Dear Mother, are you worried that your baby is sleeping for just little hours out of 24 hours in a day or do not sleep for long at a stretch?
Then you really need to read this piece:
The sooner babies get their own rooms, the longer they’ll sleep on
average, according to a new study that breaks with the recommendations
of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Analyzing surveys from 230 first-time mothers at Penn State, Dr. Ian
Paul, a pediatrician, found that babies slept for longer stretches if
they didn’t sleep in the same bedroom as their parents.
At 4 months, babies who slept alone had the longest stretches of
uninterrupted sleep of about 45 minutes, on average though they slept
about the same amount of time as babies who slept in their parents’
rooms.
At 9 months, babies in their own rooms slept 40 minutes longer at
night and over 20 minutes longer overall, compared with those who were
still sharing a room with their parents.
Those differences disappeared at 12 months but reappeared later.
When the researchers followed up at 2½ years, toddlers who began
sleeping alone by 9 months slept 45 minutes longer per night, though
total sleep time was roughly the same.
The findings counter the latest guidance from the pediatrics group,
which recommends that parents share a room but not a bed with their
infants for at least six months and preferably until they reach their
first birthday.
The guidelines are meant to lower the risk of sudden infant death
syndrome, or SIDS, which may occur while an infant is sleeping.
But while there’s evidence to recommend room-sharing with infants for
3 to 6 months, data simply don’t support continuing the practice beyond
that age, Paul said.
Research has shown that nine out of 10 of SIDS deaths happen before
the age of 6 months, with the majority happening between 1 and 4 months.
Research has shown that babies who sleep poorly can have a big impact on parents’ stress and mental health.
Poor infant sleep has also been linked to problems down the line, such as behavioral issues and childhood obesity.