Do Long Naps Ruin A Child’s Overnight Sleep?

For most parents, naptime is a godsend. As children snooze, they’re able to steal precious hours to work, cook, clean or simply enjoy a little downtime. But now, some specialists are warning that longer naps could lead to a turbulent night’s sleep for toddlers. According to a recent study published in Scientific Reports, late afternoon naps can push back bedtime, and result in shorter overnight sleeps.  

The nap/sleep trade off

While concept of “sleep begets sleep” is widely accepted, a new study suggests that naps aren’t necessarily beneficial. Drawing on 50 Japanese toddlers, the study monitored a week’s worth of daytime naps, overnight sleeps and activity patterns. Ultimately, it revealed that there is a trade-off between afternoon naps and a full night’s sleep. The longer the nap, the shorter the overnight sleep. Furthermore, naps that stretched late into the afternoon appeared to push back bedtime, and mess with sleep schedules.

Reorganising sleep distribution

While the study did reveal that naps can affect both bedtimes and the length of overnight sleeps, the researchers did stress that they don’t impact the total amount of sleep a child enjoys in a 24-hour period. Instead, the distribution of sleep across day and night is simply reorganised. This means that tinkering with a toddler’s nap schedule has a knock-on effect on their overnight sleep, regardless of whether a parent likes it or not.

The good news is that while actual sleep hours may be mixed up, it does make it easier to avoid the burden of a sleep deprived toddler. If daytime naps are skipped, they’ll make up for it with an earlier bedtime and a longer overnight sleep. If a nap is inevitable, bedtime simply gets pushed a little later to compensate.

Tiny bodies hard at work

So why is it so important to keep toddlers on a healthy sleep schedule? While snoozing little ones look enviably peaceful, their bodies are actually hard at work. As they sleep their brains stitch together new concepts and words, while the immune system refines its ability to kill off germs. Limbs literally stretch, with reports confirming that babies undergo a mini growth spurt in the four days following a sleep binge. While scientists aren’t certain whether this important progress happens selectively during naps or overnight sleeps, one thing is certain - sleep matters!

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