Predictable routines predict less anxiety in children

There’s a new long-term study out from Timothy Monk of the University of Pittsburgh that concludes that babies who have consistent wake and sleep times, play periods, and regular intervals between meals, will have less anxiety about new situations and environments as they get older.  He studied 59  1-month old babies, and followed them for 13 years, with periodic questionnaires to their parents.  As with anything, it might be nature vs nurture, but helping babies to develop a regular schedule, and keeping children on one, has always seemed like a good idea.

Here are a couple of links to read more about it:

http://www.futurity.org/health-medicine/babys-irregular-rhythm-may-grow-into-anxiety/

http://parentwell.com/blog/2010/08/02/infants-with-routines-might-have-less-school-aged-anxiety/comment-page-1/#comment-342

http://www.chronicle.pitt.edu/?p=6034

Related posts:

1. Parenting class for parents of children age 3 to 9
2. Anxiety? Try yawning!
3. Anxiety? Depression? Take a deep breath!
4. Does letting your baby “cry it out” cause harm?
5. Anxious? Some quick anxiety management tools

Tagged as: Anxiety, Children, Parenting, Stress