Dear Dr. Mary and
Lynn:
I am a child care
provider who recently heard you speak about the importance of sleep. Presently we are waking our preschoolers
after one hour of nap at parents’ requests.
Should we be doing this?
Chelsea
Dear Chelsea:
We are so glad you wrote.
This is a very frequent question.
The parents’ concern of course is the fear that if the children nap
longer they won’t fall asleep until late at night, which is a problem for
everyone. It is possible however to
allow a full nap and still have an early bedtime.
Preschoolers need on average 12 hours of sleep, so our
recommendation is that you begin naptime at 12:30 PM that will allow them then
to complete a full sleep cycle which is about 1.5 to 2 hours in length. They’ll be awake at the latest by 3:30, alert
and happy rather than groggy and cranky as we suspect they may be when woken
after an hour which is in the middle of a sleep cycle. Then help parents to identify their child’s “window”
for nighttime sleep. If the children
awaken at 6:00 AM and nap for 1.5 hours, they still need 10.5 hours at night,
which leads us to a sleep time of 7:30 PM. The bedtime routine would then begin
by 7:00 PM so that they would be completely ready for sleep at 7:30.
It’s easy to assume that if children have napped they won’t
need to go to sleep until 8:00 or later and with busy schedules that’s what
often ends up happening. But by 8:00
their window for sleep has been missed and it is much more difficult for them
to fall asleep. Leading parents to assume
the nap is causing the problem when the real culprit is a bedtime that is too
late.
It is really important to protect children’s sleep. Research demonstrates that adequate sleep
leads to:
¨ Higher grade point averages
¨ Better
mathematical skills
¨ Higher reading
scores
¨ Improved focus
and attention
¨ Less conflict
¨ Fewer accidents
¨ Stronger immune
systems and thus less illness
¨ Fewer cavities
and gum disease
¨ Lower
susceptibility to obesity
So we highly
recommend letting them nap for a full sleep cycle. Help the parents in your program understand
how much sleep preschoolers really need and how important it is to maximize
their growth and development. Sleep is
just as vital for our well-being as food.
We would never withhold food, let’s not withhold sleep.
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