THE NEW SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF GETTING CRYING BABIES BACK TO SLEEP
I think every new parent would appreciate grandparents sharing this study!
In the September 13, 2022, Journal of Current Biology, a study was published giving us the new scientific Method of getting crying babies back to sleep.
Interestingly, the study summary says, “Approximately 20%–30% of infants cry excessively and exhibit sleep difficulties for no apparent reason, causing parental stress. . . .While several sleep training methods or parental education programs may provide long-term improvement of infant cry and sleep problems, there is yet to be a conclusive recommendation for on-site behavioral interventions. . . ,“ until now. And it is a very easy fix.
In “A method to soothe and promote sleep in crying infants utilizing the transport response,” by Nami Ohmura, Lana Okuma, Anna Truzzi, and Masaki Shimizu, et al, in their findings, set forth the best method for getting crying babies back to sleep:
The Walking-to-Sit Method works even in the daytime at naps: Hold a crying baby and walk with them for five minutes. After that, sit and hold the baby for five-to-eight minutes before putting them to bed. Laydown at 5 to 8 minutes after the sleep onset tends to prevent infant awakening.
THE MEANING OF BABY’S THOUGHTS DURING SLEEP
Reported in Science Daily, “Babies retain even detailed events during a nap: During sleep, toddlers’ brains consolidate details without generalizing them,” this grandma’s so to website for scientific studies, Manuela Friedrich, Matthias Mölle, Angela D. Friederici, Jan Born,scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) Leipzig and the Humboldt University (HU) Berlin, together with researchers from Lübeck and Tübingen, have now shown for the first time in their study, “Sleep-dependent memory consolidation in infants protects new episodic memories from existing semantic memories,” in Nature Communications that babies also build their episodic memory when they nap. This enables them to remember the details of their individual experiences after napping. Semantic memory is focused on facts, ideas and concepts. Episodic memory, on the other hand, refers to the recalling of particular and subjective life experiences. The significance of this is
“The results are also interesting with respect to the so-called infantile amnesia, i.e. the phenomenon of not being able to remember one’s own early childhood experiences. It has often been assumed that very young children are not yet capable of forming longer-term episodic knowledge. However, the current findings clearly show that even babies can remember events in detail — and sleep contributes significantly to this.”
A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP MAY MITIGATE INFANT OBESITY RISKS
According to a report in Science Daily, “A good night’s sleep may mitigate infant obesity risks,” [n]ew research from investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital . . .suggests that newborns who sleep longer and wake up less throughout the night are less likely to be overweight in infancy.” Their results are published in Sleep, “Longitudinal association of actigraphy-assessed sleep with physical growth in the first 6 months of life,” by
Xiaoyu Li, Sebastien Haneuse, Michael Rueschman, Emily R Kaplan, Xinting Yu, Kirsten K Davison, Susan Redline, Elsie M Taveras.
They found that not only shorter nighttime sleep, but more sleep awakenings, were associated with a higher likelihood of infants becoming overweight in the first six months of life. To promote healthy sleep, they recommend “keeping consistent sleep schedules, providing a dark and quiet space for sleeping, and avoiding having bottles in bed.” The last recommendation may be difficult for the parents of our baby grandchildren.
There is so much more information about child rearing then when we grandparents raised the parents of our grandchildren with
Joy,
Mema