title: Video evidence that parenting methods predict which infants develop long night-time sleep periods by three months of age.
abstract: Aim To examine two hypotheses about the longitudinal relationship between night-time parenting behaviours in the first few postnatal weeks and infant night-time sleep-waking at five weeks, three months and six months of age in normal London home environments.
  
  
  
  Most western infants develop long night-time sleep periods by four months of age. However, around 20-30% of infants in many countries continue to sleep for short periods and cry out on waking in the night: the most common type of infant sleep behaviour problem. Preventive interventions may help families and improve services. There is evidence that 'limit-setting' parenting, which is common in western cultures, supports the development of settled infant night-time behaviour. However, this evidence has been challenged. The present study measures three components of limit-setting parenting (response delay, feeding interval, settling method), examines their stability, and assesses the predictive relationship between each of them and infant sleep-waking behaviours.
  
  
  
  Longitudinal observations comparing a General-Community (n=101) group and subgroups with a Bed-Sharing (n=19) group on infra-red video, diary and questionnaire measures of parenting behaviours and infant feeding and sleep-waking at night. Findings Bed-Sharing parenting was highly infant-cued and stable. General-Community parenting involved more limit-setting, but was less stable, than Bed-Sharing parenting. One element of General-Community parenting - consistently introducing a short interval before feeding - was associated with the development of longer infant night-time feed intervals and longer day-time feeds at five weeks, compared with other General-Community and Bed-Sharing infants. Twice as many General-Community infants whose parents introduced these short intervals before feeding in the early weeks slept for long night-time periods at three months of age on both video and parent-report measures, compared with other General-Community and Bed-Sharing infants. The findings' implications for our understanding of infant sleep-waking development, parenting programmes, and for practice and research, are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Thomas Coram Research Unit,UCL Institute of Education,University College London,London,UK.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: St James-Roberts
authors.affiliation: Thomas Coram Research Unit,UCL Institute of Education,University College London,London,UK.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Thomas Coram Research Unit,UCL Institute of Education,University College London,London,UK.
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hovish
authors.affiliation: Thomas Coram Research Unit,UCL Institute of Education,University College London,London,UK.
authors.forename: Charlie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Owen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D008131:London; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting; D012890:Sleep; D013997:Time Factors; D014743:Videotape Recording
keywords: infant crying; infant sleeping; parenting