Parental Misperceptions About Infant Sleep as a Moderator Between Co-Sleeping and Infant Sleep
Co-sleeping had low prevalence and was associated with higher levels of parental misperception about infant sleep, and Parental misperceptions about infantSleep may be an important factor to consider in pediatric sleep.
Abstract
Objectives: Co-sleeping is defined as caregivers and infants sleeping in the same place or room. The purpose of this study was to investigate associations between co-sleeping, infant sleep, and parental misperceptions about infant sleep. Methods: The participants were 832 English-speaking caregivers. Most of the sample comprised of mothers (70.79%). The infants ages ranged from 6 to 12 months. All participants completed the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire-Revised and Parental Understanding and Misperceptions about BAby’s Sleep-Questionnaire in an online survey. Infant sleep and nighttime parental intervention were recorded using auto-videosomnography. The chi-square, non-parametric covariance analysis, and moderation analysis were conducted to analyze the results. Results: Among the respondents, 771 (92.70%) report-ed that their infants were in the solitary-sleeping group and 61 (7.30%), in the co-sleeping group. Parental misperceptions about infant sleep were higher in the co-sleeping group (29.67±11.28) than the solitary-sleeping group (23.5±10.79; p <0.001). The co-sleeping group had lower total sleep time (523.51±76.38) compared to the solitary-sleeping group (604.91±61.29; p <0.001) based on auto-videosomnography. The moderating effect of parental misperceptions about infant sleep in the relationship between parent-reported infant number of awakenings during the night (NWAK) and co-sleeping was significant (B=0.033, p =0.017). Conclusions: Co-sleeping had low prevalence in this study compared to solitary-sleeping. Co-sleeping was associated with higher levels of parental misperception about infant sleep. Additionally, in the case of co-sleeping caregivers, a higher misperception about infant sleep was more strongly associated with parent-reported infant NWAK. Parental misperceptions about infant sleep may be an important factor to consider in pediatric sleep.