Study Shows That Healthy Sleep Pattern Affects Baby's Intelligence

It is a little known fact that there is a great way to enhance a child's intelligence to help him do better later in life. That is, coach him healthy sleep patterns while he is a baby. This is arguably one of the best ways to enhance a child's intelligence.

The author of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, Dr. Marc Weissbluth, uses the research of Dr. Lewis M. Terman in his study. Though Dr. Terman's research was concluded in 1925, it is still broadly quoted and used today. Dr. Terman used the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test to test over 3,000 children. In the children who were found to have excellent intelligence there was one thing in common. They all had healthy sleep patterns at night.

Fatigue can cause a child to experience colic-like symptoms, crankiness, irritability, fussiness, hypertension, and weak focusing and eating behavior. Some studies even imply that there is a link between weariness and the increasing diagnosis rate of ADHD.

Thomas Choo, a father of a four-year-old, realizes this. "I had absolutely no idea that my child's intelligence is linked to his sleep habits. I am now more aware and will strive to instill good sleep habits from now on", he said.

Now that it is understood how important it is to establish good sleep patterns, it is helpful to know that there are some things that may deter a child's sleep patterns.

1) Using nursing as a way to get your child to sleep is not a good idea. This causes your child to have a dependence upon nursing to get to sleep and they do not learn how to fall asleep on their own.

2) Rocking your baby to sleep is setting yourself up for trouble later. Using a rocking chair used to be the norm, but now many parents will put a baby's bouncy seat on the dryer or take them for a ride in the car to help them fall asleep. These methods work, but as soon as your baby wakes up you will have to do it all over again. Your baby need to learn how to fall asleep on its own.

3) Putting your child in bed with you puts them at a hazard physically and mentally. Sharing your bed may raise the chance of SIDS and your baby could cultivate a sleep disorder. A research study at the University of Massachusetts Medical School says that there is a link between co-sleeping and children who have sleep disorders.

What do you do to help your child learn to fall asleep? You first need to put your baby to bed while they are still awake. In this way, he can learn to self-soothe and he will fall asleep on his own. Feed him, rock him, and cuddle him before you put him to bed.


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