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The Association between Diurnal Sleep Patterns and Emotions in Infants and Toddlers Attending Nursery

Valeria Bacaro1, Bernd Feige2, Fee Benz2

  • 1Department of Human Sciences, University of Rome Guglielmo Marconi, Via Plinio, 44, 00193 Roma, Italy.

Brain Sciences
|December 3, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Daytime naps in childcare are crucial for children's emotional regulation. Shorter naps and poor night sleep negatively impact emotional intensity, highlighting the importance of diurnal sleep for development.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Pediatric Sleep Science

Background:

  • Childcare programs commonly mandate daytime naps.
  • Reduced daytime sleep negatively impacts self-regulation, emotion processing, and learning in early childhood.
  • Daytime sleep is less studied than nighttime sleep.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the connection between diurnal sleep patterns in nurseries, nocturnal sleep quality, and infant/toddler emotional intensity after naps.
  • To understand the role of daytime sleep in emotional development.

Main Methods:

  • Data collected from 92 children (6-36 months) over two weeks.
  • Educators used sleep and emotion diaries to monitor sleep habits and emotions.
  • Analyzed diurnal sleep hours, nocturnal sleep, and emotional intensity.

Main Results:

  • Diurnal sleep hours generally decreased with age, with an exception for older females.
  • All age groups had less nocturnal sleep than recommended.
  • Daytime sleep onset latency correlated with positive emotions.
  • Daytime napping impacts emotional functioning independently of nocturnal sleep.

Conclusions:

  • Daytime sleep is linked to managing positive and negative emotions in early childhood.
  • Adequate daytime sleep may be vital for the healthy development of emotional processes.
Abstract

Keywords:
diurnal sleepinfancynegative emotionsnurserypositive emotionssleeptoddlerhood

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