Environmental characteristics and sleep in two-month-old infants

The study aimed at assessing possible relationship between the quality of infant environment and maternal reported behavioural features during sleep in 2-month-old infants. It comprised 115 randomly selected, apparently healthy infants (50 boys, 65 girls) from community setting who were singletons born at term with normal birth weight in St. Petersburg in 2001-2002. Quality of infant care was estimated using the "PROCESS" (Paediatric Review of Children's Environment Support and Stimulation) inventory enabling to measure infant's developmental stimulation and organisation. Infant's behaviour during sleep was assessed using an adapted version of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ). The babies facing more developmental stimulation and from more organised environment less often fell asleep in parents bed (P = 0.036). Infants from more organised environment were more often put to sleep at the same time at night, more often were ready to go to sleep at bedtime and less often struggled at bed; it was more common with them to have right amount of sleep and to have about a same amount of sleep each day; less often they moved a lot during sleep and woke up in sleep. These associations remained significant after adjustment has been made for each of such potential confounders as infant's gender, weight at birth and at study, gestational age, Apgar score at 1 and 5 minutes, birth order, maternal age and education, maternal marital status, infant's feeding at birth and at study, as well as to their simultaneous effects. Lower environmental organisation and developmental stimulation may be associated with specific disadvantageous infant behavioural features during sleep. Infants with parentally reported sleep problems should be carefully considered for possible flaws in the quality of environment.