“Ghosts in the Nursery:” Infant sleep and sleep-related cognitions of parents raised under communal sleeping arrangements
✍ Scribed by Liat Tikotzky; Ruth Sharabany; Idit Hirsch; Avi Sadeh
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 388 KB
- Volume
- 31
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0163-9641
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
In an experiment of nature, a normal cohort of parents who were raised under communal sleeping arrangements (CSA) in Israeli kibbutzim are raising their infants at home under home‐based family sleeping arrangements. The present study focused on exploring the links between the early sleep experiences of CSA parents and their present sleep‐related beliefs and behaviors. In particular, the study assessed whether the cognitions of CSA parents regarding infant sleep differ from cognitions of parents who were raised under home‐based family sleeping arrangements. Furthermore, parental soothing methods and infant sleep patterns were compared. One hundred forty‐one families participated in this study. The children's ages ranged between 4.5 to 30 months. Parental cognitions were evaluated by two questionnaires. Infant sleep was assessed by a questionnaire and by daily parental reports. As expected, CSA parents were more likely than were control parents to: (a) interpret infant night wakings as a sign of distress and (b) actively soothe their infants at bedtime, co‐sleep with them, and report more night wakings of their infants. These findings support the hypothesis that early childhood sleep‐related experiences of parents (“Ghosts in the Nursery”) influence their parental sleep‐related cognitions that in turn affect infant sleep patterns.