Child Health Sleep times of babies are compromised in the parental bedroom

Babies sleep much shorter with their parents in the bedroom
When babies sleep in their parents 'bedroom, it's not just their parents' sleep that suffers. The children also have a significantly shorter sleep time per night compared to babies who sleep in their own room, according to a recent study. In the interest of all concerned it is therefore necessary to check whether children may possibly sleep in their own room before the age of one.

According to the US researchers, babies sleep much shorter when they are in their parents' room when they are six months old. At the age of nine months, children who do not sleep in their own room will lose a full 40 minutes of sleep per night. The recent recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics that children should sleep in their parents' room until the age of one, should therefore be reconsidered. The study results were published in the journal "Pediatrics".

When sleeping in the parental bedroom show babies a significantly reduced sleep time. (Image: famveldman / fotolia.com)

Sheep times of children examined
For their current study, the scientists used Dr. Ian Paul from the Penn State College of Medicine (Hershey, Pennsylvania) reviewed the data from the INSIGHT study (Intervention Nurses Start Infant's Growing on Healthy Trajectories study) and looked at possible relationships between sleep times in children and bed-in-the-bedroom. For this purpose, the children were divided into different groups: babies, who slept in their own room at the age of four months, who slept in their own room after nine months, who slept in their room after 12 months or in their own after 30 months Rooms stayed.

Up to 2.5 hours less sleep per night
According to the researchers, at the age of nine months, the children who had been sleeping in their own room since the age of four months had a 26-minute longer sleep period than those who stayed overnight between the fourth and ninth month started in your own room. Sleeping time was even 40 minutes higher on average compared to the children who slept with their parents. With age, this deviation increases. The largest differences were found in the study at the age of 30 months. When they slept in their own room, they were given about two and a half hours less sleep per night than babies who had already spent four months in their own room.

Reduced sleeping time in children critical
A possible explanation for the shortened sleeping time of babies in their parents' bedroom is, according to the researchers, the intervention of the parents as soon as the baby makes a sound. For example, the study also revealed that children are much more likely to be picked up by their parents when they are in their parents' bed. This, in turn, causes children to be hugged as soon as they wake up. The likelihood that they will simply fall asleep is significantly lower. According to the scientists, the reduced sleep times are to be critically evaluated, as they are associated, among other things, with an increased risk of mental problems and overweight later in life. (Fp)