Maternal sleep during the first ten years of the child's life

Main sleep disturbances during motherhood occur during the first weeks after childbirth, but sleep continues to be affected until the baby sleeps through the night. However, most studies focus their attention up to 18 months after delivery. It is our interest to determine sleep quality among mothers of children aged 0-10 years, and the sociocultural factors associated with it. We designed a cross-sectional quantitative study consisting of an anonymous online survey that included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), sociodemographic data and questions on nocturnal family dynamic. The main findings reveal that the quality of maternal sleep was poor for all mothers regardless of the child's age. Specifically, during the first two years after childbirth maternal sleep quality was particularly low, with a significant improvement towards age 3, worsening again when children were 4 and 5 years old, to finally improve towards the ages of 8-10. Additionally, higher levels of education and performing physical activity increased the probability of having good sleep quality. Conversely, child nocturnal awakenings consistently increased the odds of the mother having poor sleep quality at all stages of the child, and the strength of this association was greater for mothers of older children. For mothers with younger children, additional aspects of their children's sleep and social and nocturnal family dynamic (sleeping arrangements, family composition and collaboration of another adult during the nocturnal care of the child) also predicted their sleep quality. The current results expose that maternal sleep disturbances extend far beyond the postpartum period. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that focuses on maternal sleep until the age of 10 years of the child.