SLEEP HABITS OF CHILDREN.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2224, 9 October 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

SLEEP HABITS OF CHILDREN.

Many habits and customs, the deleterious effects of which are recoguised, would become things of the past if a practical nnd Mtnplo remedy could x be devised. I have never met with any plainly written advisory articles on the training of children; in-proper ' sleep habits, except as 'to time. A recent oxperience has led me to "ntudyup" ou the subject, in the most pv-su'ticoL way, by asking questions of ltmf-hprs nnd nnrses. My little patient, whoso habits and conditions led to this investigation, ii v s ten years old. A serious and i-hronic affection of tho Sidneys has resulted from excessive use of sweets, and consequently lack of appetite for, and assimil.ition of, nutritious food. She persistontly sleeps prone on the back with the arms fluxed übove her head ; watching results in seeing her turn on one side from eight to ton times every night but of courao a further result is diminished sleop, although it is not more restless than usual. Whether "the habit can be permanently broken up is hard to say. From her birth she exhibited a preference for that position, and had been indulged in it, with the inevitable results of catarrhal affection*, dry throat, enervating, restless- sleep and aggravation of the kidney difficulty, as the spine was unduly heated by constant contact with the bed. From the hour of birth a babe should be laid down to sleep with great care, never should it bo permitted to lie on its back while sleepiug ; after it begins to play, the restless limbs are very beneficially exercised while lying so, but so soon as sleep comes, the little one should be gently lifted and placed on its side, with the head raised only sufficiently to insure the spine from any curvature, seeing that there are no folds in the clothiqg to torture the tender flesh, especial care being taken to lay the ear smoothly back. Alternate the sides, or there will be an unnecessary uuevennesa of contour when the child is grown; do not permit the knees to be so flexed as to crowd the viscera. Lying on the stomach occasionally is not injurious if the arms lie at the side and the face is free to the air. Frequently that proves to be a very restful position to a play-weary child. It is not a difficult matter to teach a child to sleep with the mouth closed and without snoring or " gritting the teeth." A lady of thirty-five, who had habitually gritted her teeth from their first possession, was cured of the habit in a fortnight by persistent waking at the first indication of the souud ; the habit has been resumed during the five years since passed. If mothers could realise how many people suffer from bad sleep habits contracted in childhood, they would pay a little attention to their childreu at night-time, beyond the ''husting off to bed, out of the way," and the "keeping covered," which ia a sort of " dim religious duty " kept sight of out of fear of the doctor's hill, rather than of any other consideration.