Blog: Why is sleeping so important?

How many hours does your baby sleep on average? Do they sleep the whole night? Do they have good naps during the day?
These are few of the questions that you probably talk about between mothers. Sleeping is a big part of your baby’s growth and it is often a concern for most parents.

A child will spend 40% of their childhood asleep and by the age of 2, they will have been asleep more than they have been awake. While adults need an average of 8 hours sleep during the night, new-borns will sleep a total of 10.5 to 18 hours in a single day. They will remain awake between one to 3 hours before going back into dreamland. Their routine is still irregular at this time and can vary considerably.

At around 6 months old, your baby will be more likely to sleep 9-12 hours during night with naps of 30 minutes to 4 hours, 4 times a day. The nap time during the day will decrease as they will reach the age of one.

Preschoolers (3 to 5 years old) will do a good night of 11 to 13 hours with no nap as they reach around 5 years old.

Finally school-aged children will need 10 to 12 hours of sleep. An early bedtime is recommended especially at this age. Children are highly stimulated during the day and they need a lot of energy to stay focused at school and during these years it is often your child will fight to avoid to go to bed. It can be difficult to explain to them why sleeping is so important but a lack of sleep can have some bad consequences.

As an adult we know a good night’s sleep is important and it is so too for your child, if not more. Unfortunately, children get less and less sleep due to overscheduling of activities, a heavy workload of homework, relaxed bedtimes, televisions and cell phones in the bedroom etc, and because sleeping is a physiological need, a lack of it is not healthy. Why?

Because when your child sleeps, their body repairs and restores itself. This is the time for them to grow up as growth hormones are produced. It’s not just physically but also very important for their mental development. A child who sleeps will be more healthy and happier. Memory consolidation occurs during sleep, so it is very important for your baby to be able to process what they have learnt during the day. Kids who sleep well perform better mentally and physically than children that are sleep deprave.

Finally, the more your baby sleeps, the more you can sleep, which is not a bad argument!

I am pretty sure that you can tell when your baby didn’t get enough sleep, because they are grumpy!!

There is more than just a bad mood as a consequence of lack of sleep. When your baby is not sleeping enough, the levels of the hormones that regulate hunger are lower and therefore your kid is more likely to gain weight. Your child is more likely to develop behavioral problems like Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder and they may also suffer from delays in their mental development and an increase in night terrors.

And what about the nap? It is actually as critical because they are growing up so quickly. "Research suggests that physical and mental development takes place when kids sleep-both at night and during the day," says Daniel Lewin , Ph.D., director of pediatric behavioral sleep medecine at Children's National Medical Center, in Washington, D.C. (See references at the end of this post).

It is shown that good naps during the day leads to a child that is less fussy and who will sleep better at night. They will be more alert, more productive and make fewer mistakes after a nap.

One downside can be that a long nap or a nap too close to the child’s bedtime can lead to a disruption in their night’s sleep and finally, napping more than 10-20 minutes can lead to sleep inertia , which is the disorientation and grogginess we feel after waking from a deep sleep (this can apply more for adults).

Not every child is able to sleep well over the night or either at nap times. Sleep depravation can be a big issue for a kid, it influences their behavior and in the most severe cases can impair their mental and physical development.