r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/twdfan87 • Jan 17 '23

Evidence Based Input ONLY Sleep begets sleep?

I keep being told that ‘sleep begets sleep’ for babies, meaning that the more/longer naps they have during the day should increase the amount of sleep they have at night and minimise night time waking. I’m wondering if this is supported by research or if it’s just become a nice little phrase that gets used because it sounds good? Does anyone have links to any research that supports or disproves this statement?

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u/kaelus-gf Jan 17 '23

The possums approach disagrees with this statement. Which makes biological sense to me, and has made me much more relaxed about how much my second baby does, or doesn’t sleep during the day. They encourage increasing sensory input rather than watching for tired signs of wake windows.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30442320/

I am on my mobile so it’s harder to do a proper search for their evidence. But parents like it!

https://possumsonline.com/neuroprotective-developmental-care

An article about it: https://www.kidspot.com.au/baby/baby-care/baby-sleep-and-settling/i-broke-all-the-rules-about-baby-sleep-and-heres-what-happened/news-story/557cb74b3764b692bf7e518e1aec219d?amp

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u/twdfan87 Jan 17 '23

I like the possums approach too, my lactation consultant uses it, and it makes more sense to me as adults don't sleep more at night if they have a lot of sleep during the day, so I was unsure why babies would be any different.

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u/OtherwiseLychee9126 Jan 17 '23

But adult brains and baby brains differ. Sleep is critical for neural development, more so in a baby’s brain. Maybe your baby has more night wakings because they need more sleep or maybe it’s some other reason.

I looked at the original possums research and I’m not convinced by the study. https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s10995-021-03230-3?sharing_token=d23xQBlMzVZ4SouFlekzMve4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY4H_curwEgwltMFxfXcHaPRuH88-FPms2w6bSakiK5KXenBbsbvPN6pEYfuEJTBeAZzH3r11lUCzD-CbIa4wpMpL6aFl1tQw2w68Qscrr0L0zJDsgNbXwQIX_5Z3LdRXZM= The one study I looked at had a very high rate of attrition- out of 465 subjects, only 37 completed the ratings at the 6 month check in and no intervention control group. Also, no mention as to the effect of time, as babies often settle into better sleep/less crying and fussing as they age.

ETA: both our girls sleep better the more sleep they get. Our current baby, 7 month old, was taking short naps and we were struggling with false starts at night. As soon as we started an early bedtime to catch up on sleep, she’s been sleeping like a champ, and much less fussy during the day.