Toddlers and infants should not experience much stress yet. However, a study shows that even toddlers early on are already experiencing it. Childcare children are shown to be greatly stressed already.
Researchers from Norway have noted that toddlers in childcare already have their cortisol levels raised. Cortisol is the hormone that is associated with stress. The researchers looked at cortisol levels from 112 toddlers coming from 85 childcare centers in Norway.
Studies have already shown that toddlers experience stress in childcare centers. The studies have noted that the toddlers' cortisol levels actually decrease when they are at home. The studies' findings have made researchers aware that toddlers might be experiencing stress in childcare centers.
Some factors that might trigger stress in toddlers while in childcare centers include being in a large group and trying to fit in with other toddlers there. Another factor might be because they are in an unfamiliar environment, far from their homes and parents. However, there are still no studies that show whether toddlers' stress might have a long term effect on them.
Researchers from Norway's three centers for child and adolescent mental health have looked into the stress being experienced by toddlers in childcare centers. These three research centers are the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's RKBU Central Norway, RBUP East & South and the University of Oslo. The researchers from these centers have found that toddlers in Norway's childcare centers experience stress and have higher levels of cortisol, according to Gemini.
The study has shown that many Norwegian toddlers spend as much as 40 hours per week in childcare centers. These are toddlers around one to two years in age, as Science Daily reports. The study has found that toddlers who are in childcare centers for eight to nine hours each day have the highest cortisol levels. Toddlers who are in there for seven hours or less did not show an increase in cortisol.
Toddlers are already experiencing stress. Childcare children are greatly stressed, as a study finds. A study finds that ten portions of fruits and vegetables daily is needed for health.
