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. 2009 May;32(5):693-6.
doi: 10.1093/sleep/32.5.693.

Early developmental changes in sleep in infants: the impact of maternal depression

Roseanne Armitage  1 , Heather Flynn, Robert Hoffmann, Delia Vazquez, Juan Lopez, Sheila Marcus
Affiliations

Early developmental changes in sleep in infants: the impact of maternal depression

Roseanne Armitage et al. Sleep. 2009 May.

Abstract

Objectives: This study evaluated whether sleep over the first 6 months of life was more disturbed in infants born to mothers who were depressed compared with infants from nondepressed mothers.

Design: Actigraphy was recorded for 7 consecutive days starting at 2 weeks postpartum and monthly thereafter until 6 months of age. Mothers completed daily sleep/wake diaries. Sleep data at 2 weeks and 6 months postpartum are presented here.

Setting: The home environment.

Participants: Eighteen healthy, full-term infants, 9 males and 9 females. Seven infants were born to women with no personal or family history of depression; 11 infants were born to women diagnosed with depression or with elevated levels of depression symptoms.

Interventions: N/A.

Measurements and results: Total sleep time, sleep latency, sleep efficiency, and number and duration of sleep episodes were computed for nocturnal and daytime sleep in each 24-hour block. Data were coded for risk group (1 = low risk, 2 = high risk), and repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance contrasted changes in sleep measures at Week 2 and Week 24, between risk groups. The high-risk infants took longer to fall asleep, had lower sleep efficiencies, and had more sleep bouts in the nocturnal sleep period than did low-risk infants. These effects persisted at 6 months postpartum.

Conclusions: Maternal depression is associated with significant sleep disturbance in infancy at 2 weeks postpartum that continues through 24 weeks. It remains to be determined if sleep disturbance in infancy confers a greater risk of developing early-onset depression in childhood.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Means and standard deviations (error bars) in (A) nocturnal sleep latency, (B) nocturnal sleep efficiency, and (C) number of sleep episodes during the day at 2 and 24 weeks postpartum in 7 infants from nondepressed, low-risk mothers (low risk) and 11 infants from mothers with depression or who had significant symptoms of depression (high risk). TST refers to total sleep time.
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References

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