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Mom's mood, baby's sleep: what's the connection? |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: If there's one thing that everyone knows about newborn babies, it's that they don't sleep through the night, and neither do their parents. But in fact, those first six months of life are crucial to developing the regular sleeping and waking patterns, known as circadian rhythms, that a child will need for a healthy future. Babies whose mothers experienced depression any time before they became pregnant, or developed mood problems while they were pregnant, are much more prone to having chaotic sleep patterns in the first half-year of life than babies born to non-depressed moms, the team has found. For instance, infants born to depressed moms nap more during the day, take much longer to settle down to sleep at night, and wake up more often during the night. Not only does this add to parents' sleepless nights, but it may help set these children up for their own depression later in life. "Keeping a very regular sleep schedule is incredibly important," says Armitage. The moms began wearing the devices during the last trimester of pregnancy, and then after their babies were born the team fitted each child with a tiny actigraph at the age of two weeks. "We think we've identified one of the risk factors that may contribute to these infants' going on to develop depression later in life," says Armitage. By four months of age, a baby's sleep schedule should have become regular, more focused on nighttime sleep, and their blocks of sleep more "consolidated" or longer -- especially at night.
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