Relationship between family environmental factors and infant sleep: Family factors and infant sleep

TL;DR

This study explores how family factors like parenting style and stress affect infant sleep in Finnish families.

Contribution

The study identifies specific family environmental factors linked to infant sleep problems using longitudinal data from Finnish families.

Findings

Higher parenting stress and physical soothing methods are associated with more problematic infant sleep.

A more active family climate is weakly linked to shorter sleep onset latency in infants.

Control-oriented parenting shows a weak association with higher sleep problem severity scores.

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between infant sleep and parenting style, family climate, parenting stress, and soothing methods among Finnish families. Mothers completed questionnaires before birth and when their infants were 3 and 8 months old. Initially, 1667 mothers participated, with follow‐up responses from 1421 mothers and 1427 infants at 3 months and 1298 mothers and 1302 infants at 8 months. A cross‐sectional data analysis was conducted using linear regression to examine the four sleep‐related outcome variables, and parallel multivariable regression models were built using backward stepwise selection. Predictors were selected based on statistical significance in the pre‐screening regression analyses. Models controlled for maternal age at birth, infant gender, older siblings, breastfeeding, and maternal education. The findings indicate that higher parenting stress, and active and passive physical soothing styles are associated with more problematic sleep. A higher control showed a weak association with higher sleep problem severity scores, whereas a more active recreationally oriented family climate was weakly associated with shorter sleep onset latency. This study contributes to the current body of research on children's sleeping problems and the family environment, and it would be beneficial for social and healthcare services to take these findings into account.

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