title: Trajectories and predictors of nocturnal awakenings and sleep duration in infants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the trajectories of sleep duration and nocturnal awakenings in infants from 6 to 18 months of age and to identify predictors of short sleep duration and nocturnal awakenings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for this study come from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study conducted at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. A total of 55,831 mother reports of child sleep were used to estimate the stability and predictors of awakenings and short sleep.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nocturnal awakenings were frequent among 6-month-old children. Although there was an overall reduction in both sleep duration and nocturnal awakenings from 6 to 18 months, the chronicity of sleep problems was high and impacted by prior sleep behavior and sleeping arrangements. Bedsharing was an independent and graded predictor of nocturnal awakenings and short sleep duration, also after controlling for prior sleep. Breastfeeding was related to concurrent nocturnal awakening but was not negatively related to later nocturnal awakenings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Considering the chronicity of nocturnal awakening and its association with bedsharing, our findings support current recommendations of reducing bedsharing to improve sleep among infants.
authors.affiliation: *Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, Uni Health, Uni Research, Bergen, Norway; †Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley; ‡Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway; §Institute of Psychiatry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; ‖Uni Health, Uni Research, Bergen, Norway; ¶Department of Psychiatry, Helse Fonna HF, Haugesund, Norway.
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hysing
authors.forename: Allison G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Torgersen
authors.forename: Eivind
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ystrom
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Reichborn-Kjennerud
authors.forename: Borge
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sivertsen
mesh_terms: D001143:Arousal; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002657:Child Development; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012307:Risk Factors; D012890:Sleep