Relationship between sleep problems of children at 4 months and 3 years and mother's sleep/health from a longitudinal study of infant health examinations

Abstract

Objectives: Sleep problems during infancy, such as crying at night and difficulty falling asleep, are obstacles to the health of mothers, but there are few studies on the actual conditions of mothers and babies during infancy, and the details of these problems are still unknown. In this study, changes in maternal sleep problems at 4 months and 3 years of age, changes in and the association between the child's sleep problems and the mother's sleep and health. The main purpose of this study was to determine whether there were differences in sleep and sleep problems between mothers and infants who had sleep problems at 4 months and 3 years of age and those who appeared at 3 years of age.

Methods: The subjects were 249 pairs of mothers and infants who underwent a 4-month and 3-year-old child medical examination and agreed to the survey. Among them, we divided the children with sleep problems at 4 months and 3 years old (18 people, 4M3Y group), children who had no problems at 4 months but had at 3 years old (22 people, 3Y group), children who had no problems at 3years old (209 people , control group), and compared the sleep of the mother and baby with the health status of the mother.

Results: The sleep of the 3-year-old child in the 4M3Y group was significantly later than the control group in getting to bed, falling asleep, waking up time. In addition, the 4M3Y group showed bedside refusal and the 3Y group showed difficulty in waking up in the morning. All mothers in the 4M3Y group had sleep disturbances at 4 months, had higher rates of morning waking difficulties and daytime sleepiness than the other two groups, had significantly more mothers with health problems than the other two groups, and had more anxiety and hand and arm pain than the control group, but there was no difference between the three groups at 3 years.

Conclusion: The 4M3Y group was characterized by late sleeping and waking up late, and their mothers had poor sleep and health status at 4 months.