Speaking of the baby’s sleep problem, the mood of many parents can only be described as [living with a smile].
Experienced a series of grinding problems such as difficulty in falling asleep, difficulty in coaxing sleep, sleeping with milk, frequent awakening at night, etc., and finally stopped for a period of time. However, the good times did not last long, and the children are not starting to do so again now! Noon! Sleep! Yes!
It is said that sleep is very important for children who are in their growth and development period. What if there is not enough sleep time without taking a nap?
In fact, parents’ worry about not taking a nap is nothing more than that it will affect their children’s development or health. However, as children grow up, it is only natural that sleep time will be shortened.
So, …
Does the baby have to take a nap?
To explain whether the baby needs to take a nap, it is first necessary to understand how the baby’s sleep pattern develops.
At the time of birth, the baby will sleep many times every day or at night, and the sleep time is relatively short. It may take four or five nights a day. The sleep mode of the baby during this period is called multi-stage sleep mode.
With the development of the baby, the time for sleeping is gradually prolonged. By the age of 1 ~ 1.5, most babies can only sleep at noon and at night, and then enter the stage of biphasic sleep mode.
Since the age of 3, some children have bid farewell to the regular biphasic sleep mode and gradually developed the same monophasic sleep mode as adults, that is to say, babies do not need to take naps every day.
Studies have shown that, Among children who have reached the age of 4, Less than 33% of children still have the habit of taking a nap every day. Even in kindergartens where naps are mandatory and children have no choice but to lie in bed for the morning, the same proportion of children still cannot sleep. These sleepless children are likely to have developed to monophasic sleep and do not need to take a nap every day.
And with the growth of age, the number of children who need to take a nap is also gradually decreasing. Among the 5-year-old children, the proportion of monophasic sleep mode, that is, the proportion of children who do not need to take a nap every day, has reached 92%.
Why do children gradually not need a nap?
The child’s sleep time during the day actually reflects the maturity of the child’s brain nerves.As children’s brains mature, they no longer need to sleep many times a day to relieve brain fatigue and control emotions like babies.
Therefore, if your child is used to not taking a nap every day and is still in good spirits, happy in mood and unaffected in appetite, then it is likely that his brain nerves have developed relatively mature and entered the same monophasic sleep mode as adults.
Of course, some children have sleep disorders and do not take naps due to some neurological development problems. However, these children are different from normal development children. They often cannot concentrate due to lack of sleep, or their emotions are capricious, irritable and not easy to appease.
Do you still need to arrange the children to take a nap?
As mentioned earlier, when children grow up to a certain stage, the sleep mode develops to the same one-way sleep mode as adults, and nap is not necessary.
However, children’s sleep needs are not static. Many factors may affect children’s sleep needs.
Professionally speaking, family factors, social and economic level, environment, children’s recent health status, their own nerve development and other factors will affect children’s sleep.
In popular terms, children may need to take a nap on some days and may not be able to sleep on some days. As for which days to sleep and which days not to sleep, there may be great differences between different babies, and parents are not easy to predict.
For children who are still in bipolar sleep mode or have the habit of taking naps,Parents are easier to judge, it is good to provide a suitable nap environment for their babies, pay attention to the brightness of the room, indoor temperature, humidity, noise of the surrounding environment, etc., and create a comfortable sleep environment for their children.
For children who are in transition and do not need to take a nap every day,Or parents are not sure whether their children will take a nap today, Can be ready to take a nap first. To nap time first encourage him to rest in bed, do sleep preparation. Generally speaking, preschool children sleep in 16-19 minutes, if the child lies in bed, brewing for about 20 minutes, or not sleepy, don’t have to force him to take a nap, let the child out of bed to do some other activities.
For an older child who can express his wishes independently, if he clearly indicates that he does not need to take a nap, he does not need to go to bed to complete the process of [brewing drowsiness-brewing failure].
What needs to be stressed to parents is that if the baby really cannot sleep during lunch break, don’t force him to sleep. Because forcing a nap is not only not beneficial, but also harmful.
Giving the baby a hard-and-fast nap time and he can’t sleep is equivalent to a long period of restricted activities for the baby. Such a long period of stillness can not only not give the child a rest, but may also make the child feel stressed.
In some studies, There was a negative correlation between midday sleep and night sleep, For preschool children, the more time they take naps, the less time they will sleep at night. Some scientists believe that from the perspective of sleep self-regulation mechanism, excessive naps will reduce children’s sleep needs and sleep impulses at night, reduce sleep quality at night, and affect the exertion of brain cognitive function.
Therefore, when the baby grows up gradually and takes a nap, he can really listen to his own wishes.