“If, while in cradled rest your infant sleeps,
Your watchful eye unceasing vigils keeps,
Lest cramping bonds his pliant limbs constrain,
And cause defects that manhood may retain.”
83. Is it a good sign for a young child to sleep much?
A babe who sleeps a great deal thrives much more than one who does not. I have known many children who were born small and delicate, but who slept the greatest part of their time, become strong and healthy. On the other hand, I have known those who were born large and strong, yet who slept but little, become weak and unhealthy.
The common practice of a nurse allowing a baby to sleep upon her lap is a bad one, and ought never to be countenanced. He sleeps cooler, more comfortably, and soundly in his crib.
The younger an infant is the more he generally sleeps, so that during the early months he is seldom awake, and then only to take the breast. It may be interesting to a mother to know the average weight of new-born infants. There is a paper on the subject in the Medical Circular and which has been abridged in Braithwaite’s Retrospect of Medicine. The following are extracts: “Dr. E. von Siebold presents a table of the weights of 3000 infants (1586 male and 1414 female), weighed immediately after birth. From this table (for which we have not space) it results that by far the greater number of the children (2215) weighed between 6 and 8 lbs. From 5¾ to 6 lbs. the number rose from 99 to 268; and from 8 to 8¼ lbs. they fell from 226 to 67, and never rose again at any weight to 100. From 8¾ to 9½ lbs. they sank from 61 to 8, rising, however, at 9½ lbs. to 21. Only six weighed 10 lbs., one 10¾ lbs., and two 11 lbs. The author has never but once met with a child weighing 11¾ lbs. The most frequent weight in the 3000 was 7 lbs., numbering 426. It is a remarkable fact, that until the weight of 7 lbs. the female infants exceeded the males in number, the latter thenceforward predominating.
“... From these statements, and those of various other authors here quoted, the conclusion may be drawn that the normal weight of a mature new-born infant is not less than 6 nor more than 8 lbs., the average weight being 6½ or 7 lbs., the smaller number referring to female and the higher to male infants.”
84. How is it that much sleep causes a young child to thrive so well?