Organization of sleeping and waking states in infants: consistency across contexts

Abstract

The sleep and waking states of infants are described from direct behavioral observations made in the home for a 7-hour period on weeks 2, 3, 4, and 5. States were analyzed separately for two contexts: infant alone and infant with the mother. States analyzed included Alert, Waking (Non-Alert) Activity, Fussing or Crying, Drowse or Sleep-Wake Transition, Active Sleep, Quiet Sleep, and Unclassified Sleep. Individual state profiles for each context were obtained for each week. A quantitative measure of profile consistency over weeks was calculated as an index of stability of state organization. Infants showed considerable range in state stability over weeks. State stability when alone was significantly correlated with state stability when with the mother (r = .67), even though there were differences in sleep-wake distributions and in level of stimulation in these contexts. These findings demonstrate within-individual consistency in CNS control of behavioral states, across sleep and wakefulness and throughout the diverse activities of the caretaking environment.