Healthcare (Jun 2024)

Exploring the Relationship between Co-Sleeping, Maternal Mental Health and Expression of Complaints during Infancy, and Breastfeeding

  • Marilena Vogiatzoglou,
  • Maria Iliadou,
  • Evangelia Antoniou,
  • Ewa Andersson,
  • Irina Mrvoljak-Theodoropoulou,
  • Calliope Dagla,
  • Dimitra Sotiropoulou,
  • Eleni Tsolaridou,
  • Eirini Orovou,
  • Eirini Tomara,
  • Maria Dagla

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12131278
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 13
p. 1278

Abstract

Read online

Background: This study explores whether the implementation of co-sleeping in infants aged 6–12 months (a) is associated with maternal complaints and mothers’ difficulties regarding their infant’s sleep, (b) is associated with maternal mental health, (c) affects infant sleep characteristics and maternal sleep quality, and (d) is associated with breastfeeding. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study conducted from July to November 2021. A total of 151 new mothers of infants aged 6–12 months participated. All participants were divided into two different groups, the group of mothers who adopted the co-sleeping method from birth up to the time of the survey and the group of those who did not adopt co-sleeping at that time. The Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire—Revised Short Form (BISQ-R SF), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and a questionnaire on mothers’ demographics were administered. Results: Regarding the mothers’ complaints, mothers who co-sleep with their children have lower sleep quality than those who do not co-sleep. In respect of the mothers’ mental health, there did not seem to be a statistically significant difference in the two groups. Regarding the difficulties during the sleep process, children who sleep with their parents seem to have more difficulties compared to the others (p = 0.008). It was also shown that co-sleeping children seem to have more disturbed sleep compared to those who sleep alone (p = 0.018), and a general trend obtained of a significantly higher number of awakenings for co-sleeping children (p p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study showed that co-sleeping is associated with more difficulties in infant and maternal sleep, but no direct correlation with maternal mental health was found. In addition, it showed a positive correlation of co-sleeping with breastfeeding.

Keywords