寶寶三歲內分牀睡不利身心健康

Babies should sleep in their mother’s bed until they are at least three years old, it was claimed last night。

The controversial advice comes from a paediatrician who found that two-day-old babies who were placed in cots slept less well than those who dozed on their mother’s chest。

Their hearts were also under more stress, it was claimed。

Sleeping alone makes it harder for mother and child to bond - and damages the development of the brain, leading to bad behaviour as the child grows up, researchers fear。

Dr Nils Bergman, of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, says that for optimal development, healthy newborns should sleep on their mother’s chest for the first few weeks。

After that, they should stay in the mother’s bed until they are three or even four years old。

However, studies linking bed-sharing with an increased risk of cot death and fears that a mother will roll over and smother her child means that women are generally advised against this。

In a recent British study of sudden infant deaths, almost two-thirds of those that were unexplained occurred when the bed was being shared。

But Dr Bergman said: ‘When babies are smothered and suffer cot deaths, it is not because their mother is present. It is because of other things: toxic fumes, cigarettes, alcohol, big pillows and dangerous toys.’

Sixteen infants were studied while they slept on their mother’s chest and in a cot by her bed. Monitoring revealed the baby’s heart to be under three times as much stress when he or she slept alone。

Being in a cot also disrupted sleep, with the babies’ brains less likely to ‘cycle’ or make the transition between two types of sleep called active and quiet。

In the cots, only six out of the 16 had any quiet sleep and its quality was far worse。

Making this transition is thought to be key to the normal development of the brain。

Animal studies have linked the combination of stress and lack of sleep to behavioural problems in teenage years。

Dr Bergman said that changes to the brain brought on by stress hormones may make it more difficult to form relationships later on, leading to problems such as promiscuity。昨晚發佈的研究報告稱，至少要到三歲大，寶寶才能和媽媽分牀睡。

提出這一爭議性建議的是一名小兒科醫生，這名醫生髮現，在嬰兒牀裏睡覺的兩歲大的寶寶睡眠質量比睡在媽媽胸口的寶寶要差。

而且，據稱，睡嬰兒牀的寶寶的心臟要承受更大的壓力。

研究人員擔心寶寶單獨睡不利於母子之間建立感情紐帶，而且會損害大腦的發育，導致孩子成長過程中的不良行爲。

南非開普敦大學的尼爾斯•伯格曼醫生說，爲了讓孩子的成長最優化，健康的新生兒在頭幾周應該睡在媽媽的胸口。

此後，一直到三歲甚至四歲，他們都應該和媽媽同牀睡。

然而，有研究認爲寶寶和媽媽同牀睡會增加嬰兒猝死風險，擔心媽媽翻身會壓到寶寶，讓寶寶窒息，因此一般建議女性不要和寶寶同牀睡。

近日英國一項針對嬰兒猝死的研究指出，近三分之二的不明猝死事件都是在和母親同牀睡時發生的。

不過伯格曼醫生說：“寶寶窒息和猝死不是因爲媽媽在身邊，而是因爲其他因素：比如有毒氣體、香菸、酒精、大枕頭和危險的玩具等等。”

該研究觀察了16名嬰兒在母親胸口睡覺和在母親牀邊的嬰兒牀睡覺的情況。監測記錄顯示，嬰兒在單獨睡時心臟承受的壓力是和母親同牀睡的三倍。

在嬰兒牀中睡覺還會擾亂嬰兒的睡眠，這樣嬰兒的大腦就比較無法適應“週期”，不能在動態睡眠和靜態睡眠兩種模式中切換。

在嬰兒牀中，16名嬰兒中只有6名可以有靜態睡眠，而且睡眠質量也相對差得多。

在動態和靜態睡眠之間切換被認爲對大腦正常發育很關鍵。

動物研究曾將壓力大和睡眠不足並存的狀況與青少年時期的行爲問題聯繫在一起。

伯格曼醫生說，壓力荷爾蒙引起的大腦的變化可能會讓孩子日後更難建立感情關係，並可能導致性亂交這樣的問題。