Where did the late laying come from?
Let's ask domestic pediatricians, neurologists, experienced grandmothers and other children's specialists about when to put a child to bed?
I think the answers will be varied, but all in late time - you can hear “21-00”, and “after 22-00”, and, my favorite: “the later you go to bed, the longer you sleep in the morning.” Even all of us, since childhood, have loved the program “Good Night, Kids”, which is broadcast around 21-00! How is it possible, are all these people wrong? Or is my article trying to ride the wave of a new and fashionable idea, which is only wonderful because it contrasts itself with everything known and old? I have great respect for the experience and knowledge of medical professionals and I must say that 90% of modern knowledge about the physiology of sleep, including children’s, has been obtained over the past 25 years. Unfortunately, the training program of medical universities in the field of somnology does not have time to keep up with new discoveries. Even in the advanced United States of America, during 4 years of residency, future pediatricians receive only 2.5 hours of lectures on how children sleep.
The second point, which played an important role in how we organize children’s sleep, dates back to 1917. It was then that women first received the right to paid maternity leave of 112 days. After this period, the children went to nurseries, and the mothers returned to work for a full 10-hour working day. Of course, in the nursery, the nannies were forced to maximize the intervals of daytime sleep in order to somehow cope with the large number of children in the group, and, accordingly, the moment when the kids were ready to fall asleep for the night shifted. No one needed to be reminded about the clear daily routine in Soviet-era children's institutions, and soon the children began to sleep for a very long time during the day.
When there is no other choice, babies are amazingly able to redistribute the total number of hours of sleep in a day, provided that cortisol has not accumulated.
So it turned out that the mother picked up her child only at 7-8 pm, and the baby, having slept for 5-6 hours during the day, was ready for bed no earlier than 21-22 hours. This order has been preserved to this day, with the only difference that now, with the dying out of the principles of a rigid daily routine, children even sleep for a couple of hours during the day. Meanwhile, lack of sleep triggers a vicious cycle of cortisol release.
Is it really that scary?
Many of you probably grew up going to bed at 21-22 hours. However, let's think about whether this has affected your health? Who among us has never had problems with sleep, always falls asleep easily and wakes up cheerfully at the right time? In fact, only a few people practice proper sleep hygiene. It’s no wonder that pharmacological drugs to improve the quality and quantity of sleep, both for children and adults, are now at the peak of demand. And besides, if everything was good, would you really spend all this time on such a long article? Many parents have already despaired of finding a way out - the current option does not work, and it is not clear how to build a new one. My recommendation is simple - follow your baby’s routine according to age-related needs: ensure early bedtime, keep the innovations in place for at least a week and evaluate the result. Write in the comments below what you came up with, and I’m sure you’ll have something to brag about! Don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter to the right of this article so you don't miss any new ones
