If you have not already done so, please read Blog Posts 1 through 5 that describe how sleep is important and beneficial. I will post specific information for parents and children based on my book, “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.” Please do not be put off by my book’s length. This is a reference book. Read only the topic of interest to you.
2. MOTHERS
Blog Post 120-Maternal Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms
Do maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety during the pregnancy contribute to crying problems in the baby? Yes.
A 2021 Danish study confirmed the importance of these symptoms: “In this prospective cohort study, 1290 pregnant women and their newborn children were followed throughout pregnancy until 8 weeks postpartum. Depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms were assessed three times during the pregnancy and again 8 weeks postpartum. We found statistically significant associations between high scores of depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms in pregnancy and infant crying problems.”
Blog Post 178-Mother’s Insomnia & Cosleeping
A study by Professor Liat Tikotzky of about 500 families with children 3-36 months-old investigated what happens to children if their mothers have difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep (maternal insomnia symptoms):
1. Mothers with insomnia symptoms were also more likely to have symptoms of depression. The study did not examine which came first, maternal insomnia or maternal depression.
2. Mothers with insomnia symptoms were also more likely to have a child with a sleeping problem; in particular, sleep fragmentation (more night wakings and longer bouts of nighttime wakefulness). Blog Post 11. The study did not examine which came first, maternal insomnia or the child’s sleeping problem.
3. But the mother’s symptoms of depression were not directly associated with her child’s sleeping problem.
It is possible that the mother’s insomnia symptoms are the root cause of both her symptoms of depression and her child having sleeping problems. If correct, focusing on the mother’s insomnia symptoms might be more productive than focusing only on either the mother’s depressive symptoms or her child’s sleep problems. Ideally, the mother’s insomnia symptoms, the mother’s depression symptoms, and the infant’s sleep problems should all be addressed because they are inter-related.
Perhaps mothers who are more likely to have insomnia symptoms are ‘owls’ and not ‘larks.
Separately, Dr. Isabel Morales-Munoz observed that some mothers are ‘owls’; that is, they have ‘eveningness preference’; these mothers prefer to go to bed late, wake up late, and feel better in the evening (Blog Post 70). The children of mothers with ‘eveningness preference’ required more time to fall asleep after being put down and had more sleep difficulties. However, the total sleep duration of children whose mothers were ‘owls’ was not different from children whose mothers were ‘larks’ who had ‘morningness preference.’ This proves that early bedtimes, not just sleep duration, makes for healthier sleep (Blog Posts 7, 22, 68, and 69)! Some studies on adults, in general, (not just mothers) suggest that ‘owls’ are more likely to have symptoms of disturbed sleep and/or emotional distress.
Additionally, Professor Tikotzky reported that during the 3rd month of pregnancy, mothers with objective frequent and prolonged night wakings (more maternal insomnia symptoms) are more likely to co-sleep with their infants at 6 months. Other studies link bed sharing with infant sleep problems (Blog Post 82).
Blog Post 179-Mother’s Insomnia & Cosleeping
Co-sleeping (room-sharing or bed-sharing) was studied at 3 months and 6 months by Professor Douglas Teti. He found that co-sleeping (compared to baby sleeping in another room) was associated with more maternal fragmented sleep and decreasing sleep duration for the mothers between 3 and 6 months of age. Also, “Cosleeping was associated with mothers’ reports of less positive and more negative coparenting (Blog Posts 17 and 18)”. “These findings suggest that mothers may compensate for an unsupportive partner by seeking out their infants during the night and setting up sleep arrangements that promote proximity and physical closeness (co-sleeping).”
Additionally, mothers in co-sleeping arrangements were less emotionally available with their infants at bedtime (Blog Posts 18 and 57).
Taking these studies and those in Blog Post 178, linkages emerge connecting children’s sleep problems and maternal insomnia, maternal depression, maternal eveningness preference (‘owls’), mothers who are less emotionally available at bedtime, co-sleeping, poor coparenting quality, and low partner support.
So, if your child is not sleeping well, and you suspect that these multiple variables or others (Blog Post 45) are present, a simple sleep solution such as “Move the bedtime earlier” may be difficult or impossible to implement or be ineffective. If so, please consider professional help for you and your family to help your child sleep better.
