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Some children consolidate information during sleep more efficiently and thus, nap less frequently, the research from the University of East Anglia, UK, said.
Others, usually with fewer words and poorer cognitive skills, need to nap more often, the researchers said, adding that reducing their naps would not improve brain development.
“There is a lot of parental anxiety around sleep. Parents worry that their kids don’t nap as much as expected for their age – or nap too frequently and for too long.
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The researchers studied 463 infants aged between eight months and three years during lockdown in 2020.
Parents were surveyed about their children’s sleep patterns, their ability to focus on a task, to retain information, and the number of words they understood and could say. They were also asked about their socio-economic status and education, the neighbourhood they lived in, and the amount of screen time and outdoors activities their child engaged in.
None of the children they studied went to daycare during lockdown, which meant fewer disturbances to the children’s natural sleep patterns, the researchers said.
“What we found is that the structure of daytime sleep is an indicator of cognitive development,” said Gliga.
The negative association between naps frequency and vocabulary was found to be stronger in older children, she said.
“While the majority of parents told us that their child’s sleep was unaffected by lockdown, parents from lower socio-economic backgrounds were more likely to report a worsening in sleep.
“Our findings suggest that children have different sleep needs – some children may drop naps earlier because they don’t need them anymore. Others may still need to nap past three years of age.
“Caregivers should use a child’s mental age and not chronological age to ascertain a child’s sleep needs,” said Gliga.