If you have not already done so, please read Blog Posts 1 through 5 that describe how sleep is important and beneficial. I will post specific information for parents and children based on my book, “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.” Please do not be put off by my book’s length. This is a reference book. Read only the topic of interest to you.
3,251 Chinese children were evaluated at 42 days, 6 months, and 1 year of age. The results showed that:
This paper does not mention the bedtime. My published research and clinical experience shows that late bedtimes are associated with frequent night awakenings and increased latency to sleep onset. I asked the author, Professor Yan Lin, to evaluate the bedtime as a possible contributing variable. She responded:
“Consistently, we observed that the late bedtime (later than 9pm) is significantly associated with an increase in the frequency of night awakenings. Also late bedtimes at one year of age is marginally associated with [increased] sleep onset latency…However, our data showed no association between late bedtimes and neurodevelopment.”
I wrote to her: The bedtime is a salient and potentially modifiable variable under the influence of parents, but I think it is insufficiently appreciated by many parents (and sometimes, pediatric sleep researchers). Do you agree?
“I totally agree!”
Blog Post 215 refers to 10 additional studies in which important sleep variables were examined, but the bedtime was not included in the paper. However, upon re-examination of the data, the bedtime was found to be important. An 11th similar situation is Blog Post 232C.
