Infant sleep and paternal involvement in infant caregiving during the first 6 months of life.
OBJECTIVE
The goals of this study were to assess: (a) the involvement of fathers and mothers in overall and nighttime infant caregiving; (b) the links between paternal involvement in infant care and infant sleep patterns during the first 6 months.


METHODS
Fifty-six couples recruited during their first pregnancy, participated in the study. After delivery (1 and 6 months), both parents completed a questionnaire assessing the involvement of fathers relative to mothers in infant caregiving. Infant sleep was assessed using actigraphy and sleep diaries.


RESULTS
Mothers were significantly more involved than fathers in daytime and nighttime caregiving. A higher involvement of fathers in overall infant care predicted and was associated with fewer infant night-wakings and with shorter total sleep time after controlling for breastfeeding.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings highlight the importance of including fathers in developmental sleep research. Future studies should explore mechanisms underlying the relations between paternal involvement and infant sleep.
Tikotzky
Liat
L
Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel. liatti@bgu.ac.il
Sadeh
Avi
A
Glickman-Gavrieli
Tamar
T
D056044:Actigraphy; D000328:Adult; D002668:Child Rearing / Q000523:psychology*; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D012890:Sleep; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires