Parents shouldn鈥檛 worry if their infant doesn鈥檛 sleep through the night by 6-12 months of age
New parents often expect their baby to start sleeping through the night by around six months of age. Indeed, they often receive messages from paediatricians and others about the importance of early sleep consolidation. But authors of a study in the December 2018 issue of Pediatrics found that a large percentage of healthy babies don鈥檛 reach that milestone by six months of age, or even at a year old. The 缅北强奸-led research team also examined whether infants who didn鈥檛 sleep for six or eight consecutive hours were more likely to have problems with psychomotor and mental development, and found no association. The researchers also found no correlation between infants waking up at night and their mothers鈥� postnatal mood.
Study details
The researchers analyzed information from the Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability, and Neurodevelopment longitudinal birth cohort study, which recruited participants from obstetric clinics in Montreal, Qu茅bec and Hamilton, Ontario. Sleeping through the night was defined as either six or eight hours of sleep without waking up. Sleep measures were available for 388 infants at six months old, and 369 infants at a year old. At six months of age, according to mothers鈥� reports, 38 percent of typically developing infants were not yet sleeping at least six consecutive hours at night; more than half (57 percent) weren鈥檛 sleeping eight hours. At twelve months old, 28 percent of infants weren鈥檛 yet sleeping six hours straight at night, and 43 percent weren鈥檛 staying asleep eight hours. Researchers saw a difference between sleep patterns of boys and girls. At six months old, a slightly higher percentage of girls than boys slept for eight hours straight. (48 % vs. 39 %). Researchers also found no correlation between infants waking up at night and their mothers鈥� postnatal mood. But they did discover that babies who didn鈥檛 sleep for six or eight consecutive hours had a significantly higher rate of breastfeeding, which offers many benefits for babies and mothers.
A 鈥済old standard鈥� that may need to be revised
Sleeping through the night somewhere between six to twelve months is generally considered the 鈥済old standard鈥� in Western nations. Indeed, behavioural sleep training is popular among parents and professionals to encourage the children to sleep. But lead researcher, Marie-H茅l猫ne Pennestri, from 缅北强奸鈥檚 Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and the Sleep Clinic at H么pital en sant茅 mentale Rivi猫re-des-Prairies (CIUSSS-NIM) hopes that the results of the study will allay some parental worries:
鈥淥ur findings suggest parents might benefit from more education about the normal development of--and wide variability in--infants鈥� sleep-wake cycles instead of only focusing on methods and interventions, especially for those who feel stressed about methods such as delayed response to crying.鈥� She says, 鈥淢aternal sleep deprivation is often invoked to support the introduction of early behavioural interventions, but it may be that mothers鈥� expectations about being awakened at night along with the total number of hours they sleep over the course of a day are better predictors of maternal well-being. It is something that will need to be considered in future studies.鈥�
To read 鈥淯ninterrupted infant sleep, development and maternal mood鈥� by Marie-H茅l猫ne Pennestri et al in Pediatrics: .
Contacts:
Marie-H茅l猫ne Pennestri, Dept. of Educational and Counselling Psychology, 缅北强奸,
marie-helene.pennestri [at] mcgill.ca, 514-398-8079 (office)
Katherine Gombay, Media Relations, 缅北强奸
katherine.gombay [at] mcgill.ca, 514 398-2189
