The techniques parents use to put their toddlers to sleep could have an impact on a child’s temperament, suggests a study published in Frontiers in Psychology this month.
Drawing its conclusions on the back of a sample group of 841 caregivers across 14 countries, the report found that “passive methods” such as cuddling, singing and reading your child to sleep may support positive behavioural development, compared to “active methods” such as walking, car rides and play.
The study, led by a group of international researchers including Christie Pham of Washington State University, defines temperament as “the way children regulate behaviour and handle emotions … which can have effects on mental and physical well-being and can pose a risk for future disorders”.
“Our study shows countries and cultures with greater reliance on passive strategies had toddlers with higher sociability scores,” said Pham. “On the other hand, a fussy or difficult temperament was significantly correlated with active sleep techniques.”
Easy does it
Claudine Gillard, a sleep therapist from Sweet Dreams consultancy, has worked with more than 600 children over six years and says she supports a more passive approach to sleep-training methods.
“What’s being described in the study as active tactics involves creating the actual affect of sleep through, essentially, motion via a walk in a stroller or a car drive; or exhaustion, putting the child in a physical position where they are being moved with the intention of creating sleep by getting to point where they can’t stay awake any longer.
“The problem with the latter is that the child is not able to control anything in relation to their sleep, not the timing, position or place. They may not be comfortable because they are not in a horizontal position, in a car seat or even in some strollers. Also, these devices have another purpose; they are not just sleep tools.”
This, she says, can cause confusion in a child’s mind, if they find themselves in a car seat for different reasons — sometimes to get from A to B and other times to fall asleep in.
“A passive method, on the other hand, such as cuddling, support, consolation, reassurance and the presence of a parent, if done in a place where sleep is intended to happen, so the bedroom, helps the child recognise that at this time of day, with this environment and with these comforts available to me, sleep is going to happen next,” says Gillard.
“So it’s much more routine-driven, regular and more obvious to the child that this is how and where sleep happens.”
Gillard acknowledges the role circumstances can play. “Sometimes a child will fall asleep in the car, during a long drive, say, and that’s OK. But when it comes to intention on a regular basis, passive methods are more helpful long-term as a reliable way for a child to fall asleep.”
Independent outlook
Offering a different perspective, sleep trainer Anna Parks, owner of Anna’s Sleepy Beanz, says both the passive and active sleep tactics referenced in the study do not account for the fact that parents should — ideally — be training their babies to sleep independently.
“The way I read the study is that a parent should be rocking or holding a baby to sleep. But in my experience, such children are unable to put themselves to sleep,” says Parks.
“Each time they wake up in the middle of the night, then, they will need to be held because they can’t sleep independently. In turn, this procedure will lead to poor sleep quality, and a child who may have tantrums or be a poor eater or sluggish — so the temperament is affected negatively anyway.”
Parks says the active tactics referenced in the study might be “less harmful” because “when a child is falling asleep in a car or while being walked in the pram, because of the motion or white noise, they are not relying on you to put them to sleep”.
To this, too, she adds a caveat. “I would not advise my clients to drive or walk their kids to sleep every single night. If you can get into a routine of independent sleep-time — with the baby going into the crib — and stick to it 80 per cent of the time, then the remaining 20 per cent, you can live a little, and get away with deviating based on the child’s mood or your schedule.”
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
SPECS
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Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
UAE - India ties
The UAE is India’s third-largest trade partner after the US and China
Annual bilateral trade between India and the UAE has crossed US$ 60 billion
The UAE is the fourth-largest exporter of crude oil for India
Indians comprise the largest community with 3.3 million residents in the UAE
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi first visited the UAE in August 2015
His visit on August 23-24 will be the third in four years
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, visited India in February 2016
Sheikh Mohamed was the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations in January 2017
Modi will visit Bahrain on August 24-25
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
TICKETS
Tickets start at Dh100 for adults, while children can enter free on the opening day. For more information, visit www.mubadalawtc.com.
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Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to turn your property into a holiday home
- Ensure decoration and styling – and portal photography – quality is high to achieve maximum rates.
- Research equivalent Airbnb homes in your location to ensure competitiveness.
- Post on all relevant platforms to reach the widest audience; whether you let personally or via an agency know your potential guest profile – aiming for the wrong demographic may leave your property empty.
- Factor in costs when working out if holiday letting is beneficial. The annual DCTM fee runs from Dh370 for a one-bedroom flat to Dh1,200. Tourism tax is Dh10-15 per bedroom, per night.
- Check your management company has a physical office, a valid DTCM licence and is licencing your property and paying tourism taxes. For transparency, regularly view your booking calendar.
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
The five pillars of Islam
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
