Co-sleeping and clinical correlates in children seen at a child guidance clinic.
BACKGROUND
Co-sleeping or bed-sharing is a common practice that has been little researched. While often viewed as being "cultural" in nature, there is a suggestion that it may be a parental response to sleep problems. Some studies link co-sleeping with behavioural and temperamental difficulties. The objectives of the current study were to determine the prevalence of co-sleeping and how they relate to sleeping problems among a cohort of children and adolescents seen in a child guidance clinic.


METHODS
Parents or guardians of all new patients seen at the child guidance clinic were asked to complete a questionnaire upon their consent to participate in the study. The questionnaire included socio-demographical data and frequency of sleep problems in the past six months. A list of nine common sleep problems was included.


RESULTS
The prevalence of co-sleeping was found to be 72.7 percent. The children who co-sleep were significantly younger and there was a decrease in the practice with increasing age. Sleep starts and nightmares were significantly more among those sleeping alone.


CONCLUSIONS
Co-sleeping was not associated with significant sleep problems in our cohort. Co-sleeping may have been initiated in response to an existing sleep problem but eventually resolved the problem. If co-sleeping is not permitted, the sleep problem could be compounded, giving rise to a higher prevalence of sleep starts and nightmares among those in our cohort who slept alone.
Mahendran
R
R
Department of General Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, 10 Buangkok View, Singapore. rathi_mahendran@imh.com.sg
Vaingankar
J A
JA
Mythily
S
S
Cai
Y M
YM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001513:Beds; D002648:Child; D002661:Child Guidance Clinics; D002668:Child Rearing; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires