Nap time for toddlers isn't one-size-fits-all

By Lisa Rapaport

(Reuters Health) - There's no single trick for getting toddlers and preschoolers to nap, and it's possible that some children who resist sleeping during the day are getting all the rest they need at night.

Tackling a topic that has long baffled parents of young children, a team of Australian researchers reviewed 26 published studies on how naps affect sleep at night, as well as learning and behavior during the day. The researchers found little consensus beyond the fact that after age two, kids who nap may not sleep as much at night.

"The study doesn't imply you shouldn't let your kids nap," said Jodi Mindell, associate director of the sleep center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "There are only so many hours a day that you can sleep, but that doesn't mean that napping leads to poor sleep."

By age two, many children should be sleeping during the night for about 10 to 11 hours, and getting about one to three hours during the day, said Mindell, who wasn't involved in the study.

Children who take long naps, and still have no difficulty falling asleep at bedtime or waking up on their own in the morning, are probably getting the right amount of rest, she said.

Several of the studies the Australian researchers reviewed focused on the relationship between naps and sleep at night. The analysis found links between naps and later bedtimes, shorter periods of sleep at night, and waking up more often during the night.

One study of kindergarten students who had an optional nap period found that kids went to bed later after a nap than without a nap during the day.

The relationship between napping and developmental outcomes is less clear, the study team wrote in a paper online February 17 in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Some studies suggested that napping aided language learning, but others found the opposite.

Anxiety and worry appeared more common in children who didn't nap, some studies found, but other research suggested a link between longer naps and children acting more withdrawn or depressed.

None of the studies can prove cause and effect, however, because they were observational in design, and so more studies are needed to understand how naps impact sleep and development, the researchers note.

SOURCE: http://bmj.co/1BHOmho

Arch Dis Child 2015.

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