The ontogeny of diurnal rhythmicity in bed-sharing and solitary-sleeping infants: a preliminary report

✍ Scribed by Melissa M. Burnham

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 195 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1522-7227
• DOI: 10.1002/icd.520

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the development of sleep–wake and melatonin diurnal rhythms over the first 3 months of life, and the potential effect of bed‐sharing on their development. It was hypothesized that increased maternal contact through bed‐sharing would affect the development of rhythms in human infants. Ten solitary‐sleeping and 8 bed‐sharing infants' sleep–wake patterns and melatonin secretion were examined for 72 h at 1 and 3 months of age in their homes. Infants wore actigraphs on their ankles to study sleep–wake patterns. 6‐Sulphatoxymelatonin was obtained through urine extracted from each diaper used over the 72‐h study period. No significant differences were apparent in the timing of appearance or magnitude of sleep–wake or melatonin rhythms between bed‐sharing and solitary‐sleeping infants. Sleep–wake results were in the expected direction, with bed‐sharing infants displaying more robust rhythms. A large degree of individual variability was evident in both rhythms, especially at 1 month. Three infants' parents regularly used a bright light source at night for feedings and diaper changes; the rhythms of these infants were less robust than the rest of the sample. Trends were mostly in the hypothesized direction and deserve attempts at replication with a larger sample. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.