寶寶四個月大的時候就需要自己的房間啦

While baby stuff takes up a laughable amount of space - babies themselves actually occupy very little room. It's why parents - particularly ones who have to wake up for feedings throughout the night - may default to keeping their kid at arm's reach while they sleep. Besides, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has long recommended room-sharing for infants up to 12 months old, since this proximity appears to be linked to lower rates of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

雖然寶寶的東西佔據了大量的空間--但寶寶本身卻只佔據很小的空間。所以父母們--尤其是那些整晚都需要起來喂寶寶的父母們--可能在孩子睡覺時會默認地把孩子放在自己身邊。另外，長期以來，美國兒科學會（AAP）一直建議嬰兒出生第一年應該和父母睡在同一個房間，因爲距離近似乎與嬰兒猝死綜合徵（SIDS）發生率低相關。

However, new research recently published in the medical journal Pediatrics throws shade - and fresh data - at those guidelines: Researchers from Penn State College of Medicine looked at questionnaires completed by 279 mothers and their newborns on sleep duration, location, night waking, night feedings, bedtime routines, and sleep behaviors at 4- and 9-month intervals, then followed up on sleep duration, location, and sleeping patterns at the 12- and 30-month marks. What they found: Babies older than 4 months who slept in their own rooms clocked an average of 45 more minutes of continuous sleep throughout the night and slept more on average per night than babies who slept in their parents' rooms. Solo sleeping habits had lasting effects: At the 30-month mark, 4-month-olds who'd slept in their own rooms continued to clock more sleep than infants who'd shared a room for more than four months.

然而，最近發表在醫學雜誌《兒科》上的新研究對這些指導方針提出了質疑並提供了新的數據。賓州醫學院的研究員們查看了由279位母親完成的問卷，內容涉及間隔四個月和間隔九個月的新生兒的睡眠時間、睡覺地點、夜間醒多少次、夜間餵奶情況、睡覺習慣和睡覺行爲，然後在第12個月和第30個月的時候，再跟進他們的睡眠時間、地點和睡眠模式。他們發現：當嬰兒出生四個月後，相比睡在父母房間的嬰兒，那些睡在自己房間的嬰兒平均夜間能持續多睡45分鐘，平均每晚的睡眠時間也更久。單獨睡覺這一習慣有持久的效果：在第30個月的時候，睡在自己房間的四個月大的嬰兒的睡眠時間仍然比與父母共處一室的嬰兒要久。

The new research also finds that room-sharing is somewhat of a gateway to bed-sharing - a big no-no so far as the AAP is concerned, since the practice significantly increases the risk of unintentional injury, SIDS, and other hazardous habits found to be dangerous for babies, like the use of blankets and pillows.

新研究還發現共處一室是共享一張牀的門戶--美國兒科學會認爲這是禁忌，因爲這一做法會大大增加意外傷害、嬰兒猝死綜合徵和其它危險習慣的風險，這些習慣對嬰兒來說是很危險的，比如使用毯子和枕頭。

Of course, sleep safety is everyone's first priority, and you'd think that babies who get more sleep are happier and healthier - and the same goes for parents, who can't exactly sleep soundly if their kids are up. It's why sleeping separately appears to make a whole lot of sense and the new data has led researchers to call for the AAP to update their current recommendations.

當然，睡眠安全是每個人的頭等大事，你肯定會認爲睡眠更多的嬰兒會更快樂、更健康--這對父母來說也同樣如此，孩子們醒着的時候父母肯定睡不到好覺。因此分開睡覺似乎更有道理，而新的數據也使得研究員們呼籲美國兒科學會更新他們現行的建議。