Study: More Napping In Infants Linked With Smaller Vocabularies, Poorer Cognition

In recent studies, infants who frequently snooze may have lower vocabularies and less developed cognitive abilities.

According to a study from the University of East Anglia in the UK, some kids nap less frequently because they can better process information while they sleep.

Expert’s advice

According to the researchers, certain people, often those with fewer words and worse cognitive abilities, need to snooze more frequently, and cutting back on their naps would not help their brains develop.

Parents worry a lot about their children’s sleep. Parents worry that their children either snooze too often or too regularly and for too long compared to what is normal for their age.

Teodora Gliga, a main author of the study that was published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP) Advances, stated that young infants “will naturally nap for as long as they require and they should be allowed to do exactly that.”

During lockdown in 2020, the researchers examined 463 babies between the ages of eight months and three years.

Parents were asked questions about their children’s sleep habits, attentiveness, memory recall, and the number of words they could understand and use. Inquiries regarding their socioeconomic standing, education, neighborhood, and the amount of screen time and outdoor play their kid received were also made.

As none of the children in their study attended creche during the lockdown, the researchers claimed that there were fewer disruptions to the kids’ regular sleep habits.

According to Gliga’s research, the organization of daytime sleep serves as a predictor of cognitive maturation.

Older kids showed a higher negative correlation between nap frequency and vocabulary, she added.

“Although most parents assured us that lockdown had no impact on their child’s sleep, parents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were more likely to report a decline in sleep quality.

“Our results indicate that children have varying sleep demands; some kids may stop taking naps early because they no longer require them. Some could continue to require naps after turning three.

In determining a child’s sleep requirements, “carers should utilize a child’s mental age and not chronological age,” said Gliga.

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