Abstract
The majority of preschool children (aged 3–5 years) no longer habitually nap, yet in childcare settings daily mandated naptimes in which children lie down without alternative activity remains a common practice. Mandated naptimes are associated with observed reductions in emotional climate and increased incidence of distress. While intended to be restful, mandatory naptimes may induce stress in those children unable to sleep. To examine this possibility, we applied a 2 (mandated/flexible practice) × 2 (nap/no-nap) design to test group difference in stress responses of children (N = 43, mean age 56.3 months). Salivary cortisol level was measured at 4 time-points (waking, pre-naptime, post-naptime, and bedtime) across two days at childcare. Overall our results show a significant decline in cortisol level from wake to pre-naptime and from post-naptime to bedtime. No significant change in cortisol level was observed from pre- to post- naptime. Significant group differences in cortisol patterns were observed. Notably, children under mandatory naptime conditions who did not nap showed no significant reduction in cortisol level from post-naptime to bedtime. While cortisol measurement suggests naptime is neither stressful nor restful for children in any group, implications for bedtime arousal are raised for those unable to sleep under conditions of mandated naptimes.
Highlights
Childhood is a period of normative transition in sleep distribution, during which sleep consolidates into the night as daytime sleep commensurately ceases[1]
Typical diurnal patterns of cortisol in early childhood show a peak at 30 minutes after morning waking followed by a general decline across the day[9,10]. This pattern has been observed in home settings, but not always within childcare settings, where a pattern of rising levels of cortisol across the childcare day has been reported[11,12,13]
Children were classified into 3 groups determined by childcare naptime practice and napping behaviour; mandatory naptime no-nap (MNN), mandatory naptime nap (MN), and flexible naptime no-nap (FNN)
Summary
Childhood is a period of normative transition in sleep distribution, during which sleep consolidates into the night as daytime sleep commensurately ceases[1]. To fully understand children’s stress response to naptime requires consideration of the “fit” between naptime practice and sleep need, and extension of cortisol measurement to examine the entire day. This was the aim of the current study that included direct observation of childcare practice, objective sleep measurement using actigraphy and diurnal salivary cortisol in a sample of 43 preschool children (age 36 to 52 months; M = 56.3 months)
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