Sleep

Should a child sleep in the same bed with its mother or nurse?

Under no circumstances, if this can possibly be avoided. Very young infants have often been smothered by their mothers, by overlying during sleep. If the infant sleeps with the mother, there is always the temptation to frequent nursing at night, which is injurious to both mother and child. Older children also should, if possible, have separate beds; many contagious diseases and bad habits are contracted by children sleeping together.

How should an infant's bed be prepared?

The mattress should be firm but soft, the pillow very thin, and the covering not excessive. A baby should not be allowed to sleep always in the same position, but should be changed from side to side. Hair pillows are useful in summer and for children who perspire very much.

How much sleep is natural for a newly born baby?

A baby with a good digestion and proper food will usually sleep at this period about nine tenths of the time.

How much should a baby sleep at six months?

About two thirds of the time.

Up to what age should an older child take a nap during the day?

Always until four years old, and if possible longer.

At what age may an infant go all night without feeding?

At five months a child should not be fed or nursed between 10 P.M. and 6 A.M. At two years a child can easily go from 6 P.M. to 6 A.M. without feeding.

How should a baby be put to sleep?

The room should be darkened and quiet, the child's hunger satisfied, and the child made generally comfortable and laid in its crib while awake.

Is rocking necessary?

By no means. It is a habit easily acquired, but hard to break, and a very useless and sometimes injurious one. The same may be said of sucking a rubber nipple, or "pacifier," and all other devices for putting children to sleep.

What are the principal causes of disturbed sleep?

As quiet peaceful sleep is a sign of perfect health, disorders of sleep may be produced by almost anything which is wrong with the child.

1. Habitual disturbance of sleep in infants is most frequently associated with the food or feeding. It may be from the discomfort of chronic indigestion due to improper food. In bottle-fed infants it is often the result of overfeeding; in those who are nursed it is often due to hunger. A common cause is frequent night feeding; an infant who is fed three or four times during the night is almost invariably a bad sleeper.

2. Disturbed sleep or sleeplessness may be due to causes purely nervous. Such are bad habits acquired by faulty training; as when the nursery is lighted and the child taken from its crib whenever it wakes or cries; or when some of the contrivances for inducing sleep have been used. Any excitement or romping play just before bedtime, and fears aroused by pictures or stories, are frequent causes. Children who inherit from their parents a nervous constitution are especially likely to suffer thus.

3. There may be physical discomfort from cold feet, insufficient or too much clothing, or want of fresh air in the sleeping room.

4. Interference with breathing due to obstruction from large tonsils or adenoids. These cause great restlessness and lead a child to assume many different postures during sleep, often lying upon the face or upon the hands and knees.

5. Chronic pains or frequently recurring night pains may be causes of disordered sleep, when a child wakes with a sudden sharp cry. In infants this is most often due to scurvy, sometimes to syphilis. In older children it may be the earliest symptom of disease of the hip or spine.

6. Sleeplessness and disturbed sleep are frequent whenever the general condition falls much below a healthy standard; e.g., in infants who are not thriving and in children suffering from marked anæmia.

How are children who sleep too little, or whose sleep is constantly disturbed, to be treated?

Never by the use of soothing sirups or other medicines. Successful treatment consists in the discovery and removal of the cause.

Do children ever sleep too much?

It is doubtful if healthy children ever do. Excessive sleep is an important symptom of some diseases of the brain. Otherwise it seldom if ever occurs unless soothing sirups or other drugs have been given.