Have you ever wondered why babies naps in the first place? In this episode I break down the 2 systems that govern our sleep and specifically the one that influences napping behavior. If you're a science nerd or just like to learn the why behind certain things, you'll love this episode!
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Episode 11: Why do babies nap?
why do babies nap Hey everyone, and welcome back to sleep talking moms, Kayla and Carianna here. And today we are on episode 11. And we are going to be talking about why do babies nap? So this is the science behind naps. Yay. Yay, yes, this is so important. It's important to know what's happening when they nap and why we do it. So let's go ahead and start off with Why do okay, so why we sleep there couple, I would say there are two different systems if you want to call it that, that govern our sleep. And the first system that is much more in line with our night sleep is our circadian rhythm. So we've probably all heard that term. It's basically just our 24 hour clock, our 24 hour internal clock. And it's dictated by melatonin and cortisol by those two hormones. So Melatonin is higher at night when we're sleeping. Cortisol is higher during the day when we're awake. And then like we talked about a couple episodes ago, when we got into all the science behind sleep environments, we know that light and dark, hot and cold that those things also play a role in our circadian rhythm and signaling when it's time to sleep when it's time to be awake. So you know, to throw throw a little science term out at you, we have a part of our brain called our super charismatic nucleus. And that is basically where our circadian rhythm is all coming from. It's that one centered place that's sending receiving signals all day, every day. Awesome. Okay, and so if we know why we sleep, why do we nap? What is that sec why do babies nap ond system? Yeah, so like I said that circadian rhythm mainly is dealing with our night's sleep, we're not producing melatonin during the day. So that's not the system that is causing our little ones to nap. Or even you know, for some of us adults who may nap here and there. That's the melatonin isn't playing a role in that daytime napping. So the second system is sleep pressure. And basically there's a chemical called adenosine that builds up in your brain while you're awake. And basically, every minute you're awake, it's building and building and building. And then when it finally reaches, you know, a high enough point that you go to sleep, then while you're sleeping, your brain kind of like starts clearing it so that when you wake up again, it's it's not back to zero. It's significantly clearer than it was before. That's actually really interesting, isn't it? I know. It's super interesting. So I have a fun fact about adenosine and it's actually about caffeine. So this doesn't really apply to babies. But I think as moms we will find this interesting. Kayla, are you a coffee drinker? You are right. Yes, I drink one cup in the morning and then sometimes I have to pick me up at one. You are not a coffee drinker. Now you don't have any caffeine except for chocolate. Yeah, Chocolate. Chocolate is my main form of caffeine, which, to be fair, I probably eat the same amount of chocolate needed in you know, a cup of coffee. Same amount of caffeine. And yeah, I'm not a coffee drinker. I don't like the taste of coffee. I think it smells good. I will eat or not eat. I will drink like Starbucks drinks, but they basically have to be like ice cream drinks. I'm not getting them for coffee, you know? Yeah, that's reasonable. And you don't drink soda? I don't I do on occasion. Like if we're out to eat sometimes I will. But yeah, I don't really drink much soda, either. So caffeine. Why do you drink coffee? Kayla? I Well, at this point. It's tech why do babies nap nically to wake me up. But I'm also very aware that it's because it's a habit at this point. I've got a problem. That's okay. That's alright. Um, so yeah, what caffeine does is it actually tricks you into feeling alert. So caffeine blocks the receptors in your brain that adenosine would cling on To sew Even though the adenosine is continuing to build up in your brain, you're not know your brain doesn't know it. And so you're not feeling tired. So I thought that was really interesting. And that is, yeah, and this just to give you an idea not not to rip on my caffeine people are my coffee drinkers, but caffeine is like, insane. And so NASA did a study, I think it was in the 80s or 90s. I don't know for sure. So don't quote me on that. If I could find the the study and remember to put it in the show notes. I will. But they gave spiders data, different drugs. So they gave some spiders, LSD, they gave some spiders speed. They gave some marijuana and they gave somewhy do babies nap caffeine. Okay, so these poor spiders. Well, some of them may have been having a really good Yes. They let them you know, like, go about their day or whatever, and build spider webs. And then they compared the spider webs. And it's pretty insane. Like, if I don't put the link in the show notes, you should just google like NASA spider web, caffeine, something like that. Because with like with marijuana, the spider webs looked pretty normal with LSD and speed. They looked like a little wonky. But you could still tell it was a spider web. And with caffeine, it was like, not recognizable as your typical spider web pattern. It was crazy crazy to see the difference in the pictures and just kind of what effect it has on our brains. Is that why you don't drink caffeine? That is not why I don't drink caffeine. It's not stopping you. Oh, we learned about that a year or two ago and I've always hated coffee. So it's, I can't I can't pretend that that's why. Okay, so back to babies. Yes. Why? Why do babies nap? Obviously, we talked about how adenosine works. And, you know, we know that as adults, we may nap here and there, but we don't need naps to function. And we also talked about melatonin does not come into play for naptime. Okay? Melatonin is an evening hormone. So naps with babies. It's all about building that sleep pressure. And since we know that babies need naps, and that the time that they spend a week that increases as they get older, then we can kind of conclude that that adenosine is building up quicker, the younger they are. So that's why we may see a newborn really only able to be awake about 45 to 60 minutes. But then we see you know, an 18 month old who's able to be awake for five to six hours. So the speed at which that is building up and the speed at which they're feeling like okay, I need to sleep or it's going to be meltdown mode that is gradually stretching out more and more. And that's why, you know, when we get into the toddler, hopefully more towards the preschooler age, they're just going to stop napping, because that pressure is not building enough for them to have to take a nap that day. Awesome. Well, a lot of good information here. A lot of important information, it's important to know why our kids are doing these things, and also why we sometimes need to do these things. So what are what are some things that you can offer to families who are struggling with naps in particular? Yeah. Oh, I'm so glad you asked me that, Kayla. Not that I told you, I went to talk about this or anything. Um, so at the end of this week, I'm actually launching my nap training mini course. That is Yes, yeah, I'm so excited. It's been something I've wanted to do for a while. And now that my boys are in school, I've actually had the time and energy to put into creating it. So basically, it is for four to 24 months. Particularly if your child is in a crib, it's going to work best if they're in their own sleep space, and they're contained. But it's a self paced course, it's designed for babies who already fall asleep on their own at night. So maybe bedtime is is going pretty smooth, but you're still really struggling with naps. It's most specifically designed for those families. Now, if you don't have knightstown, and you don't have naps down, a better option would be my sleep coaching Crash Course because that tackles at all. But if you've got knightstown they're going down independently, then this nap training mini course would be more your speed more of what you need. And it basically just sets up a day by day plan for working towards independent nap. So you're able to put them down in their sleep space awake. They're able to fall asleep. You've got all the timing right. You'll learn all About that, and they'll learn to lengthen those naps too. So if you're stuck with some crappy 2030 minute naps, it will walk you through how to work through those and get them to nap longer. So that is coming out this Friday. Actually, if you want to purchase it at the presale price, I'll have the link in the show notes so you can grab it, but it officially will launch and be available this Friday. And I'm really excited about it. Yay. All right. So we hope that you enjoy the learning a little more of the science behind sleep, night's sleep and naps particularly. Thanks for joining us and we want to keep this episode short and sweet. So we will see you again next week. Bye. Thank you so much for listening to the sleep talking moms podcast. We hope you are walking away from this episode feeling empowered and encouraged to tackle your sleep issues. If you enjoyed the episode, please take a second to grab a screenshot, share it in your Instagram stories and tag us at all the sleeps. See you next time.