The Mother-Infant Sleep Nexus: Night-Time Experiences in Early Infancy and Later Outcomes

Ball, Helen L.

Abstract

Following their infant’s birth, parents in many societies in the global North experience acute sleep disruption for which few are adequately prepared, and which may result in profound and enduring negative outcomes such as parental depression and anxiety. For some babies, their parent’s inability to cope with sleep disruption results in harmful short-term outcomes (such as infants being medicalised, medicated, and abused); long-term consequences are more difficult to identify and therefore are understudied. Yet other parents, and indeed whole nations of parents, seem resilient to infant-related sleep disruption and take it all in their stride—so what differs? This chapter considers parental perceptions and experiences of night-time infant care and the strategies that are promoted and used for coping with infant-related sleep disruption. The potential consequences of these for parents, their babies, and society in general will be explored with suggestions for future research to fill current evidence gaps.

Citation

Ball, H. L. (2020). The Mother-Infant Sleep Nexus: Night-Time Experiences in Early Infancy and Later Outcomes. In R. Gowland, & S. Halcrow (Eds.), Bioarchaeology and Social Theory (157-171). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27393-4_9

• Online Publication Date: Oct 26, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Feb 22, 2025
• Publisher: Springer
• Pages: 157-171
• Book Title: Bioarchaeology and Social Theory
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27393-4_9
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3507113