How Much Sleep Should your Child be Getting Every Day?

Sleep is very important for all of us.As a Growth Specialist I stress a lot to parents about healthy sleep to ensure healthy growth in childhood. A very common question i Get asked is "Doctor, How many hours my child should sleep"? Lets answer this question today




Sleep is an essential part of our daily schedule . Not just children but all adults should give due importance to sleep in their lifestyles. research has been telling us for many years that sleep is the time where the body rests and repairs itself. 


When we sleep our heart rate slows down , the muscles relax and body temperature falls, all are means to repair and rest tissues. For children sleep has an added importance as Growth Hormone secretion is maximum during deep sleep. Hence the highest growth rate is during night-time deep sleep.

Our Brains never sleep. Sleep is the time when the brain cleans itself .In this process, new connections are made between the brain cells that help us remember what we learnt during the day. Hence a child who sleeps well remembers well what he learnt during the day and with a fresh brain next day will learn better in school.

 Do We Know How much to sleep?

in the past the recommendations of sleep duration were NOT based on solid research. but finally last month The American Society of Sleep Medicine has come out with Scientific Research based recommendations . these have been published in The Journal of Clinical Sleep medicine in the  June 2016 issue

How Much should your child sleep every night?

To promote optimal health, the recommendations advise the following amount of sleep (per 24 hours) on a regular basis:

• Infants 4 to 12 months: 12 to 16 hours of sleep (including naps);
• 
  
• Children 1 to 2 years of age: 11 to 14 hours (including naps);
• 
  
• Children 3 to 5 years of age: 10 to 13 hours (including naps);
• 
  
• Children 6 to 12 years of age: 9 to 12 hours; and
• Teenagers 13 to 18 years of age: 8 to 10 hours.

In developing the recommendations, the expert panel reviewed 864 published scientific articles on the relationship between sleep duration and health in children, evaluated the evidence by using a formal grading system, and arrived at the final recommendations after multiple rounds of voting.These are by far the best scientific recommendations available to this date.

ADVANTAGES OF A NICE SLEEP 

Sleeping the recommended number of hours on a regular basis is associated with 

1. overall better physical health 
2. improved attention,
3. improved behaviour
4. better learning,
5. better memory,
6. better emotional regulation,

On the other hand sleeping fewer hours than recommended is associated with 

1. lack of attention
2. Bad behaviour
3. learning problems.

Children who sleep less are also at a higher risk for accidents, injuries, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and depression.Teenagers with disturbed sleep are more likely to engage in risky behaviour and be prone to suicidal tendencies.

However, sleeping more than the recommended time is also associated with risk of reduced school performance, irritability, obesity  and hypertension .

So we are clear on this. Children should sleep as per the recommended times and stay healthy , happy and grow well..

A lot of parents have trouble making their kids fall asleep. I ll address sleep habits and sleep hygiene in my upcoming articles.

   



see u soon..

Dr Uppal Saurabh 

PS: Any queries you have or any topics you would like me to cover can be posted on my facebook page ENDOKIDZ ( link in the top right corner of this page)

How Much Sleep Should your Child be Getting Every Day?

Sleep is very important for all of us.As a Growth Specialist I stress a lot to parents about healthy sleep to ensure healthy growth in childhood. A very common question i Get asked is "Doctor, How many hours my child should sleep"? Lets answer this question today




Sleep is an essential part of our daily schedule . Not just children but all adults should give due importance to sleep in their lifestyles. research has been telling us for many years that sleep is the time where the body rests and repairs itself. 


When we sleep our heart rate slows down , the muscles relax and body temperature falls, all are means to repair and rest tissues. For children sleep has an added importance as Growth Hormone secretion is maximum during deep sleep. Hence the highest growth rate is during night-time deep sleep.

Our Brains never sleep. Sleep is the time when the brain cleans itself .In this process, new connections are made during the brain cells that help us remember what we learnt during the day. Hence a child who sleeps well remembers well what he learnt during the day and with a fresh brain next day will learn better in school.

 Do We Know How much to sleep?

in the past the recommendations of sleep duration were NOT based on solid research. but finally last month The American Society of Sleep Medicine has come out with Scientific Research based recommendations . these have been published in The Journal of Sleep medicine in the  June 2016 issue

How Much should your child sleep every night?

To promote optimal health, the recommendations advise the following amount of sleep (per 24 hours) on a regular basis:

• Infants 4 to 12 months: 12 to 16 hours of sleep (including naps);
• 
  
• Children 1 to 2 years of age: 11 to 14 hours (including naps);
• 
  
• Children 3 to 5 years of age: 10 to 13 hours (including naps);
• 
  
• Children 6 to 12 years of age: 9 to 12 hours; and
• Teenagers 13 to 18 years of age: 8 to 10 hours.

In developing the recommendations, the expert panel reviewed 864 published scientific articles on the relationship between sleep duration and health in children, evaluated the evidence by using a formal grading system, and arrived at the final recommendations after multiple rounds of voting.These are by far the best scientific recommendations available to this date.

ADVANTAGES OF A NICE SLEEP 

Sleeping the recommended number of hours on a regular basis is associated with 

1. overall better physical health 
2. improved attention,
3. improved behaviour
4. better learning,
5. better memory,
6. better emotional regulation,

On the other hand sleeping fewer hours than recommended is associated with 

1. lack of attention
2. Bad behaviour
3. learning problems.

Children who sleep less are also at a higher risk for accidents, injuries, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and depression.Teenagers with disturbed sleep are more likely to engage in risky behaviour and be prone to suicidal tendencies.

However, sleeping more than the recommended time is also associated with risk of reduced school performance, irritability, obesity  and hypertension .

So we are clear on this. Children should sleep as per the recommended times and stay healthy , happy and grow well..

A lot of parents have trouble making their kids fall asleep. I ll address sleep habits and sleep hygiene in my upcoming articles.

   



see u soon..

Dr Uppal Saurabh 

PS: Any queries you have or any topics you would like me to cover can be posted on my facebook page ENDOKIDZ ( link in the top right corner of this page)

Thumb-sucking in your child; Should you be worried?

All Children suck their thumb/fingers at some age or another. Some of them even suck their toes or forearms. this is usually  very annoying for parents and caregivers and a lot of my patient's parent's have considerable anxiety regarding this habit in their kids. But is this anxiety correct? 

lets examine this habit and know more about when should you worry about it.




To a large extent thumb sucking is a developmental feature which means it parallels different stages of brain development.

 Newborns may suck their fingers if they get hold of them. Then this habit goes off to come back again at around 3- 5 months when the child can put finger to mouth and objects to mouth, Then he/she will suck at about any object. then  again  for a few months this habit disappears and comes back with each new tooth, as the child rubs his gums during tooth eruption.

 It often becomes associated with sleep and child may use this to go to sleep. The association with sleep also goes off by itself by 3 years of age.

Do all children do this?

About half of all children suck their fingers at one year of age,some more than others.The peak age for thumb sucking is 18-21 months. 

Does thumb sucking cause any harm? 

If thumb sucking disappears by 3 years of age, its perfectly ok.. 

Possible harm to teeth or skin may occur only if the habit persists beyond 4-5 years of age. All it can cause is a little soreness of the skin. Not to worry.

When should you be worried?

Worry after 2-3 years of age if

1) thumb sucking is excessive

2) occurs during the day also ( off and on in the night is ok)

3) occurs continuously throughout the night

4) thumb sucking restarts after a long time without it

         then look for a cause.........

                                                       most common causes are

                                                                                   1) boredom

                                                                                   2) insecurity

                                                                                   3) jealousy

So search for the cause and remove it... Your kid will be fine

Should you give any special treatment? 

• Devices to stop thumb-sucking are no longer advocated for use. They can cause psychological disturbances in the child
• Dont put any bitter substances on the fingers. Its cruelty to the child and will confuse the poor kid
• No treatment is required for the child younger than 2-3 years especially if thumb-sucking occurs in sleep as this is normal
•  Child will certainly grow out of it. 
•  Never use threat of punishment. It will certainly harm your child
• Never shame,ridicule ,tease the child 

The danger is not in thumb sucking, but what parents try to do about it.

The majority of thumb-suckers will grow out of the habit by five or six years. 

So relax.......... Dont trouble the kiddo........ 

Happy to help :-)

Dr Uppal 

IS YOUR INFANT VOMITING AGAIN AND AGAIN?

IS YOUR INFANT VOMITING AGAIN AND AGAIN?

Recurrent vomiting can be a worrisome sign in first few months of life. However not all recurrent vomitting is a pointer to disease or needs treatment. most of the children throw up milk in the first few months of life, its considered normal upto one year of life. the reason is that their swallowing reflexes as well as tummy reflexes to keep milk in tummy are not very mature.

how can you know that the vomiting is simple throw back of milk( regurgitation)?

1) child throws-up after feed
2) milk comes out "as such"
3) milk comes out both from mouth and nostrils
4) child is otherwise happy and playful
5) if you find that adequately burped( dakaar) the chances of vomitting become less

if the child looks sick, unhappy, has fever, is not feeding well , crying excessively or not gaining weight then this vomitting is serious and needs doctors advice,
 

How to reduce regurgitation episodes

1) ensure adequate burping (dakaar) . some kids may need rocking upto 45 minutes

2) if still kid throws-up, make them lie down on bed or lap with RIGHT SIDE DOWN for 15 minutes. this position makes milk go further down the tummy

3) dont overfeed the kid. crying doesnt always mean hunger...




                                                       Happy to help :-)



Dr Uppal