Friday, October 17, 2008


Infant Not Sleeping?

Harvard medical school has revealed that maternal depression, breastfeeding, a lower socioeconomic status are all associated with a decline in infant sleep in the first six months of life. The study was preformed by Michael Nevarez. He focused on 1,676 mother-infant pairs. According to his results an infants mean sleep duration is 12.2 hours. It is recommended that infants get 14-15 hours of sleep her day.

I think that breastfed babies are sleeping less because breast milk is digested much faster than formula. On average a breast fed baby will nurse every 1 1/2 to 2 hours throughout the day. Whereas a bottle bed baby will average every 3 to 4 hours. This means that breastfed babies are constantly being woken up because their bellies are hungry and they need to be awake to nurse.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080609071243.htm


Update:

Infant Not Sleeping?

Harvard medical school has revealed that maternal depression, breastfeeding, and a lower socioeconomic status are all associated with a decline in infant sleep in the first six months of life. The study was preformed by Michael Nevarez. He focused on 1,676 mother-infant pairs. According to his results an infants mean sleep duration is 12.2 hours. It is recommended that infants get 14-15 hours of sleep per day.

The socioeconomic status of a mother can indirectly affect an infants sleep duration. If a mother comes from a lower socioeconomic status she may not be able to afford proper nutrition to provide adequate breast milk for her baby. This will result in the infant awaken more frequently because they are still hungry since they're not receiving enough vitamins and minerals through the breast milk.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080609071243.htm

Jennifer Smith (5)

20 Comments:

At 3:41 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, an hour and a half to two hours is a very short time. Are these babies actually being fed that often, or are they simply hungery that often? It doesn't seem like the mother would get a lot of sleep if she woke that often. If the mother actually feeds her baby every 1.5-2hrs, does it go back to sleep and get the sleep required? Or is the baby getting less sleep because it is too hungry to sleep? How does that work exactly?

-Cecelia Hunt

 
At 2:25 AM, Blogger pajama said...

Just curious how the maternal depression and socioeconomic status are also related to decreased amount of sleep in infants.

~Dan Hong

 
At 12:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting, though I'm sure there are a lot of people who would argue that the nutritional and bonding benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the negatives. Studies show that breastfeeding lowers the child's risks of infections, allergies, diabetes, etc.

-Jane de Verges (5)

 
At 2:15 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Even if infants who are bottle-fed actually get more sleep are they really benefiting all that much from this? You would assume that the natural way of feeding, i.e. breastfeeding, would account for all the needs of the infant.

-Benjamin Spozio

 
At 2:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It would be interesting to know how a lower socioeconomic status affects this...I am also really surprised to hear that formula actually keeps babies fuller longer...Good work!

Ericka Adey

 
At 3:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How would a low socioeconomic status affect how long a baby sleeps? Also with all the other factors, did the article explain why they may have an influence? Because if there's no explanation, then there's hardly a causation relationship between the factors and hours of sleep. In other words, breastfeeding or whatever may not actually cause less sleep. Also, isn't breastfeeeding encouraged over formula? But if it's good nutrition-wise, how could it cause less sleep and be bad for the baby at the same time?

Hanbing Guo

 
At 5:34 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wonder if this is connected to babies that are colic, if these decreases in sleeping are connected to crying as well or just separate problems in infants. How does the depression in the women affect the infant, is it something to do with the breastmilk produced?

-Alicia Stein

 
At 6:59 PM, Blogger PWH said...

I hear breastfeeding is good in every where. Many people say breastfeeding is very good for their child. It is good at digesting milk. I guess that is why people say breastfeeding is good for baby. However, I did not think it would give mother metal illness as depression. In media or magazine, they have not told that mother can get depression because of that. This is very new information for me, which is very interesting.


So Jin Lee

 
At 7:14 PM, Blogger PWH said...

Maternal depression and low socioeconomic status stand out as attributes associated under the more negative light in relation to breastfeeding, so I am surprised that breastfeeding would be a cause. Perhaps, however, the reason is as you explained, because I know that breastfeeding has its many benefits over bottled milk.

-Helen Thi

 
At 7:29 PM, Blogger PWH said...

That is surprising that infants only sleep shorter when breastfed than when fed by a bottle. How exactly does this affect the length of the periods the baby sleeps? Does it take longer to breastfeed than it would to feed out of a bottle?

Rob Lubenow

 
At 8:40 PM, Blogger PWH said...

this is interesting, it is believed that breast feeding is more advantageous than bottle feeding but i guess there are some advantages to bottle feed too

-Hessom Mianaei

 
At 9:39 PM, Blogger PWH said...

This is really cool! Do you think that more sleep is better (from the formula) than all of the possible benefits of breastfeeding? Also, you mentioned that maternal depression and socioeconomic status are related to the infants' sleep patterns, how do they influence it? I am very interested in that as well.

-Alyson Paige

 
At 10:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The results of this study are very interesting. In my personal opinion and with baby feeding experience, i find it interesting that the result analysis included breastfeeding as a reason for lack of sleep. I believe that the socioeconomic status would be the umbrella issue for everything else. the less time/money you have then perhaps the less the mother is taking care of her body. Low income would also mean that food is not plentiful in the household and perhaps without a nutritious diet, the mothers milk is not as nutrious and the baby isn't getting enough food; therefore it's hungry more and not able to sleep. Just my thoughts!

 
At 10:52 PM, Blogger PWH said...

I liked the the post about certain elements affecting the sleeping amount of infants, but what are some of the statistics/concrete results dealing with the issues. Is there any numbers stating the approximated amount of sleep that a breast fed infant averages throughout the day as opposed to a bottle fed baby. Is there any other information and results dealing with maternal depression and socioeconomic status?

-Kiel Boutelle

 
At 10:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The results of this study are very interesting. In my personal opinion and with baby feeding experience, i find it interesting that the result analysis included breastfeeding as a reason for lack of sleep. I believe that the socioeconomic status would be the umbrella issue for everything else. the less time/money you have then perhaps the less the mother is taking care of her body. Low income would also mean that food is not plentiful in the household and perhaps without a nutritious diet, the mothers milk is not as nutrious and the baby isn't getting enough food; therefore it's hungry more and not able to sleep. Just my thoughts!

Maura Mulvey

 
At 11:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I Noticed that not too many people commented on the stress part.

Stress is directly related to sleep disorders in adults. Since stress signals are transmitted through the body via hormones and some can cross the Blood Brain Barrier, certain hormone proteins may end up in the fetus' blood stream- making him innately predisposed to stress, which in turn affects the baby's sleeping pattern.

The common denominator between the three, in my opinion, is the socioeconomic status. Mothers who come from a lower socioeconomic background can be expected to have more stress factors than wealthier mothers. They also often lack the means to constantly supply their babies with formula, resulting in breast feeding.


Noam Pelleg (Week 7)

 
At 11:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is there any correlation between the 3? As in, does a baby have twice as little sleep if it's parent suffers from both depression and socioeconomic stress compared to a baby who's parent only suffers from depression?

 
At 11:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

O wow I always thought that formulas were bad for the baby but I guess not. I wonder if what the mother eats effect the milk she produces. And I wonder what is in the baby formula that makes it harder to digest for the babies. A very interesting article, I learn something new every time I read an article form this blog, thanks.

-Tenzing Y. Dundutsang

 
At 10:03 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was actually under the impression that breast-feeding was healthier than formula. Is there a big difference in nutrition that is causing this difference?

-Alex Jackson

 
At 10:50 AM, Blogger PWH said...

I will be updating my blog and correcting some stuff but I wanted to let everyone know that which ever way you decide to feed your baby (i.e. breast or formula) is your decision. Personally, I believe Breast is Best!

Yes, some say breastfeeding is more challenging because you have to nurse more frequently but like everything else breast vs formula feeding each have their pros and cons. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that women breast feed their children for atleast 6 months to a year. Some pediatricians will recommend you to breast feed for up to two years!

The article I read had argued that infants are sleeping less and they were blaming it on maternal depression, lower socioeconomic status and breastfeeding. A few students commented that the lower socioeconomic status is to blame, and I ABSOLUTELY agree. If a mother is not getting proper nutrition shes not going to make adequate breast milk and her baby is going to be hungry and wake up more frequently.

And Cecilia, yes! Infants do feed every 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours when breastfed. And the baby is still getting enough sleep. When infants have completed the "let down" they will pacify on the breast to fall back asleep. Or they'll fall back asleep from burping. I think that these infants are getting less sleep not because of breastfeeding, but because of poorer quality breast milk due to lower socioeconomic status.

Jennifer Smith (5)

 

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