Mothers' postpartum sleep disturbance is associated with the ability to sustain sensitivity toward infants

Abstract

Infancy is a period of rapid development when the quality of caregiving behavior may be particularly consequential for children's long-term functioning. During this critical period for caregiving behavior, parents experience changes in their sleep that may affect their ability to provide sensitive care. The current study investigated the association of mothers' sleep disturbance with both levels and trajectories of maternal sensitivity during interactions with their infants. At 18 weeks postpartum, mothers and their infants were observed during a home-based ten-minute "free play" interaction. Mothers' nighttime sleep was objectively measured using actigraphy and subjectively measured using sleep diaries. Maternal sensitivity was coded in two-minute intervals in order to characterize changes in sensitivity across the free play interaction. We used exploratory factor analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the objective and subjective measures of mothers' sleep, identifying a subjective sleep disturbance and an objective sleep continuity factor. Using multi-level modeling, we found that mothers with poorer objective sleep continuity evidenced decreasing sensitivity toward their infants across the interaction. Mothers' self-reports of sleep disturbance were not associated with maternal sensitivity. Although future research is necessary to identify the mechanisms that may explain the observed association between poor sleep continuity and the inability to sustain sensitivity toward infants, mothers' postpartum sleep continuity may be one factor to consider when designing interventions to improve the quality of caregiving.

Maternal nighttime sleep and infant–mother attachment security: The mediating role of maternal parenting quality during bedtime and free play.

“…The disagreements between self-report (e.g., daily diaries) and objective measurements (e.g., actigraphy) of sleep have been reported across several studies, and these discrepancies may be due to potential biases in individuals’ subjective estimate of sleep (Girschik et al, 2012; Jackson et al, 2020). Indeed, King et al (2020) found no association between maternal subjective sleep (i.e., nighttime sleep duration, number of night wakings, wake time after sleep onset, and perceived sleep quality) and maternal sensitivity toward infants during free-play interaction. However, they found actigraphic sleep continuity but not sleep duration to be predictive of changes in maternal sensitivity during interactions.…”

Sleep Quality of Mothers of Premature Infants after Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Discharge

“…Also, maternal sleep quality may cause problems with parenting quality. King et al [33] have reported that mothers with poorer sleep continuity have decreased sensitivity toward their infants.…”

Longitudinal relations between parents’ sleep problems and harsh parenting.

“…Consistent with a family systems perspective, individuals’ sleep problems have been linked with multiple aspects of family functioning (e.g., marital conflict; El-Sheikh & Kelly, 2017; McHale et al, 2017). With specific regard to parenting, several important studies have examined sleep and functioning of mothers of infants (e.g., Bai et al, 2019; King et al, 2020). Suprisingly limited work has considered children after infancy, nevertheless existing findings are compelling and indicate that sleep problems exacerbate risk for negative parenting behaviors.…”