Why Parents In Cold Countries Let Their Children Take Naps Outdoors

For people living in the Northern countries, it is common for parents to make their kids sleep outdoors during the winter season. Even though there hasn’t been much research yet on the positive and negative effects of letting one’s baby sleep out in the open air, parents following this practice have claimed to have observed its benefits.

Making one’s child sleep outdoors in winter is something unheard of by a lot of people; however, parents who have been following this culture assure us that it isn’t as risky as it appears to be.

It is common to find a small baby sleeping outdoors in a stroller if you’re traveling to any of the Scandinavian countries. If you are walking around coffee shops or cafes, you will find small buggies parked outside these places. It is also not unusual to see babies sleeping peacefully in their tiny vehicles in parks and on people’s balconies. People in Nordic countries give a lot of importance to being in the fresh air.

It might be unnerving to see a baby sleeping outside their home for someone new to this practice. However, parents believe that this practice has several benefits.

In This Article

1. The Baby Remains Warm

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Even though it may be cold outside the house, parents make sure that their infant stays warm. For this, they bundle up the baby in many layers of warm and comfortable clothes and use blankets to keep their hands from getting cold.

2. It Strengthens Their Immunity

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It has been observed by parents as well as schools in many of the Scandinavian countries that when children sleep outdoors, they are much less likely to contract winter illnesses and skip school. Compared to sleeping inside, outdoor napping promotes a better quality of sleep, robust immune systems, and, more importantly, calmer children. According to parents, children who napped outdoors were more energetic and had a good appetite (1).

3. They Have Increased Sleep Time

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Parents also found that their kids slept for extended periods when outdoors as opposed to when they were napping indoors. This was discovered as part of a study conducted in Finland, and results incurred suggested that outdoor naps lasted for around 3 hours, while babies only slept for 1-2 hours when they were indoors (2).

In many Nordic countries and now even in the United Kingdom, schools recommend children to increase their time spent outdoors while playing, sleeping, and eating. It has been found that kids that nap outdoors are much less likely to fall sick and skip their school days because there is a greater chance for any bacteria and virus to spread indoors (3).

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Not only this, but parents also believe that there is one fundamental reason why babies must nap outdoors. And that is Friluftsliv (4). It is the Nordic notion of being outside in the fresh air. According to families in Scandinavian countries, sleeping outdoors enables children to become one with nature. There is a beautiful harmony in immersing oneself within the ebb and flow of life that is unfolding all around you. Letting babies sleep outdoors enables them to develop a sense of attachment with nature from early on. The sounds of nature have a calming effect on our minds and body and enable us to relax. Thus, it could be why a lot of parents claim that their children have better and longer sleep when they nap outdoors. So the practice of making babies sleep outdoors has a more profound cultural significance because of the Nordic concept of Friluftsliv.

While this practice might be quite surprising to many people, it is interesting to note how childcare involves such a wide range of practices spread across the globe. And even though it might not be your idea of parenting, letting children have an outdoor nap is an essential cultural practice among many families in the Scandinavian countries.

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