How are you all doing? Feeling overwhelmed? Angry? Tired? Feeling uncomfortable? That’s ok, you’re not alone. 2020 has been deeply turbulent. But if we can all stay steadfast in our commitment to do better, live better and BE better (READ: NOT RACIST), hopefully we’ll come out on the other side of this thing in one piece.
With uncertainty all around us, we have to take care of ourselves. Like GOOD care of ourselves. When stress is heightened, a goodnight’s sleep can mean the difference between a stable healthy mom and complete mental or emotional instability. And if anybody knows a thing or two about needing good sleep, it’s moms.
But did you know, sleep is even more important for your little ones?
Before they’re born, babies spend as much as 95% of their time in the womb sleeping. After birth, the average newborn will spend about 60% of their time sleeping, about 14-18 hours a day. During that time, your little one’s mind and body are busy at work: storing memories, forming new synapses, or brain communication pathways, and recharging and restoring energy (2). While all of these sleep functions are essential, it’s the creation of new synapses that is most crucial. Synapses are the pathways information uses to travel around our brain for processing. The more synapses a person has, the more easily information can be passed and processed in their brain, essentially making them smarter. This means that while your baby is sleeping, their brain is growing exponentially and they are literally getting smarter. Babies will form as many as 1,000,000 new neural connections a SECOND for the first three years of their lives, twice as many as the average adult (2).
Like adults, sleep affects your babies mood too! If you ever experienced the unpleasantness of an overtired baby, you know what we’re talking about here. Babies who are properly rested tend to be better eaters, more agreeable, easier to soothe and more responsive (2).
What happens if a baby doesn’t get proper rest?
It’s in your child’s best interest to establish a regular bedtime routine early. Studies have found that children who regularly get less than 10 hours of sleep before the age of three are more likely to have difficulties with reading and language and are at an increased risk for ADHD. A more recent study found that children with irregular bedtimes before the age of three experience difficulties in reading, math and spatial awareness when compared to children with consistent bedtimes.
So how Do I know if my baby is getting enough rest?
The first step in making sure your little one is getting the proper amount of sleep, is to understand your baby’s sleep cycle. Sleep cycles are the stages of sleep that our bodies cycle through when we’re sleeping. While children and adults experience the same four stages of sleep, our cycle patterns look very different. For newborns, the first stage, actually falling asleep, can take much longer than it can for an adult. Immediately after falling asleep, both adults and babies alternate between cycles of deep sleep and lighter REM sleep. An adult may stay in a state of deep sleep for up to 90 minutes, while for a newborn, this will never last longer than an hour. The diagrams below illustrate the differences between adult and infant sleep cycles. The key to making sure your child is getting enough rest is understanding the sleep cycles. That’s where Nanit comes in.
Infant Sleep Cycles 
Adult Sleep Cycles
Nanit helps you understand your baby’s sleep activity like never before! A revolution in baby monitor technology, Nanit has several key features that set it apart from nearly everything else available out there. Nanit mounts easily to the wall alongside their crib to provide an unobstructed bird’s eye view of your sleeping baby. The ingenious cable management system ensures baby won’t get entangled in the cords or accidentally pull the device down on top of them. A two-way audio speaker allows you to hear and speak to your little one no matter where you are in your home; Smart sensors detect motion and sound, and send you real time alerts about your sleeping baby’s activity. Connect your Nanit Plus with Nanit’s Breathable Wear, designed to monitor your baby’s breathing movements through pattern identification and without any sensors or electronics touching your little one.
The Nanit Plus has a bunch of other cool features that make it a fun interactive device, beyond just a baby monitor. It’s Alexa enabled, works if wifi goes down, saves the memories it captures, tracks your baby’s sleep metrics, and the background noise feature of the Nanit Plus app allows you to hear your baby at all times, even when using other apps or when your phone is locked.
Check out Nanit’s full product line and start sleeping better today!
Keep Blooming 