervous system, leading to intellectual and language disorders.
In order to make the child develop healthily, the lights should be turned off after going to bed at night. Don’t turn on the light to work, read or watch TV beside your child.
- Nursing infant need to take off their clothes when sleeping
The infant period is the period from birth to the age of one year. Some parents let their children sleep in clothes, or even wrap up their hands and feet, which is not conducive to the healthy growth of their children.
Taking off clothes when sleeping is good for children’s growth and development. Nursing infants grow rapidly. In this period, if they often wear clothes and sleep, it will affect their blood circulation, which is not conducive to rest, and to a certain extent, it will also affect their physical development. Taking off clothes when sleeping can make nursing infants sleep more comfortable and calm, which is conducive to their healthy growth.
