If your child doesn't like having naps, then it might be a good thing, a new study claims.
New research from the University of East Anglia reveals that infants who nap more frequently have smaller vocabularies and poorer cognitive skills.
Let's find out more.
Correlation between sleep and cognitive abilities
The study, conducted during lockdown, studied 463 infants aged between eight months and three years.
Researchers surveyed parents about their children's sleep patterns, cognitive abilities, and language development.
They found that some children are more efficient at consolidating information during sleep, so they nap less frequently, while others with fewer words and poorer cognitive skills need to nap more often.
The research team emphasizes that reducing naps for these children will not improve brain development, and they should be allowed to nap as frequently and for as long as they need.
The structure of daytime sleep was identified as an indicator of cognitive development, with infants having more frequent but shorter naps showing smaller vocabularies and worse cognitive function.
The study suggests that children have different sleep needs, and caregivers should use a child's mental age, not chronological age, to determine their sleep requirements.
