Modern strategies for settling infants to sleep
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Original studies Somnologie https://doi.org/10.1007/s11818-020-00279-0 © Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature 2020
Angelika A. Schlarb · Denise Seiler · Anika Werner · Maren-Jo Kater Department of Psychology and Sports Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
Modern strategies for settling infants to sleep A comparison between sleep-disturbed and non-sleep-disturbed infants
Background In children, sleep disturbances often appear as problems falling asleep or falling back to sleep without parental help. In infancy these sleep problems occur quite often, with a frequency of up to 22.6% [34]. On the one hand, these infant sleep problems have several negative effects on the child, such as hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms and lower cognitive performance [42] as well as a higher risk for obesity and overweight [42]. Thus, sleep problems in infancy have a negative influence on the behavioral, cognitive, and physical level of infants. On the other hand, infant sleep problems can also have negative consequences for parents such as poor maternal and paternal general health [19, 20].
Strategies to settle infants to sleep The relationship between parental behaviors at bedtime and at night, such as the strategies that parents use to settle their infant to sleep, and sleep problems in infancy has already been the focus of research [22] showing that parental behavior at bedtime and at night was the best predictor for nighttime sleep of the child. Nightly differences in bedtime routine affect infants’ sleep in those nights; therefore, consistency of bedtime routines is a key factor for optimal sleep [28]. Furthermore, active interactions at bedtime were associated with increased night waking and shorter continuous sleep of the child, whereas bedtime behavior that encourages a child’s autonomy and self-soothing was correlated
with less fragmented and longer sleep periods [25, 31]. Mothers with sleepdisturbed children and those with nonsleep-disturbed children differed significantly regarding the use of strategies. Mothers of non-sleep-disturbed children more often used strategies which encourage the child’s autonomy, such as using a music recording. In contrast, strategies that included active physical comforting, for instance cuddling with the child, were positively correlated with infant sleep problems [25]. Another study in infants also found that the use of active physical comforting significantly predicted the development of a sleep problem over a 1-year period [26]. Thus, parental behavior that includes active interactions with the child seems to be associated with disturbed sleep, whereas behavior that encourages the child’s autonomy and therefore allows self-soothing is correlated with fewer sleep problems in infancy. Schlarb et al. [34] conducted a literature review on parental sleep-related behaviors. The latter review included 10 studies of which 7 investigated the issue during infancy. This again underlines the importance of the developmental stage of infancy and its association with sleep
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