Is it natural for children to be bad sleepers? Does it affect their growth and development? What can we do?

I believe many new mothers have experienced being tortured to tears by their baby's "sleep problems":

Finally, I fed my baby enough milk, but he just wouldn’t fall asleep no matter how I coaxed him. After I held him for a long time, he finally fell asleep, but woke up as soon as I put him down. Finally, I put him in bed, but he started waking up frequently at night, intermittently all night long. Sometimes, he slept soundly during the day, but was very excited at night and refused to fall asleep no matter what...

I thought that after 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year, my child would be able to sleep through the night. But who would have thought that at the age of 2 or 3, he would still sleep very lightly, always have trouble sleeping, and have difficulty falling asleep...

In short, having a "baby who sleeps poorly" is simply the most frustrating thing. The whole family will be exhausted after taking turns to help, not to mention the elderly mother who needs to breastfeed frequently.

Image source: Tuchong Creative

But in fact, many "bad sleepers" are born with this condition. They don't have problems sleeping, nor do they have difficult stories. They are just "unique" in their own way.

1. Your baby may really be born a bad sleeper

Every child has an innate "temperament", that is, personality traits, most of which come from genetics.

In the 1960s, two American psychologists, Alexander Thomas and Stella Chase, conducted a long-term follow-up study on hundreds of New York children. They found that the manifestations of these personality traits can be observed shortly after the baby is born, and these manifestations remain quite stable as the child grows.

They divided children's temperament types into three categories: easy temperament, difficult temperament and slow-warm temperament. Difficult type babies are what we often call "highly sensitive" babies.

These different types of temperaments in babies mean that they sleep differently. Easy babies rarely have sleep problems, and they quickly establish a regular sleep routine; they like to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.

Infants in the difficult group were less likely to have regular sleep patterns and had difficulty adjusting to new schedules and routines; they woke frequently during the night and had difficulty falling asleep again.

Several studies on sleep and temperament in infancy have found that problematic sleep habits are associated with more "difficult" temperamental traits, primarily negative emotions, irregular schedules, withdrawal tendencies, reduced adaptability, low approach, and strong reactions to novelty.

Temperament type

Behavioral manifestations

Parents' feelings

Easy baby

1. Calm temperament, mostly showing positive emotions such as happiness and friendliness 2. High behavioral regularity and high adaptability to environmental changes

Most of the feelings are relaxed and pleasant.

Slow-heating baby

1. Most people’s initial reaction to new people, things or situations is to avoid or withdraw, and it takes a long time to adapt to the new environment.

2. Very inactive, with no obvious expression of emotions or opinions, such as silently looking away or turning away to express refusal

If you’re not careful, it’s easy to miss the message your child is conveying

Difficult baby

1. Sleeping less, having difficulty falling asleep, not sleeping soundly, and waking up easily 2. Being too energetic, active, and having irregular behavior, and being very sensitive to new people, things, or changes in situations 3. Having many negative emotions, and being unstable, and being prone to yelling, crying, and making a fuss

It's a bother. The child has a strong personality and his own ideas. He won't depend on his parents.

Interestingly, in sleep studies of school-age children and adolescents, the relationship between sleep and temperament also showed significant consistency. In a 2014 study of sleep quality and temperament of college students, a significant correlation between sleep quality and temperament components was also confirmed.

In other words, a child's natural temperament will continue to affect the child's sleep from birth to college. Just like a child's natural temperament, some researchers have divided the baby's natural sleep temperament into two categories:

Self-soothing babies (babies who can put themselves back to sleep)

Signallers (babies who cry at night)

Most babies fall somewhere in between. Child sleep expert Dr. Elizabeth Super says there is no good or bad sleep type for infants and young children, they are just different.

In short, if you find that your baby is a "bad sleeper", it's really not because you did anything wrong. The fact is that your baby just tends to have a certain sleeping temperament.

2. Will poor sleep affect the baby's growth and development?

While many parents are tortured by their children's poor sleep, they are more worried about whether long-term poor sleep quality will have a negative impact on their children's health and growth and development.

In fact, as long as pathological causes are ruled out, many studies have confirmed that sleep conditions do not have a significant impact on development.

Sleeping status does not affect height development

In addition to the often popularized fact that "staying up late does not affect hormone secretion", there are also research investigations that confirm that sleep duration has no relationship with height development.

The study tracked the sleep of 305 children and measured their height and weight at 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, and then every year. The results showed that no child's sleep was stable in the short term, and the children's sleep changed every year. From any perspective, it was not found that the length of sleep (whether short-term or long-term sleep time) was related to height development at any age.

The study concluded that the length, characteristics and state of sleep vary greatly among toddlers and children. Therefore, when solving sleep problems, individualized suggestions are needed, and it is not appropriate to make unified suggestions. When trying to get children to sleep well and sleep more, more consideration should be given to the individual needs of the child.

Similarly, the U.S. Health and Development Study analyzed the sleep and height of 5,145 children aged 5-11 and concluded that sleep duration is unlikely to have a significant impact on development.

The amount of sleep each child needs is different

The amount of sleep children need varies at different ages, depending on the environment, amount of activity, whether they take naps, etc.

Some babies don't like to move, so they need relatively less sleep.

Sleep advice should not ignore individual differences

There are also some small-scale studies that have proposed some sleep recommendations for infants, such as establishing a regular schedule and establishing a sleep routine. Similar recommendations supported by scientific evidence are very general, and when implementing them specifically, you need to consider your family's situation and your child's situation.

For example, many babies will have various physical discomforts that cannot be detected or treated. They just wake up and there is nothing you can do about it.

Ignoring the individual situation and needs of children and blindly pursuing "autonomous sleep" and "not waking up at night" is also quite unscientific!

3. Facing a sleep scumbag, you can win by getting through it

In a longitudinal study of 68 families, researchers conducted video observations of the children's sleep one year after birth and conducted annual telephone follow-up until the children were 4 years old. The results showed that sleep disorders in infants and young children decreased with age.

In other words, as long as you can hold on, as long as you provide appropriate guidance based on their sensitive temperament, those sleep deprived people will learn to adapt as they grow up, and eventually fall asleep independently.

Here are 3 simple methods:

1. Create an atmosphere conducive to sleep

You can try addressing common sensory issues like removing white/blue lights in your bedroom and checking the temperature to make sure it's not too hot or too cold.

If you think it is psychological, then it is recommended that you create a sleeping atmosphere at night to calm the brain, such as gently touching the child's back before going to bed, or fanning the child in the summer, and the child will fall asleep quickly.

2. Arrange regular bedtime activities for your child

You can arrange 3 to 5 bedtime activities every day, and stick to them. The child will know that it is time to go to bed after doing these things. The last activity is best to end in the bedroom, such as reading picture books with the child, playing a touch game on the bed, etc.

3. Give your child a hot bath one hour before bedtime to help him fall asleep

The drop in body temperature helps children calm down. Taking a hot bath one hour before bedtime, raising the body temperature, and then dropping it again will help children fall asleep.

References:

1. Book "Discovering Your Child's Natural Temperament"

2. http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hbsm20

3. https://momlovesbest.com/baby-temperament#q1

4. Nighttime sleep-wake patterns and self-soothing from birth to one year of age: a longitudinal intervention study - PMC

5. Nighttime sleep-wake patterns and self-soothing from birth to one year of age: a longitudinal intervention study - PMC

6. A Longitudinal Follow-Up Study of Young Children's Sleep Patterns Using a Developmental Classification System - PMC

The article is produced by Science Popularization China-Starry Sky Project (Creation and Cultivation). Please indicate the source when reprinting.

Author: Jiumangxing, popular science author

Reviewer: Tan Xin, deputy chief physician, Pediatric Medical Center, Changsha First Hospital, deputy chief physician, Pediatric Medical Center, Changsha First Hospital