Mother-child bed-sharing trajectories and psychiatric disorders at the age of 6 years

Abstract

BackgroundLittle is known about the effect of bed-sharing with the mother over the child mental health.MethodsPopulation-based birth cohort conducted in Pelotas, Brazil. Children were enrolled at birth (n=4231) and followed-up at 3 months and at 1, 2, 4, and 6 years of age. Bed-sharing was defined as “habitual sharing of the bed between the child and the mother, for sleeping, for part of the night or the whole night”. Trajectories of bed sharing between 3 months and 6 years of age were calculated. Mental health was assessed at the age of 6 years using the Development and Well-Being Assessment instrument that generates psychiatric diagnosis according to ICD-10 and DSM-IV criteria. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals were obtained by multivariate logistic regression.Results3583 children were analyzed. Four trajectories were identified: non bed-sharers (44.4%), early-only (36.2%), late-onset (12.0%), and persistent bed-sharers (7.4%). In the adjusted analyses persistent bed-sharers were at increased odds of presenting any psychiatric disorder (OR=1.7; 1.2–2.5) and internalizing problems (OR=2.1; 1.4–3.1), as compared to non bed-sharers. Among the early-only bed-sharers OR for any psychiatric disorder was 1.4 (1.1–1.8) and for internalizing problems 1.6 (1.2–2.1).LimitationsAlthough the effect of bed-sharing was adjusted for several covariates including the family socio-economic status, maternal mental health and excessive crying, there was no information on maternal personal reasons for bed-sharing. Mothers that bed-share intentionally and those that bed-share in reaction to a child sleep problem may have a different interpretation of their children behavior that may bias the study results.ConclusionBed-sharing is a common practice in our setting and is associated with impaired child mental health at the age of six years.

Cosleeping, sleep disturbances, children's behavioral problems, and parenting self‐efficacy among Korean American families

“…The lack of significant difference in children's behavioral problems found in this study between the cosleeping and non‐cosleeping groups is not consistent with previous findings that showed that cosleeping children had increased psychiatric disorders and internalizing problems (Santos et al., ) and more behavioral and emotional problems (Cortesi et al., ) when compared to non‐cosleeping children. This difference may be due to different study samples.…”

“…In the United States, where there are no warm floors, Korean American mothers maintain cosleeping with their child on beds. The finding that the younger the child the higher the cosleeping frequency is consistent with existing evidence from the Netherlands (Luijk et al., ), Brazil (Santos et al., ), Italy (Cortesi et al., ), and Korean families in Korea (Yang & Hahn, ).…”

“…The current study sample included children between 3 and 8 years of age, whereas Santos et al. () included a cohort of 6‐year‐olds and Cortesi et al. () study recruited school‐aged children (5–9 years) with bedtime problems from an outpatient sleep clinic.…”

“…The findings about cosleeping and children's behavior problems are mixed (Mileva‐Seitz et al., ). Some researchers found more behavioral problems among cosleeping children than non‐cosleeping children (2–13 years) in the United States (Pressman & Imber, ) and young children (3 months–6 years) in Brazil (Santos et al., ), while others found no differences among school age children in Italy (Cortesi et al., ) and children who were followed from mother's pregnancy through ages 18 in the United States (Okami, Weisner, & Olmstead, ). Also, not much is known about cosleeping mothers’ sleep disturbances or their parenting self‐efficacy, compared with non‐cosleeping groups.…”

“…Cosleeping children (2–13 years) had more behavior and learning problems at school (Pressman & Imber, ). In a longitudinal study conducted in Brazil, persistently cosleeping children had more psychiatric disorders and internalizing problems at age 6 than non‐cosleeping children (Santos et al., ). Meanwhile, other studies found no difference in children's behavioral problems between cosleeping and non‐cosleeping groups among toddlers in the United States (Madansky & Edelbrock, ), toddlers in Finland (Sourander, ), and school‐aged children in Italy (Cortesi et al., , ).…”