Cosleeping and Sleep Problems in Hispanic-American Urban Young Children

Abstract

To assess whether the traditional pediatric prohibition against cosleeping in the parental bed requires reconsideration for urban ethnic minorities, cosleeping and sleep problems were studied in a sample of Hispanic-American, east Harlem, New York City, children 6 to 48 months of age. The incidence of frequent all-night cosleeping was found to be 21%, significantly higher than the documented rate of 6% found in a representative sample of white middle-American urban children of the same age and sex. For occcasional cosleeping, however, there were no significant ethnic differences, and frequent part-night cosleeping was significantly less common than noted in the white sample. There were greater ethnic differences for sharing the parental bedroom compared with cosleeping in the parental bed, approximately 80% for Hispanic-Americans vs 10% for the white population. Within the Hispanic-American group, frequent all-night cosleeping was significantly more common among single parents and those living in multiple households and less common among infants and later-born children in the family. Frequent all-night cosleeping was also significantly associated with sleep problems.

The context of preschool children's sleep: Racial/ethnic differences in sleep locations, routines, and concerns.

“…As with earlier studies (e.g., Lozoff et al, 1996; Schachter, Fuchs, Bijur, & Stone, 1989; Spilsbury et al, 2004), we found that sleep locations differed by racial/ethnic group. Across these studies, results have consistently shown that young children in racial/ethnic minority families are more likely to sleep with a parent relative to children in White families.…”

Social network characteristics associated with health promoting behaviors among Latinos.

“…Sleep duration of parents with many children approaches that of parents with fewer children as children transition into adulthood. Sleep problems have been associated with cosleeping with children, a practice significantly more common among Latino than non-Hispanic White women (Colson et al, 2013; Schachter, Fuchs, Bijur, & Stone, 1989). Family members were also expected to be related to not meeting the recommendation for sleep among women as they may be an indicator of greater demands.…”

Parents and children sleeping together: Cosleeping prevalence and concerns.

“…In one study, urban African-American preschoolers were twice as likely (70%) to cosleep as were Caucasian preschoolers (35%) (Lozoff et al, 1984). Using the same research design, a study of Hispanic-American preschoolers found a slightly higher rate of cosleeping (40%) than was found for the Caucasian preschoolers (Schacter et al, 1989). Cosleeping was found to be more common in multiple family and single-parent households, but no relationship was found for housing density.…”

“…Subjects in the 15 studies ranged in age from six months to 18 years. Most studies primarily involved Caucasian subjects, although two were of large samples of African Americans (Lozoff, Wolf, & Davis, 1984) and Hispanic Americans (Schacter, Fuchs, Bijun, & Stone, 1989).…”

“…Simonds and Parraga (1982) defined it as the child’s insistence on sleeping with other family members at frequencies ranging from once or more weekly to at least once per six months. In other studies (Lozoff et al, 1984; Schacter et al, 1989), cosleeping referred to sleeping in the same bed more than once per month. Still others have inquired about the child’s history of coming into the parents’ bed when ill or frightened (Rosenfeld, Wenegrat, Haavik, Wenegrat, & Smith, 1982), and the frequency of sleeping in the parents’ bedroom (Ragins & Schacter, 1971).…”