High on the list of most parents of newborns is the fdesire to have
their little one sleep through the night. It's one of the most common issues
raised during a well-child visit. It's probably one of the most discussed
topics by well-meaning friends and relatives. "Feed him earlier." "Feed her
later." "Cuddle her longer." "Put him down sooner." "Keep him up later."
"Make the room quieter." "Have soft music playing." There s just no end to
the list of remedies tried to modify this pattern. And it s not a trivial
problem. Studies have shown that between "10% and 44% of infants between
4 and 15 months of age wake at night, with diminishing frequency between
birth and 1 year of age." It's easy to see that along with the current trend
of both parents having to work, at least one parent is going to go to work
pretty exhausted.
It's no wonder then that research still goes on to find factors that
can modify an infant s nighttime sleeping pattern. One bit of research has
recently come from the Boston University School of Medicine and Public Health.
They wondered if, night waking might be reported more often by parents who
were also present at the time their child actually fell asleep.
The study was conducted by giving parents a questionnaire during their
child s 9-month routine visit. The parents were asked "if they were usually
involved in any of the following behaviors when their child fell asleep at
bedtime: feeding the child; rocking, walking, or singing to the child; lying
down with the child; or simply being in the child s room. A positive response
to any of these questions, regardless of the time spent in any of these
behaviors, was classified as ‘parent present." Nighttime was defined
as one hour after the child s bedtime until the start of the next day. Night
waking was defined as an episode of infant arousal during the nighttime requiring
the parent to settle the child. Frequent night waking was defined as seven
or more night wakings in the prior week.
The results showed the following:
33 percent of the mothers reported that a parent was routinely present
when their infant fell asleep at bedtime (parent present group), whereas
67%reported that a parent was not (parent not present group). "Compared with
mothers in the parent not present group, the mothers in the parent present
group were more likely to have breast-fed their infants and to have completed
more education. Fathers in the parents present group were also better
educated."
A definite distinction between the babies of the two groups was found.
Infants who went to sleep with a parent present were more likely to awaken
during the night than those who did not.
The authors went on to discuss their findings. "An explanation of
the findings is that temperamentally more difficult infants elicit parental
presence at bedtime and wake more often. This theory, in part, is supported
by our finding. ...that the infants rated as difficult were also more likely
to wake at night. A second explanation for the association is that parents
vary in the extent of their feelings regarding separation from their infant.
This, in turn, affects their behavior at bedtime and their management of
infant night wakings. Parents who are having difficulty separating from their
infants may be more likely to be with them until they go to sleep and to
intervene in response to infant activity (such as motor movements or groans)
that occur during rapid eye movement sleep or periods of transient
wakefulness."
They conclude their report by stating that, "the results of this study
serve as a starting point: a documentation of an independent association
between night waking in infancy and parent behavior, These findings may be
clinically important, because if night waking is learned, then it may be
unlearned . . . .or even prevented. Preventing night waking may involve having
parents put infants to bed at least partly awake so that if the infants are
aroused during rapid eye movement sleep, they can return to sleep by using
the same internal devices at bedtime, rather than by parental
intervention."
Whatever the solution, whoever comes up with the answer to this vexing
issue will certainly be deserving of the "Nobel Prize" in the minds of many
a bleary-eyed parent.
For more information on this subject, see:
Night
Criers and Feeders need Special Treatment
Bedtime
Rituals can get Children to Sleep on Time
Prevention
of Infant Sleep Problems
