Toddlers missing shut-eye
More than a third of toddlers and a fifth of preschoolers in New Zealand are probably not getting the recommended amount of sleep, a study has concluded.
The report, by Massey University researchers, examined parent-reported sleep patterns for more than 6000 preschoolaged children as part of Growing Up in New Zealand, the country’s largest longitudinal study of Kiwi children and their families.
Ministry of Health guidelines say toddlers (aged 1-2) should get between 11 and 14 hours of sleep per day, and preschoolers (aged 3-4) should get 10 to 13 hours.
Researchers found 17 per cent of 24-month-olds in the study did not meet the sleep guidelines, with 15.6 per cent not getting enough. At 45 months, 6 per cent were getting too little sleep.
The report’s lead author, Dr Dee Muller, said that when these findings were modelled for the New Zealand population it showed a third of toddlers and a fifth of preschoolers are not getting the right amount of sleep.
At 24 months, children sleep 10 1⁄2 hours at night and two hours during the day, on average, with 83 per cent meeting guidelines. However, girls, Ma¯ori, Pacific and Asian children and children living in more socio-economically deprived areas have a higher probability of shorter or more disturbed sleep at 24 months.
At 45 months, 9 per cent of children do not meet sleep guidelines – with girls, Ma¯ori, Pacific and Asian children, and those who spent more time on ‘‘screens’’ more likely to get less sleep, they found.
Muller said material hardship has a clear impact on children’s sleep. This could be because children were living in less ‘‘sleepconducive environments’’, such as crowded housing conditions or bedrooms that were too cold.
Other factors affecting kids’ sleep included being overweight or in poor health, and using visual media for more than two hours a day, Muller said.
Leigh Signal, an associate professor at Massey University’s Sleep/Wake Research Centre, said poor sleep health was a big issue potentially affecting immune response, body mass, emotional regulation and learning. The authors say the findings highlight issues that, if addressed, might reduce child health inequities.
Wellington child and infant sleep consultant Emma Tweedie said poor wind-down into bedtime was often the culprit for poor sleep in toddlers. ‘‘Routine is really important.’’