Baby Bedtime

Recently, we can often hear both from pediatricians and psychologists about benefits of listening to music for babies. Of course, it is not surprising at all, as already our grannies sang songs to babies, to calm them down. Are there any medical researches on this subject?

Excursus to history

THE ANCIENTS were the first who noticed a beneficial effect of music both on soul and body. They treated neural-mental illnesses with music, and tried to use it as anaesthetic in Middle Ages… But all these experiments were carried out with adults.

In the beginning of 20th century scientists already could see that it was curative for babies to listen to classical music and lullabies, that music not only develops children, but also makes them healthier. Scientists decided to find scientific grounds of music therapy. And the first patients, who received treatment with music, were prematurely born babies.

What the researches showed

AS a rule, if a baby suffered from lack of oxygen during his prenatal development, no matter whether he is premature or not, his activity of cell ferments is lowered. After listening to classical music, activity of babies’ cell ferments rose. A cytochemical analysis showed this. They also took babies’ blood pressure, pulse, rhythm of breathing. And they always observed a classical reaction of adaptation: organism adjusted itself to environment and felt better.

Well, may be, children react this way to any sound irritant - alarm-clock ticking, conversation? May be, harmony and melody have nothing to do with it?

Researchers switched on a metronome for babies, which beat out a slow rhythm at a calm music pace. Babies behaved rather well: calmed down and fell asleep. But cytochemical analysis registered objectively: on the background of metronome working, an oppression of ferments took place in cells.

By the way, this is a proof of the fact that rock music with pronounced pulsatile rhythm is harmful for small babies.

When parents were going to take away their babies from hospital, doctors recommended them to continue carrying out music therapy procedures at home, along with massage, special gymnastics and exercises in water. Parents treated such advices in different ways, some of them switched on music for their babies, some of them did not.

But when a year later all these babies passed a checkup, interesting facts were discovered. Babies, who were constantly listening to classical music, coped better with neurologic defects, than the ones, whose parents did not believe in a healing power of music therapy. This way a reliable statistics appeared.

Which music should babies listen to?

EXCITABLE, fidget children should listen to melodies at a slow pace – “adagio”, “andante”. As a rule, second parts of classical sonatas and instrumental concerts have such pace. German scientists worked out main scientific literature on this subject, and German and Viennese classical music prevailed in their programs: Mozart, Schubert, Haydn… Later they added Vivaldi and Tchaikovski…

For example, this can be a second part of a “Short nocturnal serenade” by Mozart, “Winter” from “Seasons” by Vivaldi, a duet of Lisa and Polina from Tchaikovski’s opera “Queen of spades”, lullabies.

A melody with words influences babies stronger, than a melody without words. And live singing is stronger, than instrumental performance recorded on CD. A language of singing does not matter, new-born babies can gladly listen to, for example, a lullaby by Brahms or Christmas motets in German language.

And babies, suffering from syndrome of distress, who nurse badly and sometimes even breathe spasmodically, should listen to musical compositions at “allegro” and “allegro moderato” pace by Mozart, Schubert, Haydn… For example: waltzes from Tchaikovski’s ballets “On troika” from his “Seasons”, “Spring” from Vivaldi’s “Seasons”, and also martial music.

Music therapy procedures are also of benefit for healthy, normally developing children. They also should be calmed down or, on the contrary, emboldened sometimes. This can be done with the help of relaxing or energetic music. On no account, put on ear-phones on your baby. Our ears are adjusted to diffused sound by nature. Immature brain can receive an acoustic trauma because of directed sound.

Music therapy is contra-indicated to:

Babies with predisposition to fits.
Babies in a serious condition, which is accompanied by organism intoxication.
Babies suffering from otitis.
Babies, whose intracranial pressure increases sharply.

Rest on a cellular level

NOW parents have large selection of remedies – they can buy CD-discs with classical music in traditional performance. Or discs with classical music, arranged especially for babies. This music is accompanied by hand bells. Some may like such arrangement, other may not. You should see yourself your baby’s reaction.

You can also buy CD-records of classical music on the background of sounds of nature – rote, sound of rain, murmur of the forest… Listen to music together with your baby and relax, as restless babies’ mothers just need a good rest, on a cellular level.

written by Yana Mikheeva

As stated in part one of this article, minor sleep loss over a period of time can affect a child’s behavior, health and ability to learn. Cognitive functioning refers to how the brain takes in and processes information. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to assess how much a child’s cognitive abilities are affected when s/he is overtired. Please visit www.child-works.com to access a checklist for overtired behavior. Knowing whether your child is overtired and, if necessary, correcting this is the best approach for enabling your child to intellectually perform at his/her optimal level.

 

Cognitive Functioning
Realizing that lack of sleep affects mood and behavior is easy because it is tangible. We can feel it in ourselves and see it in others. Lack of sleep also has a clear impact on learning and processing of memory. Mothers of newborns have a unique window into the effects of this. Many can tell outrageous stories of going to the grocery store still wearing slippers or completely forgetting a conversation that occurred minutes ago! It is very similar for babies and older children. Overtired children have greater difficulty concentrating and are less alert than their well rested counterparts. Children learn by watching. Research consistently shows that overtired babies are not able to keenly observe and process what they are watching as well as rested babies. Some parents have reported a noticeable acceleration in reaching developmental milestones once their child was “sleep trained” and no longer overtired.

Because overtired children are easily bored they are less likely to play independently for as long as well rested children. Learning to play independently is an important life long skill. During this type of play children become more creative, more resourceful and develop emotional maturity. Studies conducted on infants as young as five months old found that those children who slept longer during the day had longer attention spans. The studies looking at seven to eleven year olds reported that those kids who experienced poor sleep exhibited more communication problems and intellectual deficits than those without sleep problems.

It is important that parents understand the link between sleep and the development and maintenance of learning and processing of memory. For our children, regardless how young, we need to ensure they receive adequate sleep in order to optimize their ability to learn. To learn more about children’s sleep please visit www.child-works.com

We all know that sleep serves a purpose, but many parents are surprised to learn the complex functions of sleep in children. Sleep is a time of intense neurologic and physiologic activity; there are times where the brain is more active during sleep than awake. For children this is especially true. By the age of three the average child has spent more time sleeping than all wakeful times combined. Research clearly shows that sleep affects behavior, health and learning. This is true for young and old alike. For the purposes of this article the primary focus will be on the role of sleep in children.

Many parents are surprised to learn that minor sleep loss over a period of time can completely alter a child in the aforementioned areas. Being overtired changes a child’s physiology. This hormonal shift is what affects a child’s ability to feel, perform and behave well. A child’s behavior provides the most obvious signs of an overtired child. Please visit www.child-works.com for a checklist of overtired behaviors.

Behavior Parents have experienced accrued sleep loss at one time or another. If we were to make a list of how we felt and behaved when we were behind on our sleep, followed by a list of how we perceive our children feel and behave when they are behind on their sleep, there would be significant overlap. Parents and children exhibit similar behavior when overtired, however, many times children are expected to behave as if they are well rested whether they are or not.

If a list of behavior was generated it would include the following: grumpy, irritable, short tempered, argumentative, cries more, hits and/or grabs more, whines, etc. An important addition to this list is hyperactivity. Many parents believe that their child is not tired until 10pm at night because the child is “bouncing of the walls” and are surprised to learn that this seemingly wide awake behavior is a classic sign of being tired. Although it seems counterintuitive, the body has a neurohormonal stress response in order to adapt and stay awake. This physiologic response increases levels of cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine. These hormones help jolt the body so it is able to remain awake. The more overtired children become the more these hormones are released, thus making it increasingly difficult to fall asleep and perpetuating a cycle of poor sleep habits. For information on how to end this cycle please visit www.child-works.com

If you reflect on how likable you are when overtired, it is easy to extend this to children. Many researchers have found that toddlers with sleep problems, most typically night waking, had more difficult temperaments. Two to five year olds that slept less had higher levels of aggression and children who were tired complained more about feeling bored leading people to view these children as lazy. Three year olds who napped were more adaptable to their environment than those who did not. What does this mean? Children who adapt well are able to make transitions easier both at home and within the classroom and are better at socializing and playing well with peers.

It is important for parents to understand that children do not outgrow these behaviors without the help of adequate sleep. Research is clear in this assertion as well. Children with sleep problems that persisted from eight months to three years of age illustrated increased tantrums and other management difficulties by the age of three. On the flip side, studies that analyzed children ages seven to eleven found that those who slept more experienced less hopelessness, a better self-concept and were more adept at sociability and activity.

written by Rachel Steinberg

Tags: baby sleep tips/children sleep/baby