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.
3. FATHERS
Blog Post 17
Fathers can help or hinder their child’s healthy sleep. The studies presented here were published in peer-reviewed medical journals.
STRENGTHS
A higher involvement of fathers in infant care was associated with fewer infant night-awakenings: “Greater paternal involvement in infant daytime and nighttime caregiving at 3 months significantly predicted more consolidated maternal and infant sleep at 6 months.” So, Moms get more sleep too!
A study of children 1 to 3 years of age showed that sleep problems were solved when fathers took over the management of bedtime routines and night wakings. Fathers can do everything that mothers can do for bedtime routines and soothing except for breast-feeding.
CHALLENGES
At 3, 6, 12, and 18 months, families were classified into two sleeping arrangement categories:
1. Persistent solitary sleeping (infants slept in a separate room)
2. Persistent room-sharers (infants slept in parents’ room)
Among the room-sharers, the mothers had lower objective sleep quality and reported more infant night wakings, had higher levels of maternal separation anxiety and the father’s overall involvement during the day and nighttime involvement in infant caregiving was less compared to solitary sleepers.
At infant age 6 months, another study showed that mothers of room-sharers had more sleep disruptions and was associated with mother reports of marital and coparenting distress.
Australian Early Parenting Centers provide a residential program, for mothers and children, offering parenting support and education, commonly for crying and sleep issues. Fathers whose wives sought care in these Centers exhibited “risky alcohol use (episodic excessive drinking or daily alcohol use).” Among these fathers, 20% had mental health problems and risky alcohol use occurred in 82%; among the 80% without mental health problems, risky alcohol use occurred in 50%.
Blog Post 39
About 10% of men experience prenatal and postpartum depression, and this is often associated with maternal depression. An Australian study followed over 1,000 young men over 12 years showed that “expectant and new fathers are not at greater risk of depression or anxiety” compared to a matched group of men who did not become fathers. However, a separate study showed that men with a tendency to interpret events negatively (a cognitive bias) may respond to a fussy baby with greater negative affect; also, these “cognitive biases are associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety among fathers during the transition to parenthood.”
In Australia, publicly funded Early Parenting Centers (EPC), also known as Sleep Schools, provide a residential program offering parenting support and education, commonly for sleep and settling issues with their children. One study observed that the majority (84%) of fathers attending EPCs complained of “moderate to high fatigue” and concluded that “distress among fathers may be experienced as psychological and physiological tension, agitation, and frustration rather than depressed mood. It is also possible that it is more socially acceptable for fathers to report symptoms of stress than depression.”
Another Australian study found that while 10% of fathers experience mental health difficulties, there were attitudinal barriers to seeking help:
1. The need for control and self-reliance (“I like to be in charge of everything in my life.”).
2. A tendency to downplay or minimize problems (“Problems like this are part of life; they’re just something you have to deal with.”).
3. A sense of resignation that nothing will help (“I’d rather just suck it up than dwell on my problems.”).
Fathers with the first attitudinal barrier regarding the need for control and self-reliance were more likely to have high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms.
In a separate study, fathers of 4-month-old infants with sleep problems had increased depressive symptoms, anger toward their child, poor personal sleep quantity and quality, and at 6 months, increased depressive symptoms.
Finally, another study concluded that when postpartum depression occurs, “mothers are more likely to report sadness, and fathers are more likely to present with increased irritability and alcohol and substance use.”
