Study Objectives This study assessed and compared mothers’ and fathers’ sleep trajectories from pregnancy and throughout the first year of the infant’s life. We also examined associations between maternal, paternal, and infant sleep. Methods Two hundred and thirty-two couples were recruited for the study during pregnancy. Data were collected at pregnancy and at 4, 8, and 12 months postpartum. Maternal, paternal, and infant sleep were monitored at home for seven nights, using actigraphy, sleep diaries, and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). Results Mothers showed more impaired sleep quality than fathers, at all assessments, whereas fathers had shorter sleep duration. Based on the ISI, about 70% of mothers and 50% of fathers showed at least sub-clinical insomnia at the different assessments. Trajectory analyses (controlling for feeding method and sleeping arrangements) demonstrated a significant deterioration in diary-based and actigraphy sleep quality for both parents, from pregnancy to 4 months. Both parents and infants had an increase in sleep quality from 4 to 12 months, though some parental sleep variables showed a quadratic pattern with a decrease in sleep quality at 8 months. Statistically significant triadic associations at the different assessments were found between mothers’, fathers’, and infants’ sleep. Maternal and infant sleep measures were more strongly correlated than paternal and infant sleep. Conclusions The findings highlight the importance of considering the family context of sleep, by demonstrating similarities and differences in the changes that sleep undergoes in new mothers and fathers and by showing how sleep is interrelated between all family members.

Study Objectives This study explored the links between mothers’ objective and subjective sleep and their caregiving feelings toward their infant (i.e., patience for the infant, desire to be with the infant, and anger toward the infant), using a diary study design. We were particularly interested in examining whether nights of lower sleep quality within individual mothers predict more negative maternal caregiving feelings the following day. Methods The sample included 151 women, who were recruited during pregnancy. Data were collected at 4 and 8 months after delivery. Maternal sleep was monitored at home for seven nights using actigraphy and sleep diaries. Mothers rated their caregiving feelings each evening. Results Multilevel modelling (controlling for depressive symptoms, feeding method, and background variables) revealed that actigraphic and subjective sleep variables were associated with maternal caregiving feeling, both at the between- and within- person levels. For example, lower sleep percent predicted reduced levels of maternal patience for the infant at 4 and 8 months (between-person effect). Moreover, when a mother had a lower sleep percent on a given night (compared to her average), she reported lower levels of patience for her infant the following day (within-person prospective effect). Conclusion The findings demonstrate, for the first time, that maternal nightly variations in objective and subjective sleep quality predict daily changes in maternal feelings toward her infant at two different assessment points. Improving maternal sleep quality might be an important target for future interventions which may help mothers to feel more positively toward their infant.

This longitudinal study examined the development of mother-infant objective and reported sleep quality and duration in solo-mother families (i.e., mothers who decided to parent alone) in comparison to two-parent families. We recruited 134 solo mothers and 161 married mothers during pregnancy, most representing the middle to upper socioeconomic class in Israel. Assessments were conducted during pregnancy and at 4 and 8 months postpartum. Maternal and infant sleep were assessed with actigraphy and sleep diaries for 7 nights. Questionnaires were used to assess maternal insomnia symptoms, sleepiness, sleeping arrangements, and background variables. The comparison of sleep between solo-mother and two-parent families, at each assessment point, showed no differences in sleep duration, and only a few differences in sleep quality measures; these were partially explained by maternal age and breastfeeding. Nevertheless, solo mothers were more likely to share a bed with their infants. In both groups, trajectory analyses showed a decrease in maternal actigraphic and diary sleep quality measures from pregnancy to 4 months, followed by an increase from 4 to 8 months. However, maternal insomnia symptoms first declined, and then increased, and maternal sleep duration first lengthened and then shortened. Infant actigraphic and diary sleep quality increased in both groups from 4 to 8 months, whereas sleep duration decreased only in the "solo" group. In general, the findings suggest that objective and subjective sleep quality and sleep duration of solo-mother families, a growing yet unexplored family structure, do not seem to be significantly affected by the absence of a second parent. Public Significance StatementThis study examined, for the first time, the development of objective and reported sleep in solo mothers (i.e., mothers who decided to parent alone) and their infants in comparison to two-parent families. The findings revealed only small differences between the groups, suggesting that sleep quality in solomother families, a growing yet unexplored family structure, does not seem to be significantly affected by the absence of a second parent.