Dataset Information

Mothers' postpartum sleep disturbance is associated with the ability to sustain sensitivity toward infants.

ABSTRACT:

Background/objective

Infancy is a period of rapid development when the quality of caregiving behavior may be particularly consequential for children's long-term functioning. During this critical period for caregiving behavior, parents experience changes in their sleep that may affect their ability to provide sensitive care. The current study investigated the association of mothers' sleep disturbance with both levels and trajectories of maternal sensitivity during interactions with their infants.

Methods

At 18 weeks postpartum, mothers and their infants were observed during a home-based 10-minute "free play" interaction. Mothers' nighttime sleep was objectively measured using actigraphy and subjectively measured using sleep diaries. Maternal sensitivity was coded in two-minute intervals in order to characterize changes in sensitivity across the free play interaction. We used exploratory factor analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the objective and subjective measures of mothers' sleep, identifying a subjective sleep disturbance and an objective sleep continuity factor.

Results

Using multi-level modeling, we found that mothers with poorer objective sleep continuity evidenced decreasing sensitivity toward their infants across the interaction. Mothers' self-reports of sleep disturbance were not associated with maternal sensitivity.

Conclusions

Although future research is necessary to identify the mechanisms that may explain the observed association between poor sleep continuity and the inability to sustain sensitivity toward infants, mothers' postpartum sleep continuity may be one factor to consider when designing interventions to improve the quality of caregiving.

Clinical trial registration

Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01846585.

SUBMITTER: King LS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10173890 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Mothers' postpartum sleep disturbance is associated with the ability to sustain sensitivity toward infants.

King Lucy S LS Rangel Elizabeth E Simpson Norah N Tikotzky Liat L Manber Rachel R

Sleep medicine 20190727

<h4>Background/objective</h4>Infancy is a period of rapid development when the quality of caregiving behavior may be particularly consequential for children's long-term functioning. During this critical period for caregiving behavior, parents experience changes in their sleep that may affect their ability to provide sensitive care. The current study investigated the association of mothers' sleep disturbance with both levels and trajectories of maternal sensitivity during interactions with their ...[more]

PMID: 31734620

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundBreast milk is the nutrient of choice for preterm infants. The World Health Organization has set a target of ensuring by 2030 that 70 % of infants younger than age 6 months are exclusively breastfed. The breastfeeding status of mothers of preterm infants is far below that target. Preterm infants are a special group, and there are many difficulties in and obstacles to adhering to breastfeeding. It is urgent to understand the current situation of breastfeeding among mothers of preterm infants, the change in their breastfeeding behaviors over time, and factors influencing breastfeeding in this population during different postpartum stages.ObjectiveWe aimed to explore potential breastfeeding behavior trajectories and analyze modifiable influencing factors to provide a reference for health care staff to identify risk groups of breastfeeding attrition at an early stage and develop targeted intervention measures.MethodsWe conducted a prospective, single-center, longitudinal study involving a cohort of mothers of preterm infants from July 2023 to May 2024. We administered the Breastfeeding Behavior Questionnaire, Breastfeeding Intention Questionnaire, Breastfeeding Prediction Scale, Breastfeeding Knowledge Questionnaire, and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Data were collected at four timepoints: before discharge (T0) and at 6 weeks (T1), 4 months (T2), and 6 months postpartum (T3). A mixed model of latent variable growth was used to fit the trajectory of maternal breastfeeding behavior, and multiple logistic regression analysis was used to detect factors influencing the trajectory of breastfeeding behavior.ResultsThree types of heterogeneity tracks were found: a "high-level rising" group (36.5 %), "medium-level declining" group (26.0 %), and "low-level declining" group (37.5 %). Household income, spouse's educational background, smoking in the spouse, breastfeeding patterns before discharge (T0), perceived breastfeeding control and breastfeeding intention (T1), perceived breastfeeding control, breastfeeding intention, and breastfeeding knowledge (T2), and perceived breastfeeding control, breastfeeding positive attitude, and breastfeeding negative attitude (T3) were predictors of different profiles.ConclusionBreastfeeding is of great importance to promote the growth and development of preterm infants. However, the breastfeeding situation among mothers of preterm infants 6 months after delivery is not encouraging. The rate of exclusive breastfeeding is low and needs to be improved. Clarifying those variables related to the Theory of Planned Behavior, such as breastfeeding positive and negative attitudes, perceived breastfeeding control, breastfeeding knowledge, and postpartum depression score, can provide a theoretical basis for the early identification and screening of mothers at risk of exclusive breastfeeding attrition. Interventions should be delivered at scale to benefit all new mothers and infants.

Project description:ObjectivesGiven that postpartum sleep is an important family process, further investigations including both mothers and fathers are necessary. The present study aimed to describe and compare sleep patterns and intraindividual night-to-night variability in mothers and fathers at 6 months postpartum using subjective and objective sleep measures.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingGeneral community-based study in Montreal, QC, Canada.ParticipantsThirty-three couples (mothers and fathers) with no self-reported history of medical and mental health conditions participated in this study.ResultsParental sleep was measured across 10 consecutive nights using both a daily sleep diary and actigraphy. Results demonstrated that mothers' subjective and objective sleep was more fragmented compared with fathers (shorter longest consecutive sleep duration and more nocturnal awakenings; p<0.001). While mothers and fathers did not differ in their self-reported nocturnal sleep duration (p>0.05), actigraphy indicated that mothers obtained significantly longer nocturnal sleep duration (448.07 min±36.49 min) than fathers (400.96 min±45.42 min; p<0.001). Intraindividual sleep variability was revealed by relatively high coefficients of variation for parents across both subjective and objective indices related to sleep fragmentation (between 0.25 and 1.32). Actigraphy also demonstrated variability by mothers sleeping 6 hours consecutively on less than 3 nights, 27.27% (±22.81), and fathers on less than 6 nights, 57.27% (±24.53), out of 10. Associations were also found between parental sleep and family factors, such as age and infant sleep location (p<0.05).ConclusionsThese findings advance our knowledge of how sleep unfolds within the family system beyond the early postpartum weeks and/or months. Given the link between disturbed sleep and family functioning, the current research accentuates the importance of examining postpartum sleep patterns and variability in parents.

Dataset Information

Mothers' postpartum sleep disturbance is associated with the ability to sustain sensitivity toward infants.

Background/objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Clinical trial registration

Publications

Mothers' postpartum sleep disturbance is associated with the ability to sustain sensitivity toward infants.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets