The sleep of co‐sleeping infants when they are not co‐sleeping: Evidence that co‐sleeping is stressful

Abstract

Co-sleeping proponents consider the practice to be "natural" and a potential protection against sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS); others consider the practice of an infant sleeping in the parents' bed for prolonged periods at night to place an infant at risk for harm or death. For this study, co-sleeping was investigated from a different perspective, that is, as a significant early experience to investigate as it may have implications for the infant's development. The sleep of 101 normal, full-term infants was recorded nonintrusively in the home for 24 hr periods when they were 5 weeks and 6 months old. Infants were assigned to three groups: short-term co-sleepers, long-term co-sleepers, and non-co-sleepers. Their sleep states and wakefulness were compared at the two ages and over age. At 5 weeks and 6 months, the long-term co-sleeping infants differed significantly from the non-co-sleepers on a number of measures: At 5 weeks, they showed more quiet sleep and longer bouts of quiet sleep; and at 6 months, they also showed less active sleep, fewer arousals in active sleep, and less wakefulness. Each of these differences indicates a markedly lower arousal level in the long-term co-sleeping infants. This sleep pattern has been repeatedly found to be an indicator of stress. We infer that a major source of stress for these infants is the experience of sleep disturbance documented for infants when they were co-sleeping. Based on extensive evidence for long-term effects of early stress, we conclude that co-sleeping should have significant implications for infants' neurobehavioral development.

A Comparison of the Sleep?Wake Patterns of Cosleeping and Solitary-Sleeping Infants

“…The mean maternal age for the cosleeping group was 29.3 years (range 18-36), while the mean maternal age for the solitary-sleeping group was 29.1 years (range [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Five of the cosleeping families (62.5%) were middle-upper class, whereas six of the solitary-sleeping families (66.7%) were middle-upper class.…”

“…17 Complementary to the results reported by Mosko and colleagues, 17 when routinely cosleeping infants sleep alone, they display fewer awakenings and more time in quiet sleep at 6 months of age. 19 Mosko and colleagues 20 also have reported on the proximity and positioning of mothers and their 11-15-week-old infants during bedsharing nights. Video recordings revealed that mothers and infants spent 64 ± 27% of the time sleeping face-to-face at distances less than 20-cm apart.…”

Infant Growth in Length Follows Prolonged Sleep and Increased Naps

“…37 Decreased time in slow wave sleep has been found among children with psychosocial dwarfism 38 and young adults with isolated growth hormone deficiency. 39 In the present study, not only did length growth saltations follow increased napping and longer sleep, but the co-sleeping infant experienced less sleep fragmentation, 40 common in cosleeping infants and specifically associated with reduced stages 3-4 sleep. 41 Thus, the co-sleeping infant's decreased arousals suggest increased time in sleep stages 3-4 prior to growth spurts.…”

Problemas de abordagem difícil: "não come" e "não dorme"

“…Também fazem parte destas rotinas inadequadas as associações para dormir, como, por exemplo, colocar o lactente em seu berço já adormecido, acalentá-lo até dormir em contacto físico com ele, no colo ou na cama dos pais, ou através do uso de chupetas ou mamadeiras; essas crianças aprendem a associar o início do sono a alguma forma de intervenção dos pais e se tornam inaptas em adormecer por conta própria. Nas crianças maiores e adolescentes, associações danosas são a televisão e o rá-dio [33][34][35] . Não é incomum a presença de uma mãe deprimida, pais hiper-responsivos, síndrome da criança vulnerável ou a inabilidade dos pais em participar da vida da criança durante o dia.…”