The Top 3 Sleep Related Health Issues for Babies – Learn Why Getting Baby to Sleep Through the Night is So Important for Your Baby's Health

Author: Tasha

As parents we inherently have a desire to keep our children healthy, safe, and happy. One of the earliest hurdles we encounter to our children’s well-being is the issue of getting baby to sleep through the night. You may not realize this, but by delaying this skill you could be setting your baby up for more serious health related issues during their childhood and into their adult life. By establishing healthy sleep habits now, you increase your children’s chances of bypassing these challenges.

Obesity

Studies conducted at many well known research centers have shown that there is a connection between childhood sleep deprivation and obesity. At the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, researchers found that for each extra hour of sleep a child got, it reduced their risk of being overweight by 9 percent!

In a Harvard study, results showed that infants who slept less than 12 hours total in a day were twice as likely to be overweight by the age of 3 versus infants who slept 12 hours or more in a day.

Emotional Issues

For babies and children the emotional effects of sleep deprivation can be more extreme than that of an adult. Some of the emotional issues a child can experience are high levels of anxiety, depression, aggression, irritability, temper tantrums, excessive crying and fussiness and decreased patience.

These issues go hand in hand with the next set of problems lack of sleep can cause in children.

Behavioral Issues

If a child is not getting adequate sleep they can begin to display a variety of behavioral issues such as hyperactivity, poor concentration, poor school performance, poor impulse control, reasoning and memory, focus and a drop in their IQ.

If these symptoms sound similar to those of ADD and ADHD, they are. Here’s a fascinating scientific find…

Research in sleep laboratories have shown that many children have been misdiagnosed as having ADD/ADHD, when really all that was going on was chronic partial sleep deprivation!

In addition to the above, sleep deprivation in children suppresses their immune systems, increases their chances of injurious falls, and creates a vicious cycle of poor sleep habits that are hard to break the longer they go on.

About the Author:

As a parent, I myself know that I would do anything for my kiddos in order for them to be happy. I do not want them to have to go through their life facing these challenges. For that reason, I became proactive in learning ways of getting baby to sleep through the night, and you can too! Visit http://www.squidoo.com/sleepingthroughthenight to learn how.

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