As much as an adult needs to follow a healthy sleep schedule, a newborn’s sleeping habits need equal attention. According to pediatric neonatologists, normal sleeping hours from birth to 3 months should be up to 14 to 17hrs/day with 1 to 2 hrs of playtime in between. In this article, we will discuss the importance of healthy sleep habits for newborns. So let’s begin!
What is the importance of healthy sleep habits for newborns?
Newborn pediatricians suggest that a healthy sleeping habit leads to better cognitive and developmental changes in newborns. Therefore, newborns with well-maintained sleep hygiene have better executive functioning skills growing up.
Studies report that sleep also plays an important part in language learning. Moreover, having a healthy sleep habit and thereby maintaining it is also important for memory consolidation. A child with a healthy sleep pattern picks and memorizes things more quickly.
Note: Therefore, parents of newborns should keep a close watch on their child’s sleep patterns. It may also save you from being sleep deprived!
What if your child doesn’t follow a healthy sleeping pattern?
Pediatricians in Dubai suggest that a newborn’s sleep cycle lasts for about 45 minutes which is twice as much as an adult would sleep.
If your newborn is taking less than the recommended hours of sleep, he may develop weight gain or obesity, which impacts the child’s BMI. This is because a sleeping pattern or circadian rhythm is developed in the first 6 months of life and the same period is crucial for a child’s physical growth.
Furthermore, there may be developmental delays and behavioral changes in the long run due to which the child may not perform well in school later on.
Summing up
So according to newborn pediatricians, an unhealthy sleeping pattern affects parental and family well-being. You can prevent this by simply regulating the baby’s sleep pattern by following Dr. Olfa’s guidelines.
Dr. Olfa is an expert newborn pediatrician and one of the best pediatricians in Dubai. You can follow her to learn more about a newborn’s health and well-being.
REFERENCES
- Tham, E. K., Schneider, N., & Broekman, B. F. (2017). Infant sleep and its relation with cognition and growth: a narrative review. Nature and science of sleep, 9, 135–149. https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S125992
- Stuart-Madge, A., & Barda, T. (2021, March 3). UAE: How to get your baby to sleep through the night. Parenting-Ask-Us – Gulf News. https://gulfnews.com/parenting/ask-us/uae-how-to-get-your-baby-to-sleep-through-the-night-1.1614525253481
- Bathory, E., & Tomopoulos, S. (2017). Sleep Regulation, Physiology and Development, Sleep Duration and Patterns, and Sleep Hygiene in Infants, Toddlers, and Preschool-Age Children. Current problems in pediatric and adolescent health care, 47(2), 29–42. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1538544216301225?via%3Dihub
