The Relationship between a Baby's Age and Sleepiness in a Sample of Mothers

The parents, especially the mother, after the birth of a baby, have a frequent practical query concerning how long the time during which they have to go with less and more fragmented sleep actually lasts. 

Most of the studies have only addressed this issue up to 6 months of the newborn's life, and thus only little is known about the sleep problems the mothers may have after this initial period. 

A recent study examined the relationship between sleep disruption and daytime sleepiness of mothers with infants until 2 years old compared to a group of women currently not at care of babies. 

A total of 113 women, with 67 currently bringing up a baby under 2 years old, and the remainder without a baby in their care under 6 years old, reported sleep duration, sleep interruptions, sleep quality, and answered questionnaires about sleep quality and daytime sleepiness. The relationship between the age of the children and the comparison between the groups explained the sleep problems of the mothers taking care of the infant. 

A positive relationship between the age of the infant and the duration of the sleep of the mothers was found. Also, the duration of sleep for mothers was found to be similar to those of the women in the control group about 6 months after the infant was born. Yet, fragmentation of sleep, daytime sleepiness, and sleep problems were found to be still higher than in the control group for mothers with children between 6 and 12 months old.

SOURCE- Sánchez-García M, Cantero MJ, Carvajal-Roca E. The Relationship Between a Baby's Age and Sleepiness in a Sample of Mothers. Front Psychol. 2021;12:694884. Published 2021 Jul 2. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.694884