Bedtime Parenting Practices Associated with Social-emotional Competence in Thai Infants

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to determine the association between bedtime parenting practices and infant social-emotional competence (SEC). Material and Methods: Data from a birth cohort called: Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children, were analyzed. Information on bedtime parenting and infant’s sleep information were collected at 3 and 12 months of age. Modified Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (MITSEA) were used to measure the SEC at 12 months of age. All participating infants with a MITSEA score >75th percentile were classified as having high SEC. The association between bedtime parenting practices and high SEC were analyzed using multiple logistic regression. Results: Data from 2,109 infants were analyzed (male:female=1:1). Median age of mothers was 26 years. Ninety-two percent of caregivers shared a bed with their infants, at either their 3rd- or 12th-month-visits. Two-thirds of the caregivers reported bed sharing at both visits. About 70.0% of caregivers fed their infants until the infant fell asleep, and about two-thirds responded to infant’s awakening with milk feeding. Infants who were never fed until falling asleep were more likely to have high SEC, compared with infants who were always fed until sleep (odds ratio 1.49; 95% confidence interval 1.14, 1.96). Bed sharing showed no association with a high SEC. Older, female mothers, higher socioeconomic status and quality time were associated with a high SEC. Conclusion: The bedtime parenting practice associated with a high SEC was: “non-feeding until falling asleep”. Bed sharing, which was a popular practice in this cohort, showed no association with high SEC.

Keywords

• bedtime
• infant
• parenting
• sleep
• social-emotional competence