Recently, news reports are making the rounds suggesting that the lack of a set bedtime in children 3 to 7 is associated with greater behavioural problems. Parents are getting panicked if their child doesn’t go to sleep at the exact same time every night. Doctors read this and tell families they need to have a schedule (as opposed to a routine). This seemed a little odd to me as I’ve always been one who does fine so long as I get enough sleep, even if it comes at different times, so I decided to go to the source to see what I could find.
The research Analyses were conducted using regression. Confounds included mother’s age, birth order, family income, parental education, mother’s psychological well-being, maternal discipline tactics (focusing on harsher or negative discipline), maternal irritability with the child, maternal parenting competence (self-report), breastfed ever, child eats breakfast, daily help with academics, TV watching, computer use, parental employment, time spent with child by parents, breakfast club, child care used, reading stories daily to the child, rules for TV watching, overcrowding, bedwetting, child sleep disrupted by wheezing, and TV in bedroom. Notably, children with irregular bedtimes or late bedtimes (past 9pm) fell into a “socially disadvantaged” profile which included things like skipping breakfast, low SES, mothers with poorer mental health, etc. What did they find? Importantly here, the results spoken of are ONLY for when the children were 7 years of age and in school. At age 7, children who had irregular bedtimes showed significantly greater behavioural problems, both maternal and teacher report. There was a dose-response in that children who had an irregular bedtime at any 1 of the 3 ages measured showed greater maternal report problems (but not teacher report) and this effect was greater when there were 2 of the 3 ages showing irregular bedtimes (and was significant for teacher report as well) and greatest for 3 of the 3 ages. What can we conclude from this? Well, there are a few problems that the authors skim over or ignore. First, the authors suggest that there are two ways in which the effects they found may come about: Disruption of circadian rhythms or less sleep overall. At age 3, it’s difficult to talk about the disruption of the circadian rhythm as we know that it is still developing at that stage and as naps are still a normal part of many 3-year-olds schedule, their rhythm is still not as developed as that of an adult[2]. Perhaps this does play a role, but my own guess is that the total sleep is more of an issue. At all three ages tested, it seems fair to assume that the children have a regular rising time – especially at ages 5 and 7 whereby schooling becomes a factor. This means that irregular bedtime influences the amount of sleep a child gets, and as the authors of the article point out, irregular total sleep is predictive of behavioural problems[3][4]. With this we have to question why later bedtimes weren’t predictive of problems, but I would argue we need more information about the bedtime. The authors included 9pm and later as one group, but a child who goes to bed at 9pm and up at 7am is getting 10 hours of sleep. A child going to sleep at midnight and getting up at 7am is only getting 7 hours, a stark difference. I would also hazard to guess that more children are going to sleep closer to the 9pm than midnight, thus reducing the main effect for that group. A potential second issue is the third variable problem. Sometimes things like irregular bedtimes are reflective of more erratic parenting practices more generally. Although the authors tried to account for many things in the myriad variables they controlled for, they did not and simply could not account for this particular aspect of parenting or living. Importantly, in line with this, the effects of regular bedtimes on behaviour were drastically dampened (by 47% for teacher report behavioural problems and by 64% for maternal report behavioural problems) when the covariates were included in the model (though they both remained statistically and practically significant). This means that you may have children who have irregular bedtimes, but consistent, responsive parenting and the children get enough sleep. The question really becomes, for these kids, is there a link to behavioural problems? A final consideration to do with what the authors have considered the “dosage effect”; that is, the fact that the effects gained strength the more time periods the children had an irregular bedtime. While important, I find it bizarre that the authors did not separate those who had an irregular bedtime at the earlier ages from those at 7 years of age given the outcome measure was at 7 years of age. One struggles to think how an irregular bedtime at age 3 (which was quite common in the sample as a whole) would influence behaviour at age 7 when a regular bedtime had been adopted for the interceding 3-4 years. I would have liked to see the effects broken down by these particular age groups to see the actual effect. I also would have liked to see the effects on behaviour at ages 3 and 5, which for some reason was not included. In summary, the research should be seen as the beginning of looking at the influence of bedtime on behaviour. That said, it is hardly conclusive and leaves a lot to be desired. Clearly, bedtimes themselves seem not to matter, though I doubt that’s the case when the child needs to rise at a certain point and is chronically tired; however, if a child is getting enough sleep, the actual time seems not to matter. If it varies? Well, that’s what we don’t know. If the link is via circadian rhythm development, perhaps irregular bedtimes will matter even if the child gets enough sleep and is in a stable parenting environment. But this research simply can’t inform on that at all. And most importantly, this research says nothing about children’s sleep prior to age 3 or on the behavioural issues prior to age 7. The last thing parents should do is worry about getting their 6 month old on a schedule because of this research, and yet, that’s exactly what I fear will happen. A routine can be very beneficial to children (and adults)[5], but when we stress about set times, we’re entering the realm of sleep training that has been found to have negative effects for the entire family[6]. So please, don’t panic, don’t start looking at the clock over your child, but do consider that if you are worried about sleep, a routine may be a perfect thing for you and your family. [1] Kelly Y, Kelly J, Sacker A. Changes in bedtime schedule and behavioral difficulties in 7 year old children. Pediatrics 2013; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2013-1906 [2] Watamura SE, Donzella B, Kertes DA, Gunnar MR. Developmental changes in baseline cortisol activity in early childhood: relations with napping and effortful control. Developmental Psychobiology 2004; 45: 125-33. [3] Walker MP, Stickgold R. Sleep, memory, and plasticity. Annul Rev Psychol 2006; 57: 139-66. [4] Bryant PA, Trinder J, Curtis N. Sick and tired: does sleep have a vital role in the immune system? Nat Rev Immunol 2004; 4: 457-67.
Great post! Thank you! I recently posted about my toddler’s late bedtime (10-11PM) on my new blog. I understand that he will need to go to sleep earlier when school starts( so he gets enough sleep), but a late bedtime works best for my family at the moment.
I would also like to point out that a lot of authority figures in today’s society will say that a child has “behavioral problems” when what they’re really observing is a child who has fuller a sense of freedom or “free will” than the other kids. Because those children have sporadic, late bedtimes that vary from day to day, it is probably safe to associate this with the immeasurable possibility that the parents here are allowing these children to make a lot more decisions for him or herself. Naturally, a child who regularly has the opportunity to make decisions for themselves, who regularly thinks for themselves – a child such as this is going to be less agreeable toward a teacher or a stranger if they don’t want to go along with what they’re being asked to do, versus a child who has a regular bedtime because their parents are making more decisions for them and essentially acting as “rulers” over them at home. These children have parents who promote the authoritarian view of society either consciously or unconsciously. So taking into consideration that many New Age parents are wanting to do away with that old school way of thinking in order to forge ahead a brand-new way of parenting and living – promoting a peaceful world full I love fully actualized, healthy and whole, adults through gentle non-interference parenting (which is why parenting is such a high calling). So the moral of the story is: stop putting your kids in school. Structure is not good for them. Expecting a child with enough energy to power a small town (for weeks) to conform to a bedtime or a rising time and especially asking them to sit still in school all day is completely ridiculous. Not to mention that children are naturally curious beings. If they are at home with their mother and father and have enough attention and toys and learning materials being provided to them, they naturally teach themselves. Children easily learn from their parentsbecause there’s already a safe space being created in the home for that child, so really that’s the best environment for a child. They will learn everything that’s important to them, and at their own pace. And with the advent of the Internet children can learn anything they want to at home. School is completely unnecessary. All it does is brainwash our children with meaningless information, false histories, and what society expects from them. It trains our children to stand in line and to think in a very masculine linear way. It teaches them to be regurgitators, instead of fostering their creativity and critical thinking skills. And the teachers, no matter how well-meaning, will never have the kind of love for a child that the mother or father has for that child and therefore will not be the same type of encouragement, the same type of emotional safety, or the same kind of teacher that a parent who loves their child is. A parent who is truly invested in their child’s development, will not send them to school where they will just learn to become a sheep. “Behavioral problems” will become a thing of the past when we adults today can let go of the paradigm that tells us we have to act and live a certain way in order to satisfy our social conditioning. Because we’ll realize that’s just a label. We need to heal because this affects our children more than we realize. Everything that we impose on them because of our conditioning needs to stop. I’m talking about evolutionary parenting.