This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mosko, S.
Right arrow Articles by McKenna, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mosko, S.
Right arrow Articles by McKenna, J.
Related Collections
Right arrow Office Practice

PEDIATRICS Vol. 100 No. 5 November 1997, pp. 841-849

Infant Arousals During Mother-Infant Bed Sharing: Implications for Infant Sleep and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Research

Received Dec 6, 1996; accepted Mar 17, 1997.

Sarah Mosko*, Christopher Richard*, and James McKennaDagger

From the * Department of Neurology, University of California Irvine Medical Center, Orange, California; and the Dagger  Department of Anthropology, Pomona College, Claremont, California.

Objective.  Normative values for infant sleep architecture have been established exclusively in the solitary sleeping environment. However, most of the world's cultures practice some form of parent-infant cosleeping. In addition, no previous polysomnographic studies in infants examined the frequency of electroencephalogram (EEG) arousals. This is the first study to assess (a) EEG arousals in infants and their relationship to sleep stages; (b) the impact on arousals of mother-infant bed sharing; and (c) the temporal overlap of infant with maternal arousals during bed sharing.

Methodology.  Three nights of polysomnography were performed in 35 breastfeeding mother-infant pairs when the infants were 11 to 15 weeks old. An adaptation night was followed by one bed sharing night and one solitary sleeping night. Twenty infants had been bed sharing since birth and 15 were routine solitary sleepers. Both epochal awakenings (EWs), based on 30-second epoch scoring of sleep-wake stages, and more transient arousals (TAs) >= 3 seconds were quantified.

Results.  Stage 3-4 sleep was associated with a striking paucity of EWs and TAs compared with stages 1-2 or rapid eye movement sleep. Bed sharing facilitated EWs and TAs selectively during stage 3-4 sleep. EWs from stage 3-4 sleep were more frequent on the bed sharing night than on the solitary night in both infant groups. Routinely bed sharing infants also exhibited more frequent TAs in stage 3-4 than the routine solitary sleepers in both conditions. In both groups, the number of infant arousals (EWs + TAs) that overlapped the mother's was doubled during bed sharing, with infant arousals leading most often.

Conclusions.  Mother-infant bed sharing promotes infant arousals. Together with a previous report that bed sharing reduces stage 3-4 sleep, this suggests that normative values for infant sleep must be interpreted within the context of the sleeping environment in which they were established. Given that arousability is diminished in stage 3-4, we speculate that, under otherwise safe conditions, the observed changes in stage 3-4 sleep and arousals associated with bed sharing might be protective to infants at risk for SIDS because of a hypothesized arousal deficit. The responsivity of the mother to infant arousals during bed sharing might also be protective.

Key words: bed sharing, cosleeping, solitary sleeping, infant arousals, SIDS, infant sleep.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Arch Pediatr Adolesc MedHome page
V. Simard, T. A. Nielsen, R. E. Tremblay, M. Boivin, and J. Y. Montplaisir
Longitudinal Study of Preschool Sleep Disturbance: The Predictive Role of Maladaptive Parental Behaviors, Early Sleep Problems, and Child/Mother Psychological Factors
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, April 1, 2008; 162(4): 360 - 367.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Arch. Dis. Child.Home page
E A Mitchell
Recommendations for sudden infant death syndrome prevention: a discussion document
Arch. Dis. Child., February 1, 2007; 92(2): 155 - 159.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 PediatricsHome page
S. A. Baddock, B. C. Galland, B. J. Taylor, and D. P.G. Bolton
Sleep Arrangements and Behavior of Bed-Sharing Families in the Home Setting
Pediatrics, January 1, 2007; 119(1): e200 - e207.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 PediatricsHome page
Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
The Changing Concept of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Diagnostic Coding Shifts, Controversies Regarding the Sleeping Environment, and New Variables to Consider in Reducing Risk
Pediatrics, November 1, 2005; 116(5): 1245 - 1255.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Arch Pediatr Adolesc MedHome page
E. Touchette, D. Petit, J. Paquet, M. Boivin, C. Japel, R. E. Tremblay, and J. Y. Montplaisir
Factors Associated With Fragmented Sleep at Night Across Early Childhood
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, March 1, 2005; 159(3): 242 - 249.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 PediatricsHome page
Section on Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk
Pediatrics, February 1, 2005; 115(2): 496 - 506.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 PediatricsHome page
F. R. Hauck, S. M. Herman, M. Donovan, S. Iyasu, C. Merrick Moore, E. Donoghue, R. H. Kirschner, and M. Willinger
Sleep Environment and the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in an Urban Population: The Chicago Infant Mortality Study
Pediatrics, May 1, 2003; 111(5): 1207 - 1214.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Arch Pediatr Adolesc MedHome page
R. A. Brenner, B. G. Simons-Morton, B. Bhaskar, M. Revenis, A. Das, and J. D. Clemens
Infant-Parent Bed Sharing in an Inner-City Population
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, January 1, 2003; 157(1): 33 - 39.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Arch Pediatr Adolesc MedHome page
M. Willinger, C.-W. Ko, H. J. Hoffman, R. C. Kessler, and M. J. Corwin
Trends in Infant Bed Sharing in the United States, 1993-2000: The National Infant Sleep Position Study
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, January 1, 2003; 157(1): 43 - 49.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 CLIN PEDIATRHome page
S. M. Weimer, T. L. Dise, P. B. Evers, M. A. Ortiz, W. Welidaregay, and W. C. Steinmann
Prevalence, Predictors, and Attitudes Toward Cosleeping in an Urban Pediatric Center
Clinical Pediatrics, July 1, 2002; 41(6): 433 - 438.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Arch. Dis. Child.Home page
M Arnestad, M Andersen, A Vege, and T O Rognum
Changes in the epidemiological pattern of sudden infant death syndrome in southeast Norway, 1984-1998: implications for future prevention and research
Arch. Dis. Child., August 1, 2001; 85(2): 108 - 115.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J Hum LactHome page
M. J. Heinig
Bed Sharing and Infant Mortality: Guilt by Association?
J Hum Lact, August 1, 2000; 16(3): 189 - 191.
[PDF]

Home page
 PediatricsHome page
M. O'Hara, R. Harruff, J. E. Smialek, D. R. Fowler;, D. A. Drago;, J. J. McKenna, L. M. Gartner;, D. A. Drago;, D. Servan-Schreiber;, and D. A. Drago
Sleep Location and Suffocation: How Good Is the Evidence?
Pediatrics, April 1, 2000; 105(4): 915a - 920.
[Full Text]

Home page
 PediatricsHome page
F. R. Hauck, J. S. Kemp;, J. Kattwinkel;, and J. J. McKenna
Bedsharing Promotes Breastfeeding and AAP Task Force on Infant Positioning and SIDS
Pediatrics, September 1, 1998; 102(3): 662 - 664.
[Full Text] [PDF]