[LoveLife]

Hi everyone! I just got back from LOs 6 month pedi appointment. She gave me several sheets on sleep, I think just as part of the routine handouts that she gives at the 6 month appointment.

For the most part she is great. Mentions vaxing every time we come in, but never pushes, supports co-sleeping, etc. She's also an internal med doc and works very hard to keep educating herself (ie: was at a nerology conference last weekend.) Anyway, one of the articles she gave me talked about how naps are incredibly important for babies. And that baby's who take short naps have short attentions spans and are at increased risk to have ADHD when they get older.

I didn't read the articles until I got home, but this describes DS to a T!! He'll take three 1/2 hour naps per day unless I'm laying down with him. Then he'll sleep as much as 2 hours, but I can't do that all the time. He is a happier baby when he sleeps longer, but I'm not sure how to help him get there without me in the room.

Has anyone heard of this? What can I do to help him nap better? Does the premise make sense, or is it off the wall sounding?

Sorry for the long rambly post, but I've got a zillion thoughts running through my head.

 

[alexsam]

Ack... who knows? Short naps and giving the up early are also signs of giftedness... Plus, babies go through napping phases. The nap routines of a 5 week old differ from a 6 month old and they differ from a 9 month old. And a cold or teething or whatever can also make naps short.

Plus... naps can be very tempramental. Many babies WILL nap in just their right conditions. We call mine "The Baby of Perpetual Motion"- he will sleep in a sling or a stroller, a carseat, even on a lap in a rocker. But a bed? HA! But I can't do that all the time, every day. So, we have lots of short naps. It's not his choice, or mine, but I have other kids. I can't spend 6 hours a day in a rocker...

But, you know, in a few months, this whole scenario could be very different!

I really, really would not stress this!

 

[Starfish11]

Uh, I don't know anything about it either but our little one is the same way! Aye yay yay.

 

[heidirk]

Actually, the ADD is not a result of the non napping thing. Babies who are quite bright will often not sleep. Also, babies who will develop ADD/ADHD type wiring in their brains will often have a hard time sleeping.

Often very bright people have some sort of 'alternative wiring' in their heads.

I would not worry about it. But if you want to help your dc sleep longer, I highly suggest reading the No-Cry Sleep Solution for ideas. There is a section specifically for extending naps/helping kids resettle to sleep longer.

Also, for PEDs (even your nice one) six months seems to be the magic STTN time.

 

[kiara7]

I don't know...It sounds kind of iffy to me. Most babies take short naps, don't they?

To me, really, it sounds like the American habit of over analyzing and dx'ing a problem where one does not exist. But who knows....I

 

[zinemama]

I don't think my ds settled into regular, hour+ naps (like all the other babies I read about) until he was 7 or 8 months. Before that, 30 minutes at a time was all I could get out of him. And he woke up every hour at night, too. It's a wonder we kept him.

My pediatrician said, "Most babies sleep a lot longer than that. But some don't - no big deal."

He's nine now and spends hours on the couch with a book. I wouldn't worry.

 

[Aries1985]

My 9 month old is a 30 mins or less kind of a napper. She has been like this from day 1. Maybe twice a month she'll sleep for 45 minutes. She is happy, content, meeting all her milestones and growing well. She does not sleep through the night most of the time either. My ped sees nothing wrong with her short naps. I stopped trying to make them longer because she sleeps or shows me she's tired when she needs to nap, otherwise I let her play and she's happy.

 

[Limabean1975]

For his first year, DS napped, for the most part, no more than 20 minutes at a time. He definitely has a good attention span now - can really focus on an activity and stick with it for a long period.

 

[alexsam]

My now 4 yr old never slept. Ever.

Never.

Really.

But... its not ADD. He's gifted.

DS2 is very similar to how DS1 was as a baby.

Both never sleep. Even now, my 4 yr old is still up occasionally at night. And the baby is still up every few hours and naps are a mish-mosh. I kind of want to tear my hair out

. But I have given up on the sleep fight. It happens when it happens. If it doesn't... Heck, whatever.

 

[alegna]

sounds like hogwash to me.

Dd did not nap as a rule as an infant. When she did it was 30 min here and there. No attention issues at all.

-Angela

 

[crosscat]

Hi - we were in the Oct DDC together. Sleep is such an enigma, but I feel it's very important for babies (as well as adults) in general. I don't know about that particular study, but I have heard there is a direct correlation between the amount of REM sleep a baby gets and the amount of time the baby spends in the quiet alert state, which is when a lot of learning occurs.

Anyway, Calla was sleeping only 40 minutes for naps unless I wore her until a few months ago when I used some tips from the No Cry Nap Solution by E. Pantley and also some information from another book I think we're not allowed to mention here... it's a book that has CIO stuff in it, but also offers no-cry alternatives, so I'm not sure if discussing it is a UAV or not? Rest assured, I'm not suggesting anyone resort to CIO!

I am pretty sure we have the same ped, however, the author is referenced on one of her sleep handouts. The important stuff from that book had to do with timing and recognizing sleep cues mainly, anyway, which Pantley also addresses, but the other book has better information on it, IMO.

Also, another sleep expert has changed his recommendations for how much sleep babies need based on recent research. He's now saying it's less overall, but I cannot remember his suggestion for min. nap length and I've not been able to find this info online, unfortunately. I saved the article, but don't have it handy ATM.

Sorry to get off on a tangent. What was helpful for me was to learn about "cycle-blending" - which is discussed in the NCNS, in addition to refining my timing and sleep routines, and recognizing my baby's sleep cues. Now she naps beautifully, occasionally requiring a bit of help to cycle-blend at about 40 minutes into her nap, but often sleeping an entire 1.5 to 2 hours without any help from me other than getting her to sleep initially. It took me about 2 weeks, maybe 3, to really see good results FWIW.

GL with extending naps!

 

[riverscout]

I read about that whole ADHD and short naps theory in a baby sleep book when my daughter was a baby and only taking 30 minute naps. It caused me a lot of stress a the time. But she is 3.5 now and and has an amazing attention span and is quite brilliant if may say so myself, so I think it is all nonsense. BTW, she didn't take longer naps until she was over a year old.

My son is 6 months old and only taking 30 minute naps too. I must carry the short napping gene

.

 

[crosscat]

Another thought... I doubt that ADHD or short attn spans can be attributed to any one thing. Short naps could be a factor for some children, but exposure to too much television, not enough open-ended play, not enough reading, and perhaps heredity could be other factors as well, all of which could contribute. I wouldn't worry so much about ADHD specifically, personally, but there's nothing wrong with trying to help your baby enjoy longer naps, if you want to explore that.

I really do feel sleep is important, and not all babies necessarily need to nap more than thirty minutes at a time, but most probably do, and some may need help achieving it, like my daughter. The fact that she would sleep longer if held was what I considered my clue that she needed help with napping longer on her own. If she only slept a short time while being held, then I might be inclined to believe she just didn't need as much sleep as most babies.

 

[nj's_mom]

Who knows!

Myself and my fiance both had/have ADD/ADHD. (He also has a reading/writing related learning disorder, though he's very smart.) My LO is very intelligent- I know every mom thinks this but I have no qualms about her brainpower, not that it would matter- but I halfway assume she's going to have some attention issues. I also assume she is (like me) going to be "gifted" in one way or another ... I started reading novels when I was four. So who knows. Is it genetic, or something we can do something about?? All you can do is give your child the best start possible ... I don't let her watch TV, plan to not introduce sugary/non-organic/crappy foods until EVER, and spend lots of time loving on her. What else can I do? If she's going to have ADD, so be it, if not, that's good too. Either way, I'll love her and accept her and work with whatever issues we come up against.

Ahem .. sorry for the novel

On the subject of sleep, she isn't a big napper, because she'll only nap on me when there's a quiet atmosphere, usually latched on. But she sleeps through the night.

 

[sapphire_chan]

Sounds like one of those chicken-egg problems that seem to keep coming up about theories behind the cause of ADD.

Do short naps cause ADD or do kids prone to ADD take short naps?

Does watching lots of TV cause ADD or do kids prone to ADD feel more of a need to watch lots of TV?

 

[LadyCatherine185]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan Sounds like one of those chicken-egg problems that seem to keep coming up about theories behind the cause of ADD. Do short naps cause ADD or do kids prone to ADD take short naps? Does watching lots of TV cause ADD or do kids prone to ADD feel more of a need to watch lots of TV?

:

i think that is one of the claims in babywise... that if you don't make your baby CIO and STTN, they will end up with ADD, etc.

 

[heidirk]

and being an adult with ADD who was subjected to CIO as an infant, I can tell you it is not reliable prevention!

most of us with ADD/ADHD do seek stimulating environments, unless we're in shutdown mode, anyway.

don't stress about it, you can't 'turn' a child ADD.

 

[Quate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan Sounds like one of those chicken-egg problems that seem to keep coming up about theories behind the cause of ADD. Do short naps cause ADD or do kids prone to ADD take short naps? Does watching lots of TV cause ADD or do kids prone to ADD feel more of a need to watch lots of TV?

Yep, I haven't seen the research, but it's very important to remember that just because two things are correlated with each other doesn't mean that one causes the other. If there is any causation here, my guess is that it would go the other way around (ADD causes short naps)--but I don't know how they'd even test this.

 

[LoveLife]

Thanks everyone! I feel much bettter after reading your posts.

Crosscat- I think we are in a similar situation in that I feel the DS needs more sleep, but I don't know how to help him get there.

I would never CIO or anything of the sort.

I have the No Cry Sleep Solution and probably need to get reading that again.

I agree it seems silly to worry about, but I guess it just took me by surprise.

 

[sapphire_chan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quate Yep, I haven't seen the research, but it's very important to remember that just because two things are correlated with each other doesn't mean that one causes the other. If there is any causation here, my guess is that it would go the other way around (ADD causes short naps)--but I don't know how they'd even test this.

Find a bunch of families with no history of ADD, who don't watch TV, and have babies who are good nappers. Then let half the babies nap as much as they want and the other half of the babies get woken up after 30minutes any time they go to sleep during the day. See if more of the short napping babies have attention problems in 5 years.

Or just find out if there are babies who nap for short periods who don't have attention problems as kids. Since there are, short naps don't cause attention problems.