Infant sleep is a major source of distress in many families. The purpose of this study was to assess infant sleep and parental sleep-related cognitions about infant sleep in clinical and control samples. The clinical sample consisted of 48 infants referred to a sleep clinic because of night-wakings problems. The control sample included 48 infants with no parental complaints about sleep difficul...

OBJECTIVES The goals of this study were to assess: (a) the involvement of fathers and mothers in overall and nighttime infant caregiving; (b) the links between paternal involvement in infant care and infant sleep patterns during the first 6 months. METHODS Fifty-six couples recruited during their first pregnancy, participated in the study. After delivery (1 and 6 months), both parents complet...

OBJECTIVES To determine the relationship between the advice mothers receive about infant sleep position and the actual position they place their infants in to sleep and to understand modifiers of that relationship, especially beliefs about infant comfort and safety. DESIGN Cross-sectional, face-to-face interviews. SETTING Women, Infants, and Children centers in the United States from 2006 t...

BACKGROUND Maternal and paternal depression has been associated with infants' behavioral sleep problems. Behavioral sleep interventions, which alter parental cognitions about infant sleep, have improved infant sleep problems. This study reports relationships between parental depression, fatigue, sleep quality, and cognitions about infant sleep pre and post-intervention for a behavioral sleep pr...

It is common for parents to raise questions about infant sleep patterns when attending infant well-visits during the first year of life [1, 2]. In seeking answers to their questions from health practitioners, parents have access to a myriad of resources, including family, friends, web-based sites, social media, as well as parenting books. However, these sources of information often present cont...

The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between infant sleep patterns and infant physical growth (weight for length ratio) using both objective and subjective sleep measures. Ninety-six first-born, healthy 6-month-old infants and their parents participated in the study. Infant sleep was assessed by actigraphy for four consecutive nights and by the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of sleep education delivered antenatally and at 3 weeks postpartum to prevent infant sleep problems at 6 months of age. DESIGN Sleep intervention within a randomised controlled trial for the Prevention of Overweight in Infancy (POI) study. PARTICIPANTS 802 families were randomly allocated to one of four groups: usual care (control), sleep intervention...

Approximately 3500 infants die annually in the United States from sleep-related infant deaths, including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), ill-defined deaths, and accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed. After an initial decrease in the 1990s, the overall sleep-related infant death rate has not declined in more recent years. Many of the modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors for S...

Infants born preterm are at elevated risk for social emotional difficulties. However, factors contributing to this risk are largely understudied. Within the present study, we explored infant sleep as a biosocial factor that may play a role in infant social emotional development. Within a prospective longitudinal design, we examined parent-reported sleep patterns and observed parenting quality a...

Infant rats cycle rapidly between periods of high muscle tone (indicative of wakefulness) and periods of atonia (indicative of sleep). Here, the influence of air temperature on sleep in 8-day-old rats was examined by testing pups at thermoneutrality (35 degrees C) and during moderate (28 degrees C) and extreme (20 degrees C) cold challenge; also, pups were tested 1, 4, and 8 hr after infusion o...