Five out of 10 Filipino babies go through more than one diaper change every night.
Because of this, there are six times more babies waking up in the middle of the night brought about by skin wetness as compared to typical disturbance factors such as noise.
These are among the findings of a recent baby sleep survey conducted by Pampers which polled 300 moms in the Philippines with babies up to three years old.
In an effort to understand more the importance of sleep to baby development, the Pampers sleep survey was also conducted in other parts of the ASEAN region.
How long do babies sleep?
Sleep actually depends on the baby’s age, but a newborn may sleep as much as 16 hours a day often in stretches of three to four hours at a time.
Babies spend most of their time sleeping to enable them to grow properly and get enough rest so they’d be cheerful and active the next morning.
With babies sleeping most of the day, here are some useful findings from the Pampers sleep survey in the Philippines that might help new moms:
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All Filipino mothers surveyed believe that a peaceful night’s sleep is important for their babies, with 88 percent of them saying that a baby’s "physical, mental and social development is the top reason why peaceful sleep is important."
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The most common characterization that baby slept well through the night is "baby not waking up in the middle of the night." Mothers will go to great lengths to avoid the slightest disturbance to their babies’ sleep.
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Changing a baby’s diaper is among the top five things Filipino mothers would do to ensure their babies sleep well through the night besides making their beds comfortable, feeding them, ensuring quiet surroundings and giving baby bath/sponge bath.
The practice of changing diapers may help babies sleep well through the night, but more than one diaper change can become a nuisance to sleeping babies.
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Of all the babies who are changed twice or thrice during the night, 58 percent actually wake up on the second diaper-changing and 55 percent on the third.
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What can help babies sleep better according to eight out of 10 Filipino moms or 84 percent of those surveyed, is a type of diaper which can remain dry long enough.
As diapers clearly play a crucial factor in ensuring that babies get undisturbed sleep especially at night, a mom’s choice of diaper can make a difference on how peaceful a baby sleeps through the night and how cheerful he wakes up in the morning.
(Pampers is sponsoring a symposium on baby sleep on Nov. 23 at the Ayala Museum.)
