ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Minerva Pediatrica 2010 April;62(2):161-9

Copyright © 2010 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Sleep disturbances in two-month-old infants sharing the bed with parent(s)

Kelmanson I. A. ✉

Department of Pediatric Clinical Psychology, Institute of Special Education and Special Psychology of the Raoul Wallenberg International University for Family and Child, St. Petersburg, Russia

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate possible relationship between infant-parent(s) bed sharing during night sleep and sleep characteristics in two-month-old infants.
METHODS: One hundred and twelve healthy infants from the community setting (48 males, 64 females) who were singletons born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2007, at term, with normal weight entered the study. Infants did not have signs of inborn malformations, intrauterine infections, inherited or progressive diseases. Information about major infant, maternal, and demographic characteristics was collected from available medical documents. The mothers were approached by trained interviewer. As a part of interview, the mothers were requested to answer whether the baby was a regularly solitary sleeper or regularly shared the bed with parent(s) during night sleep and to fill in the questionnaire addressing infant’s behaviour during sleep.
RESULTS: Of 112 infants, 83 (74%) were solitary sleepers, 29 (26%) shared the bed with parent(s). No statistically significant difference was found for major infant, parental and demographic characteristics between two groups. Bed sharing babies had significantly higher values (more problems) on sleep duration and night wakening scores. It was more common with them to sleep too little, wake more than twice during the night, less often return to sleep without help after waking. Significantly higher values were found on sleep disordered breathing and parasomnia scores; noisy breathing during sleep was more commonly reported in them.
CONCLUSION: Maternal reports on disturbed sleep in two-month-old babies were more common in the cases of infant-parent(s) bed sharing.