Baby sleep hacks: start decoding your child’s sleep rhythm and pattern for naps and nights

Part 1

Written by Dr. Laura Gainche (Ph.D)

References displayed at the bottom

“My baby should close their eyes and immediately fall asleep” thinks every parent I know. However, even if babies do not need to learn how to sleep, it is not that simple (foetuses sleep since the third trimester of pregnancy [1]). One reason is simply because sleep/wakefulness is not like a switch button. Sleep isn’t the complete absence of wakefulness, there is a wide range of “consciousness” levels. Added to that, as you have heard millions of times by now, the environment plays a massive role in how our child’s sleep evolves. And to that I think it is important to keep in mind that your child may already have some strong environmental preferences. 

Just keep reading, I am not about to “just” say that co-sleeping or bed-sharing is the solution for every family.

Sleep has psychological and physiological roles, meaning, both cognitive and physical developments are relying on it. In a nutshell, sleep is important (no kidding ha ha). 

An increasing body of literature and research in the recent years has been bringing more data and arguments as to how sleep plays a role, especially in childhood development.

Hereafter are a few recent findings and suggestions on the topic that suggest that a “lack” of sleep may have a detrimental consequences on health [2];

- The presence of naps seems to help with memory consolidation [3] and language learning at the short- and long-term [4] (language construction and vocabulary)  (research on 6 to 15 months children)

- Encoding skills (object/action image association tests) were found minimum in children with most fragmented night sleep, and maximum in children with the longest naps (research on 10 months old children [5])

- Cognitive and motor development tests associated negatively with active sleep with mouvement and arousals. In the same children, a positive effect was observed on the same tests, when the sleep was less fragmented (study on 10 months old children [6])

- More sleep between 12-18 months seems to promote better executive functions at 26 months and even until 4 years old (attention, organization and planning, focus, emotion regulation, working memory, flexible thinking, self-control…) [7-8].

- Less sleep associated with weight gain risk (through cortisol, growth hormones, autonomic nervous system, leptin and gherkin pathways) [9]. Additionally, a later bedtime was also found associated with a larger Body Mass Index [10].

- Few recent studies also found an association between better sleep and height [10-11].

Even in teenagers and adults, the question of “proper” amount of sleep is elusive, and the most common conclusion seems to be that the need depends on the individual.

But, given the current scientific knowledge, it seems possible for young children to not get “enough” sleep.

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) recommends 14-17h/day until 3-months-old, 12-15h until 11-months-old, 11-14h/day until 2-years-old, 10-13h/day until 5-years-old. Should these guidelines be followed rigorously? To they insure a child’s proper development?

Given the importance of naps mentioned before, it is likely that the rhythm and frequency of sleep also plays a crucial role. Additionally, nap and night sleep are likely not interchangeable (more detailed in a following article). And not unlike health, physical activity or learning method, finding the correct rhythm and frequency that works for each children could be a solution for their well-being (and ours!). Let’s replace the importance on quality as much as quantity of sleep.

Where to start?

A method not often recommended by other experts is the sleep profiling that starts with the 3 following steps:

1) Does your child seem to have more ease to sleep for naps or nights?

2) Does your child seem to have a specific amount of time awake between sleeps or tends to follow a schedule on the clock?

3) To be in good shape, is your child flexible with sleep timing, or rather strict with amount of time awake before the next sleep or at specific times of the day?

These answers can enable to start sleep-profiling your child, to adjust and know where to put more energy into for a more peaceful sleep.

The next hacks for sleep-profiling will be continued in following articles.

Also, using these first steps, watch your child, try to see which rhythm works best. Often the sleep “cues” (scratch eyes, ears, yawn…) are signs the baby may already want to be asleep, so the next day, maybe try an earlier bedtime (nap and night) and so on.

Does your child like to sleep in the silence or with white-noise, arms and legs covered up or naked, on the breast or it tends to give him burp and unstable sleep etc.

It is also good to keep in mind the security sleep rules for young children, whether they sleep alone or together with someone.

Next tips on the next article, I hope to see you there!

References

[1] Nijhuis, J. G., H. F. Prechtl, C. B. Martin, Jr. and R. S. Bots (1982). "Are there behavioural states in the human fetus?" Early Hum Dev 6(2): 177-195.

[2] Tham, E. K., N. Schneider and B. F. Broekman (2017). "Infant sleep and its relation with cognition and growth: a narrative review." Nat Sci Sleep 9: 135-149.

[3] Seehagen, S., C. Konrad, J. S. Herbert and S. Schneider (2015). "Timely sleep facilitates declarative memory consolidation in infants." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 112(5): 1625-1629.

[4] Gomez, R. L., R. R. Bootzin and L. Nadel (2006). "Naps promote abstraction in language-learning infants." Psychol Sci 17(8): 670-674.

[5] Lukowski, A. F. and H. M. Milojevich (2013). "Sleeping like a baby: Examining relations between habitual infant sleep, recall memory, and generalization across cues at 10 months." Infant Behav Dev 36(3): 369-376.

[6] Scher, A. (2005). "Infant sleep at 10 months of age as a window to cognitive development." Early Hum Dev 81(3): 289-292.

[7] Bernier, A., M. E. Belanger, G. M. Tarabulsy, V. Simard and J. Carrier (2014). "My mother is sensitive, but I am too tired to know: infant sleep as a moderator of prospective relations between maternal sensitivity and infant outcomes." Infant Behav Dev 37(4): 682-694.

[8] Bernier, A., S. M. Carlson, S. Bordeleau and J. Carrier (2010). "Relations between physiological and cognitive regulatory systems: infant sleep regulation and subsequent executive functioning." Child Dev 81(6): 1739-1752.

[9] Taveras, E. M., S. L. Rifas-Shiman, E. Oken, E. P. Gunderson and M. W. Gillman (2008). "Short sleep duration in infancy and risk of childhood overweight." Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 162(4): 305-311.

[10] Zhou, Y., I. M. Aris, S. S. Tan, S. Cai, M. T. Tint, G. Krishnaswamy, M. J. Meaney, K. M. Godfrey, K. Kwek, P. D. Gluckman, Y. S. Chong, F. Yap, N. Lek, J. J. Gooley and Y. S. Lee (2015). "Sleep duration and growth outcomes across the first two years of life in the GUSTO study." Sleep Med 16(10): 1281-1286.

[11] Lampl, M. and M. L. Johnson (2011). "Infant growth in length follows prolonged sleep and increased naps." Sleep 34(5): 641-650.