Sleeping through the night: a developmental perspective

Abstract

This study examines falling asleep and night waking in human infants during the first 8 months of life. All-night time-lapse video recordings were obtained at 3 weeks and 3 months of age; a Sleep Habits Interview was completed at these ages and repeated at 8 months of age by telephone interview. At the 3-week and 3-month ages, self-report measures of maternal psychologic distress, depression, and self-esteem were also obtained. The data are examined from both cross-sectional (age group) and longitudinal (individual) perspectives. Parent-infant interactions at bedtime and during the middle of the night changed significantly with increasing age. At 3 weeks of age, most infants were put into their cribs for the night already asleep. When they awakened in the middle of the night, they were removed from their cribs. By the time they returned to their cribs, they were again asleep. By 3 months of age, infants who were put into the crib awake at bedtime and allowed to fall asleep on their own were more likely to return to sleep on their own after awakenings later in the night. In contrast, infants who were put into the crib already asleep at the beginning of the night were significantly more likely to be removed from the crib following a subsequent nighttime awakening. Thus, the pattern of bedtime sleep onset was related to sleep onset following an awakening in the middle of the night. This association was present at 8 months as well.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)