Lack of Sleep Makes Babies Fatby Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger 08 Apr 2008 06:10 AM
I have no doubt that lack of sleep and obesity are linked. The body does essential reparation while we are sleeping and studies have shown that the less sleep you get, the fatter you are. I have no doubt that this would be true for children as well. But I have to be honest, I have my doubts about this study. Busy Parenting Causes Obesity It's not that I doubt the validity of the results but I can't help but think of all the frustrated mothers out there trying to get their babies to sleep more to no avail. I am a firm believer, and I've said it before--that sleeping patterns are really a reflection of a child's personality. If you, as the parent are consistent in a bed time routine and are consistently putting your toddler to bed at the same time every night--even if your toddler doesn't sleep that full twelve hours--I wouldn't worry about it. What I see happening though is that we inundate ourselves with playgroups and activities. Then we get home late for dinner. So we do a quick dinner (i.e. processed foods). Then we put our baby to bed a little later. But when do we moms get to do the things we have to do? Of course when baby goes to sleep. So then we go to bed a little later. Do you see the cycle? If we go to bed a little later--what do you think happens to breakfast? I cannot tell you the number of people who are shocked to find that I cook a real breakfast almost every morning. Granted it's just oatmeal, eggs and fruit--but it's a real, full breakfast--even for my toddlers. What We Can Learn From This Study So what I would encourage you to take from this study is the idea that you need to plan for a full night's sleep for your baby or toddler--which is about 12 hours. If you're doing everything within your power to get junior to sleep and he's just not, that I wouldn't worry about. You cannot force a baby to sleep and it's more important to worry about responding to his cues than it is to worry about whether or not he might be obese in two years. Valorie Delp shares recipes and kitchen tips in the food blog, solves breastfeeding problems, shares parenting tips, and current research in the baby blog, and insight, resources and ideas as a regular guest blogger in the homeschooling blog. To read more articles by Valorie Delp, click here.
Learn more about Valorie Delp  Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line. Relevantbaby tags User Comments Beckard (151) 25 Feb 2009 09:30 PMI think that your take on this issue brings up a very interesting point. It does seem very logical that if we are packing so many activities into our day, we are essentially cutting out other important times that evening (i.e. allowing adequate time to prepare healthy meals, and setting a specific bed time), and in conjunction with this, we are also losing sleep, which then repeats the cycle the following day. I also agree that although you may set a bed time for your child and stick to it every night, there is no guarantee that they will actually fall asleep, however, for this to happen sporadically, I would assume that is relatively normal, and should have minimal effects. Although there may be other factors, such as the aforementioned, that contribute to the results of the Harvard University study, I feel that the actual hours of sleep may also contribute to this. As I have learned through many of my biology classes, an increased amount of stress leads to the the production of a hormone, Cortisol, that promotes weight gain/feelings of hunger. Additionally, after taking learning and development, I have learned that regular sleep for babies is essential for brain maturation, learning, psychological adjustment and, most importantly to this topic, emotional regulation. Taking this into consideration, if a child is not getting an adequate amount of sleep (regardless of food consumption), they body may be less capable to appropriately handle emotions, including stress, thus resulting in an increased production of cortisol which initiates hunger signs, thus promoting weight gain. Although there may be social factors, like what you mentioned, leading to the results of the Harvard study, I believe that there are likely biological explanations for these results as well. Discuss this article
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