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Bed sharing patterns in a cohort of Australian infants during the first six months after birth
R S Rigda1, I C McMillen, P Buckley
1Department of Physiology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Insights
Bed sharing (BS) is common in healthy infants, with over 40% engaging in it between 2-12 weeks. Quantitative definitions help identify infants who routinely bed share.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Sleep Science
- Infant Health
Background:
- Bed sharing (BS) is a common infant sleep practice with varying definitions.
- Understanding the prevalence and patterns of BS is crucial for infant safety and well-being.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify bed sharing (BS) activity in healthy term infants.
- To analyze the duration and frequency of BS in infants aged 2 to 24 weeks.
Main Methods:
- Sleep-wake behavior and infant sleep location were recorded for infants aged 2-24 weeks.
- Infants were categorized as BS or non-bed sharing (NBS) based on four distinct definitions of bed sharing.
Main Results:
- The mean proportion of infants engaging in any BS was higher between 2-12 weeks (40.9%) compared to 13-24 weeks (36.5%).
- A significant proportion of infants (25%) bed shared for over 2 hours within a 24-hour period.
- Different BS definitions effectively differentiated infants based on the amount and frequency of BS activity.
Conclusions:
- Bed sharing activity is prevalent and exhibits variability within the studied cohort.
- Quantitative definitions of BS enable the identification of infants who routinely engage in this practice.
Objective:
To measure bed sharing (BS) activity in healthy term infants.
Methodology:
The sleep-wake behaviour and place of infant sleep were recorded for infants aged between 2 and 24 weeks. Infants were then identified as BS or non bed sharing (NBS) according to each of four different definitions of bed sharing.
Results:
The mean proportion of infants who spent any time BS during a 24-h period was significantly greater (P < 0.05) between 2 and 12 weeks (40.9 +/- 1. 4%) than between 13 and 24 weeks (36.5 +/- 1.5%). A significantly greater proportion (P < 0.005) of infants bed shared for more than 2 h (25 +/- 1%) than for either 1-2 h (10.5 +/- 1.1%) or for less than 1 h/24 h (3.2 +/- 0.5%) during the whole study period. Each of the definitions of BS used in the study separated infants on the basis of the amount and frequency of BS activity.
Conclusion:
: Bed sharing activity was common and varied in this cohort. It was possible, using quantitative definitions, to identify those infants who routinely bed share.