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Infant and toddler sleep in Australia and New Zealand

Arthur Teng1, Alex Bartle, Avi Sadeh

  • 1Department of Sleep Medicine, Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia. A.Teng@unsw.edu.au

Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health
|November 24, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Young children in Australia and New Zealand sleep well, but many parents perceive sleep problems. Findings offer reference data for assessing infant sleep and common parenting practices.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • Infant and toddler sleep patterns are crucial for development.
  • Understanding sleep in young children (birth to 36 months) in Australia (AU) and New Zealand (NZ) is important for parental guidance.
  • Limited data exists on sleep characteristics in this specific demographic and region.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize sleep patterns and identify sleep problems in a large cohort of young children in AU and NZ.
  • To provide normative data for infant and toddler sleep in Australia and New Zealand.
  • To examine developmental changes in sleep behaviors.

Main Methods:

  • A large sample of 2154 infants and toddlers from AU and NZ participated.
  • Parents and caregivers completed an expanded version of the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire.
  • Data collected included bedtime, night wakings, sleep duration, and bed-sharing practices.

Main Results:

  • Children in AU and NZ typically go to bed early (19:35) and obtain 13.24 hours of total sleep.
  • 30.69% of parents perceived their child had a sleep problem, despite generally consolidated sleep.
  • Sleep patterns showed developmental changes, with decreasing daytime sleep and increasing night sleep consolidation after 3 months.
  • Bed-sharing was uncommon (7.2%), and parents encouraged self-soothing.

Conclusions:

  • Findings provide valuable reference data for parents and professionals assessing sleep in young children.
  • The study highlights common parenting practices related to sleep behaviors in AU and NZ.
  • Understanding these patterns aids in identifying and addressing perceived infant sleep issues.
Abstract

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