'Tummy time' helps babies sleep: Youngsters who play while lying on their front get more tired out
- Lying on their front tests a baby's motor skills, which makes them sleepier
- Plenty of sleep was also found to promote a healthy weight in six-month-olds
- Researcher recommends parents create a bedtime routine and stick to it
Babies who spend a lot of time lying on their tummies get more shut eye, research suggests.
A study of 22 six-month-olds found those who have more 'tummy time' during the day are more active, which tires them out.
'While we don’t have evidence yet that tummy time directly affects sleep, it increases physical activity,' lead author Dr Janet Hauck, from New Michigan State University, said.
'So, parents who feel their baby isn’t sleeping enough could promote tummy time during the day to boost their baby’s physical activity level.'
Babies who spend a lot of time lying on their tummies get more shut eye (stock)
Tummy time positions babies on their abdomens while being supervised by an adult. It is thought to tire youngsters out by testing their motor skills.
'The great news is we know how to increase physical activity and motor skill development in infancy. And one of the best tried and true ways is tummy time,' Dr Hauck said.
'You lay your baby on his stomach. Being in this position, helps babies gain motor milestones quicker, which is extremely important to their language development, their social development, their physical activity.'
The researchers attached an accelererometer to babies' ankles to assess how active they were, as well as how much sleep they got, over a day. The infants' weights and heights were also measured.
Results showed that the infants who got the lowest amount of sleep were fed more during the night and were less active during the day.
Sleep also promotes a healthy weight, with those who got more than 12 hours a day being around the 53rd percentile, while the babies who got less shut eye weighed more.
Percentiles compare youngsters to others their same age. Being in the 53rd percentile means a baby is heavier than 53 per cent of six-month-olds.
BIG BABIES ARE ALMOST THREE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE OBESE AS CHILDREN
Big babies are almost three times more likely to be obese as children, research suggested earlier this month.
Newborns who weigh more than 8.8lbs (4kg) and whose mothers had diabetes while they were pregnant face the highest risk.
A study by the University of Alberta found they are 2.79 times more likely to be obese or overweight by the time they start school than babies born weighing a normal amount.
Infants are more likely to be born heavy if their mothers are overweight or if they piled on the pounds during pregnancy.
Experts say this can lead to babies becoming obese in later life if they inherit their mothers' genes for the condition or if they pick up on her unhealthy eating habits.
This supports previous research that linked plenty of sleep in the first six months of a baby's life to a healthy weight. Insufficient shut eye at two months old has even been found to affect an infant's size six years later.
'Babies who gain weight too rapidly have about a 40 per cent chance of becoming obese in toddlerhood,' Dr Hauck said.
The results further suggest that napping does not compensate for a lack of sleep during the night, with those who nodded off during the day still getting less sleep overall.
The findings were published in the journal Infant Behavior and Development.
'We know physical activity and sleep influence each other and are strongly associated with growth in older children and adults,' Dr Hauck said.
'Our findings suggest that this association could emerge as early as infancy, a critical developmental period.
'Parents can make 12 hours of sleep or more a priority for their baby by creating a bedtime routine and being consistent with it.
'While their little one is awake, they should encourage physical activity by interacting with their baby during floor time activities and do supervised tummy time several times a day.'
The researchers stress, however, their study was small and did not look into the quality of the babies' shut eye.