Napping is a routine for babies. But a study, the first of its kind to be interested in the subject, shows that the nap is not trivial because it allows the baby to better assimilate what he has just learned. It is indeed just before going to sleep that toddlers learn best.
This study, carried out by a team from the University of Sheffield (Great Britain) and the University of the Ruhr (Germany), was carried out on 216 healthy babies, aged 6 to 12 months. It focused on their ability to discover and retain new gestures.
The researchers showed babies, for example, how to take off and put a mitt back on a puppet. They gave them the opportunity to do this again 4 hours and then 24 hours later. Between the demonstration and the demonstration of the new skills, some babies had taken a half-hour nap and others had not.
Experience has shown that babies who had slept remembered this new gesture perfectly. While those who had not taken a nap seemed to have no memory of this learning.
According to Dr Jane Herbert, of the University of Sheffield, who led the study: “These findings are of particular interest to parents and educators, as they suggest that the optimal time for infants to take in new information is right. before they sleep, when they start to get tired. It also indicates that reading a book to them just before a nap can be particularly valuable in their learning of words. “
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