Parent-Infant Bed-sharing Behavior: effects of feeding type, and presence of father

Ball, H.L.

Abstract

An evolutionarily informed perspective on parent-infant sleep contact challenges recommendations regarding appropriate parent-infant sleep practices based on large epidemiological studies. In this study regularly bed-sharing parents and infants participated in an in-home video study of bed-sharing behavior. Ten formula-feeding and ten breast-feeding families were filmed for 3 nights (adjustment, dyadic, and triadic nights) for 8 hours per night. For breast-fed infants, mother-infant orientation, sleep position, frequency of feeding, arousal, and synchronous arousal were all consistent with previous sleep-lab studies of mother-infant bed-sharing behavior, but significant differences were found between formula and breast-fed infants. While breast-feeding mothers shared a bed with their infants in a characteristic manner that provided several safety benefits, formula-feeding mothers shared a bed in a more variable manner with consequences for infant safety. Paternal bed-sharing behavior introduced further variability. Epidemiological case-control studies examining bed-sharing risks and benefits do not normally control for behavioral variables that an evolutionary viewpoint would deem crucial. This study demonstrates how parental behavior affects the bed-sharing experience and indicates that cases and controls in epidemiological studies should be matched for behavioral, as well as sociodemographic, variables.

Citation

Ball, H. (2006). Parent-Infant Bed-sharing Behavior: effects of feeding type, and presence of father. Human Nature, 17(3), 301-318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-006-1011-1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2006
• Deposit Date: Jan 5, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 5, 2009
• Journal: Human Nature
• Print ISSN: 1045-6767
• Electronic ISSN: 1936-4776
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 301-318
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-006-1011-1
• Keywords: Bed-sharing, Breast-feeding, Formula-feeding, Infant sleep, Mother-infant behavior.
• Publisher URL: http://www.metapress.com/content/0xvdfp8g88lw22aq/fulltext.pdf