Pediatric Health
Gia Merlo, Kathy Berra in Lifestyle Nursing, 2023
Adequate sleep duration and sleep quality are essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle for children and adolescents (Hagan et al., 2017). What constitutes proper sleep hygiene in children will vary by age. For infants, sleep discussions have to include information about a safe sleep environment (noting that families from various cultures may view sleep differently). A safe sleep environment, as described by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), is one that reduces the risk of suffocation through the elimination of items such as loose, soft bedding in the crib. Infant sleep position is as important as the sleep environment. Infants should be placed on their backs for every sleep because of the reduction of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Room sharing but not bed sharing is recommended by the AAP. With room sharing, the infant is placed in a separate, but nearby, sleep space (such as a crib) rather than sharing the same bed as their parents. Bed sharing is discouraged as it has been shown to increase the risk of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) (AAP, 2016).
Breastfeeding and infant sleep – what medical practitioners need to know
Amy Brown, Wendy Jones in A Guide to Supporting Breastfeeding for the Medical Profession, 2019
When parents in Western countries are interviewed about sleeping with their baby they express various reasons for doing so, such as deeply rooted cultural or religious beliefs and parenting philosophies, physiological links between lactation and night-time breastfeeding and a biological compulsion that drives the urge for close contact (Ball 2002; Ateah and Hamelin 2008; Culver 2009; Salm-Ward 2015; Crane and Ball 2016). On a practical level they explain that sleeping with the baby makes night-time care easier, helps them to monitor the baby, providing comfort, and yet obtaining sleep (Ball 2002; Ball 2003; Rudzik and Ball 2016). Sometimes parents report having nowhere else to put their baby at night, or that they have fallen asleep with their baby unintentionally (Ball 2002; Ateah and Hamelin 2008; Volpe et al. 2013). Despite decades of advice to avoid mother–baby sleep contact (for various reasons), 20–25% of US and UK babies under 3 months of age share a bed with a parent for sleep on any given night (Blair and Ball 2004; McCoy et al. 2004) and during their first 3 months 40–70% of babies in those Western societies surveyed to date have done so (Gibson et al. 2000; Rigda et al. 2000; Willinger et al. 2003; Blair and Ball 2004; Ateah and Hamelin 2008; Hauck et al. 2008; Santos et al. 2009). Recent studies have found that mother–infant bed-sharing in low-risk circumstances is no more hazardous for babies than sleeping in a cot (Blair et al. 2014), and that advising parents against bed-sharing does not reduce its prevalence (Moon et al. 2017).
Child and family centred care: a cultural perspective
Karen Holland in Cultural Awareness in Nursing and Health Care, 2017
However, in the West traditionally infants were isolated and expected to sleep in a cot often in a different room (Hooker, Ball and Kelly, 2001). In Western cultures, bed sharing may be frowned on as it may be seen as fostering dependence and linked to sudden infant death syndrome. However, this link has been refuted. Ball et al. (2012) in a study of infant care practices in Bradford, UK, found that infants of South Asian parents have a lower rate of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than white British infants. This was due to a number of risk factors including smoking, alcohol consumption, sofa sharing and solitary sleep. The study found risk reduction factors included keeping the baby in the parental room. Pakistani mothers were more likely to bed-share than white British mothers, and so these data do not support the contention that bed-sharing is a SIDS risk under all circumstances. White British mothers were more likely to sofa-share for sleep with their infants.
Prevalence and Predictors of Postpartum Maternal and Infant Bed-Sharing Among Chinese-Canadian Women
Published in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 2020
Cindy-Lee Dennis, Hilary K. Brown, Sarah Brennenstuhl, Summer Haddad, Flavia C. Marini, Robyn Stremler
The primary outcome was use of bed-sharing. Women were provided a list of places their baby may have slept at night in the past week: crib, bassinet, adult bed or mattress, sofa or chair, playpen, stroller, carseat, swing, on mother or partner, or other. When women indicated that they used a particular location, they were asked how many nights per week they used that location, for what portion of the night (≥ 50%, 25% to < 50%, or < 25%) and whether the location was shared. Predominant bed-sharing was defined as an infant sharing a bed or mattress for more than half the night, on more than half the nights of the preceding week. Any bed-sharing was defined as an infant sharing an adult bed or mattress for any part of the night on any number of nights in the preceding week. The same questions on sleep location were asked at 4 and 12 weeks postpartum.
Early Childhood Co-Sleeping Predicts Behavior Problems in Preadolescence: A Prospective Cohort Study
Published in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 2021
Zehang Chen, Ying Dai, Xianchen Liu, Jianghong Liu
Childhood co-sleeping practice remains a controversial topic in pediatrics (Mileva-Seitz et al., 2017). While the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against bed-sharing during infancy (Moon, 2016), pediatricians have differing positions on the topic (Schaeffer & Asnes, 2018). The gap between health guidelines and practice also exists in China. The latest Chinese guidelines for sleep hygiene among children aged 0–5 years recommend that preschool children should sleep in their own bed, and ideally should have solitary sleeping (National Health Commission of the People Republic of China, 2017). Yet co-sleeping in the Chinese family remains common practice, with the prevalence of co-sleeping ranging from 60% in infancy and preschool age to 37.63% in school age and 25.4% in preadolescence (Huang et al., 2016; Li et al., 2009; Z. Liu et al., 2016).
Bedtime behaviors: Parental mental health, parental sleep, parental accommodation, and children’s sleep disturbance
Published in Children's Health Care, 2020
Caroline M. Roberts, Kristina L. Harper, Steven L. Bistricky, Mary B. Short
Reactive bed sharing, a specific form of accommodation, was also significantly related to children’s disturbance in sleep initiation and maintenance. A regular pattern of reactive bed sharing also may reinforce the child’s disturbance in sleep initiation and maintenance (Cassels, 2013; Mileva-Seitz et al., 2017) and may limit the child’s development of self-soothing techniques. This is consistent with previous research that has shown bed sharing to be related to children’s sleep problems (Cortesi et al., 2008; Coulombe & Reid, 2014; Jenni, Fuhrer, Iglowstein, Molinari, & Largo, 2005; Jiang et al., 2016; Keller & Goldberg, 2004). Sleeping with a parent may impact sleep due to environmental disturbances (e.g., less room in the bed, more noise, later bedtime). Additionally, the proximity of parent and child may heighten parental awareness of the child and result in increased additional attention and accommodation behaviors. Thus, disturbances in sleep initiation and maintenance, such as bedtime resistance behaviors, would be reinforced on a more frequent and immediate schedule. As with other parental accommodations, the parent’s presence becomes conditioned as if it is necessary for the child to sleep, and thus, lack of parental presence promotes distress and difficulty falling asleep.