Read The No Cry Nap Solution Online
Authors: Elizabeth Pantley
Stage 2
ate sleep
å First REM
Dreaming
9 to 30 minutes
Transfers short-term memory to long-term
stage**
Secures new learning
Enhances brain connections
Sharpens visual and perceptual skills
Processes emotions and relieves stress
Inspires creativity and boosts energy
Reduces homeostatic sleep pressure
5 to 15 minutes
Same as Stage 2 above
Important Facts Y
å Stage 2
Light to moder-
ate sleep
å Stage 3
Deep sleep
5 to 15 minutes
Same as Stage 3 above
å Stage 4
Deepest sleep
5 to 15 minutes
Same as Stage 4 above
ou Should Know About Sleep
å Stage 3
Deep sleep
5 to 15 minutes
Same as Stage 3 above
å Stage 2
Light to moder-
5 to 15 minutes
Same as Stage 2 above
ate sleep
å Second REM Dreaming
20 to 60 minutes
Same as REM stage above
stage**
*Add the minutes of each stage together for total naptime. The timing of each stage of sleep is unique to each nap, so times shown are approximations. In addition, sleep deprivation, medications, health issues, timing of the previous sleep session, and other factors can alter the cycle pattern. Infants have shorter sleep cycles than shown.
**The time spent in REM sleep increases with additional cycles. Infants spend more time in REM sleep than older babies and children, who have more REM sleep than adults.
Note: The same sequence applies to night sleep, resulting in fi ve or more cycles per night and bringing that well-rested morning feeling.
The No-Cry Nap Solution © Better Beginnings, Inc.
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3
14 Nap Magic
Why the Timing of Naps Is
Vitally Important
From the moment your child wakes in the morning, he is slowly
using up the benefi ts of the previous night’s sleep. He wakes up
refreshed, but as the hours pass, little by little the benefi ts of his
sleep time are used up, and an urge to return to sleep begins to
build. When we catch a child at in-between stages and provide
naps, we build up his reservoir of sleep-related benefi ts, allowing
him a “fresh start” after each sleep period.
As shown on the sleep chart on page 8, as children age, the
length of time that they can stay happily awake increases. A new-
born can be awake only one or two hours before tiredness sets in,
whereas a two-year-old can last fi ve to seven hours before craving
some downtime. When children are pushed beyond the time span
that is ideal, biologically speaking, for them to be awake without
a rest break, that’s when they become fatigued and unhappy. As
the day progresses and the sleep pressure builds, a child becomes
fussier, whinier, and less fl exible. He has more crying spells, more
tantrums, and less patience. He loses concentration and the abil-
ity to learn new information. The scientifi c term for this process
is “homeostatic sleep pressure” or “homeostatic sleep drive.” I call
it “the Volcano Effect.” We’ve all seen the effects of this on a baby
or child, as it is often as clear as watching a volcano erupt; nearly
everyone has observed a fussy child and thought or said, “Some-
one needs a nap!”
As a child progresses through his day, his biology demands a nap
so he can regroup. Without a nap break, the homeostatic pressure
continues building until the end of the day, growing in intensity,
so that a child becomes overtired, wired, and unable to stop the
explosion. The result is an intense bedtime battle with a cranky,
overtired child who won’t fall asleep no matter how tired he is.
Even more, a child who misses naps day after day builds a sleep
deprivation that launches her into the volcano stage much easier
Important Facts You Should Know About Sleep
15
and quicker. If she is missing naps
and
lacking the appropriate
nighttime sleep . . . watch out!
This concept brings to light one more important point: quality
naps can make up for lost night sleep—but extra nighttime sleep
does
not
make up for missed naps, as made clear by the homeo-
static sleep pressure concept. Therefore, no matter how your child
sleeps at night—great sleeper or poor sleeper—his daily naps are
critically important to release the rising sleep pressure.
Infants have a much shorter span in which their sleep pressure
builds. They rapidly reach the peak of their volcano in one to
three hours. This is why newborns sleep throughout the day and
why young babies require multiple naps. Over time as a baby’s sleep
cycle matures, he will be able to go longer periods between sleeps.
It is not until age four or fi ve that a child is able to go through the
entire day without a nap, and research suggests that even through
adulthood, a midday rest break is benefi cial in reducing the pres-
sure. The following charts represent the building and outcome of
the Volcano Effect.
The Volcano Effect for a Child Without a Nap
14
•
12
10
e
ssur
8
re P 6
4
Sleep
2
0
•
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
0
00
00
7:
:00
:00
:00
8:
9:
7:
10
11
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:0
8:
12
AM
PM
Time of Day
16 Nap Magic
The Volcano Effect for a Child with a Midday Nap
14
12
10
e
ssur
8
re P 6
4
Sleep
2
0
•
•
•
•
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
0
00
00
7:
:00
:00
:00
8:
9:
7:
10
11
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:0
8:
12
AM
PM
Time of Day
The Volcano Effect for a Child with Two Naps
14
12
10
e
ssur
8
re P 6
4
Sleep
2
0
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
0
00
00
7:
:00
:00
:00
8:
9:
7:
10
11
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:0
8:
12
AM
PM
Time of Day
Is Anyone Else in the Family Affected by
Homeostatic Sleep Pressure?
The Volcano Effect is not something reserved for children! This
biological process affects adults as well. Understanding this can
Important Facts You Should Know About Sleep
17
help you interpret what is really going on in your home at the end
of a long day when children are fussy and parents are grumpy—
resulting in a whole mountain range of volcanoes. What’s more,
each person’s moodiness feeds off the others’, causing contagious
crankiness. You’ll fi nd yourself losing patience and saying to your
child, “I’m sorry, honey. Mommy’s just tired right now.” (This is a
very telling explanation we don’t often stop to analyze.)
Homeostatic sleep pressure can tell us much about the time of
day that is often referred to by names such as the “fussy hour,”
the “witching hour,” or the more desperate (and, amusingly, most
common) nickname, defi ned for us by Dictionary.com:
arsenic hour
(AR.suh.nik owur)
n
. the time of day when both
children and parents have come home but dinner has not
yet been served, seen as being diffi cult due to everyone being
tired and hungry
When a daily nap routine is established, you may be delighted
to fi nd that you can avoid this daily meltdown and your evenings
will become a more relaxed and pleasant time for all.
Avoiding Late-Day Naps
You can’t force a child to be sleepy just because the clock says it
is naptime. We all know what it’s like to put a bright-eyed, wide-
awake child in bed—there’s no sleep to be had for anyone! How-
ever, it makes sense that the longer your child has been awake, the
more tired he becomes. Sleepiness must build up to an ample level
in order for your child to feel tired and fall asleep again. Therefore,
you must allow enough time between sleep sessions to build up
this pressure. This explains why a child resists a nap too soon after
waking up in the morning and why a late nap too close to bedtime
brings a bedtime battle.
Keep in mind that sleep pressure is not the only biological pro-
cess affecting your child. The “magic gifts” are being given out all
18 Nap Magic
Studies completed at NASA of military pilots and astronauts
found that naps improved working memory, performance, and
alertness and offered a boost in mental sharpness. In general,
they found that longer naps were better naps.
night long or all through a nap. If your child’s sleep period has not
been long enough, he won’t wake up fully refreshed, at the bot-
tom of his volcano. He will wake up somewhere in the middle or
even toward the top. This explains the early-waking baby or short-
napping child who is grumpy and fussy right from the moment
he awakes. He hasn’t received his full allotment of gifts—and he
knows it!
The Biological Reason for the Second Wind
What happens if your child falls asleep, perhaps in the car or in
your arms, for only fi ve to fi fteen minutes? He’ll likely wake up
appearing refreshed and full of energy and be unable to fall back
to sleep. If you’ll refer back to the “magic gifts” (sleep benefi ts)
chart on page 12, you will see that the very fi rst stage of sleep
reduces feelings of sleepiness. Therefore this brief micro-nap has
eliminated tiredness for the moment but has not allowed a child
to gather his gifts from all the other sleep stages. One of those
benefi ts is reducing his building sleep pressure, so the pressure is
still there, just masked for a short time by the reduced feelings of
fatigue. But as the day goes on, the mask is lifted to reveal a child
more prone to frustration, fussing, crying, and temper tantrums.
What happens when you miss your child’s tired signs entirely
and ignore his building sleep pressure? Your child may end up fall-
ing asleep on his own in a soothing environment, such as while
Important Facts You Should Know About Sleep
19
riding in the car, sitting in a swing, or lounging in front of the
television, and catch his fi ve or ten minutes, or he might take a
long, late nap that interferes with bedtime. Or your child might
pass over his tired spell and catch a second wind—without any
sleep at all. Suddenly, he’s fi lled with energy and action, as if he’s
had a double cappuccino! How can this be?
This no-sleep second wind occurs because your child has yet
another system affecting his feelings of tiredness and alertness: his
circadian rhythm
, commonly called his
biological clock
. All human
beings have this internal clock that regulates wakefulness and
sleep. When it’s working properly, we feel awake and alert during
the day and sleepy at bedtime. Our clock easily resets itself each
day based on our sleep habits, the timing of our meals, and our
exposure to light and dark.
The biological clock functions separately from homeostatic
sleep pressure, so even if sleep pressure is building, the timing
of meals and the effects of activity and light can bring a child a
whoosh of alertness even if he hasn’t slowed down for a nap. How-
ever, sleep pressure is still there, hiding beneath the surface, and it
continues to build. Later in the day—likely after dinner or during
your prebedtime routine—your child will have a sudden drastic
increase in fatigue, which causes battles with an exhausted child
who, ironically, cannot fall asleep easily.
Some children have internal clocks that set easily; others have
a fi nicky system that can be upset by a disruption in the nap
schedule or any kind of external cue, such as lights or noises after
they fall asleep or too early in the morning. Haphazard nap and
bedtimes, irregular mealtimes, or too much activity before bed-
time can skew a child’s biological clock as well, disturbing his state
of biochemical equilibrium and causing an inability to fall asleep,
poor-quality sleep, an inability to nap, or too-early waking in the
morning.
The human biological clock needs winding every day, and set-