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When toddlers take a nap … outside
Bundled up babies taking a nap outside when the temperatures are around zero degrees… Should we call social services? No, not really, unless you want to place half of the Scandinavian infants. Because in the Nordic countries – unlike our regions where the slightest frimats paralyze us – making children sleep outside, even in the middle of winter, does not amount to abuse. It would be a hundred-year-old tradition supposed to guarantee restful sleep and better health. In the nursery gardens of Stockholm it is usual to see rows of baby carriages in the snow.In Copenhagen, when families or friends meet in cafes, adults go inside to drink their drink and babies stay outside to sleep. In fact, the confined air in housing, public services or restaurants is considered to be harmful to toddlers.Petur, 38, is Icelandic. “I was born in November, they didn’t make me sleep outside right away, but after a few months, in a small sunny courtyard. And it is still being done a lot. People use balconies or places where they can watch babies. But be careful, we take into account the weather. If the temperatures are really low, the children are well covered. It is a practice that goes back a long way when traditional houses were made of peat and poorly ventilated, that cooking was done indoors over a covered fire. It was considered better for the children to be outside. ”
Sleep outside, away from indoor pollution
The habitat has changed but the tradition has remained. And given the latest studies on indoor pollution, it might not be so stupid. In France, the indoor air quality observatory (OQAI) carried out a study in 2006 on 486 households. The majority of pollutants were observed in all of the homes studied. Most volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are found in 80 to 100 homes. However, there is a very clear link between the frequency of asthma and rhinitis and exposure to VOCs. 22 of the dwellings exceed the maximum value proposed at European level for formaldehyde. An Inserm study published in March 2012 also shows that 30 children in French primary schools are exposed to levels of indoor air pollutants higher than the values recommended by the WHO and ANSES. This has, again according to this study, direct consequences on the prevalence of rhinitis and allergic asthma.
Longer naps outside
Are there any other benefits to making children sleep outside? A Finnish researcher, Marjo Tourula, published in 2011 a large study on this custom. In particular, he concluded that the naps of children sleeping outside lasted longer. ” Restriction of movement due to winter clothing, such as swaddling, increases sleep duration and can help children fall back to sleep on their own, without parental intervention. “. Another lesson: a sufficient quantity of clothing combined with the use of a pram provides a sufficient level of insulation for an ambient temperature of -17 ° (!). Corn the researcher estimates that beyond -5 degrees, the nap should not exceed 3 hours.He also noted that this habit promotes the well-being of the family by instituting a particular rhythm and making everyday life easier.
The outdoor nap taken over by the Lóczy pedagogy
In this nursery in the Paris region where we are inspired by the Pikler-Lóczy pedagogy, babies sleep outside, even when the thermometer reads 2 ° C. Like this Thursday, February 28, 2013, the day this photo was taken.
This practice is not the prerogative of northern countries. She also won in Eastern Europe. Lóczy pedagogy (named after this Hungarian nursery where pediatrician Emmi Pikler has carried out in-depth work on babies and their free motor needs) also makes babies sleep outside. “Outdoor life is very much favored by this approach,” explains Myriame Rasse, psychologist in a nursery and director of the Pikler-Lóczy association. “It allows movement, large movements, it has a function of regulating the rhythm and even the movement. ‘aggressiveness. Why make children sleep outside? To allow them to change air, for the beneficial effects on health.When parents go shopping or for a walk in winter, with their baby, they may find that their child is sleeping in his stroller or pram, even when it is cold. ” In Lóczy, it was even considered that children with bronchitis were entitled to a double ration of naps outside! “But beware, warns Miriam Rasse, it was all very well thought out. The staff made the sleeping bags themselves so that the children could suck their thumbs, it was a very special swaddling. Babies do not know how to regulate their temperature themselves, so the clothes were very suitable. ”
In France also !
Outside, yes, but well wrapped up! Always the same French nursery, the same day.
Carole, a pediatrician practicing in nurseries in the Paris region, instituted the outdoor nap until a change of municipality forced her to go back. “The children slept longer, they breathed better, they had less ‘diseases of the ENT sphere’. Here too, the application of Emmi Pikler’s principles have been the subject of in-depth reflection. The clothes, including down jackets, were ordered from the Vieux Campeur. The best time of day was chosen, usually around noon. On foggy, windy or wet days, children slept indoors. ” The cold in itself is not a problem, assures this pediatrician, it is the feeling of cold that is one. It should therefore be avoided at all costs. And you have to listen to children, it is not a matter of falling into systematism. This requires a permanent dialogue within the teams, a proximity of the management. What I was able to observe: the children were calmer, more relaxed, they put themselves less in danger during the waking phases. ” Obviously we had to convince the parents, sleep being associated with a phase of vulnerability. “We can very quickly have the fantasy that we abandon children in the cold,” explains the pediatrician. We must therefore constantly keep an eye on the health of the child to provide evidence of his physical well-being ”.
So, tempted?