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How Babies Sleep: a factful guide to the first 365 days and nights (2025)
Book
Ball, H. (2025). How Babies Sleep: a factful guide to the first 365 days and nights. Penguin Random House

How babies sleep is both exceedingly simple and excruciatingly complex. It is simple because it is based on a few straightforward biological principles that affect all babies the world over. It is complex because we have made it so.

Over the past... Read More about How Babies Sleep: a factful guide to the first 365 days and nights.

Death from Failed Protection? An Evolutionary-Developmental Theory of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (2024)
Journal Article
Renz-Polster, H., Blair, P. S., Ball, H. L., Jenni, O. G., & De Bock, F. (2024). Death from Failed Protection? An Evolutionary-Developmental Theory of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Human Nature, 35(2), 153-196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-024-09474-6

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has been mainly described from a risk perspective, with a focus on endogenous, exogenous, and temporal risk factors that can interact to facilitate lethal outcomes. Here we discuss the limitations that this risk-ba... Read More about Death from Failed Protection? An Evolutionary-Developmental Theory of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Piloting Eyes on the Baby: A Multiagency Training and Implementation Intervention Linking Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Prevention and Safeguarding (2024)
Journal Article
Ball, H. L., Grieve, L. M., Keegan, A., Cooper, L., Lovell-Kennedy, S., Newbury-Birch, D., …Healy, A. (2024). Piloting Eyes on the Baby: A Multiagency Training and Implementation Intervention Linking Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Prevention and Safeguarding. Health and Social Care in the Community, 2024, Article 4944268. https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/4944268

We describe the coproduction, pilot implementation, and user evaluation of an evidence-based training intervention addressing prevention of Sudden Unexpected Deaths in Infancy (SUDI) for the multiagency workforce supporting vulnerable families with b... Read More about Piloting Eyes on the Baby: A Multiagency Training and Implementation Intervention Linking Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Prevention and Safeguarding.

Construction of the Views oN Infant Sleep (VNIS) Questionnaire (2024)
Journal Article
Boedker, I., Ball, H. L., Richter, M., South, T. L., & Roberts, S. G. (2024). Construction of the Views oN Infant Sleep (VNIS) Questionnaire. Early Human Development, 191, Article 105989. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.105989

Parents' beliefs about infant sleep behaviour vary over time and across cultures. No validated instrument exists to understand parents' pre- and postnatal views on infant sleep behaviours, which may influence their caregiving decisions. The Views oN... Read More about Construction of the Views oN Infant Sleep (VNIS) Questionnaire.

Infant sleep and anxiety disorders in early childhood: Findings from an Australian pregnancy cohort study (2024)
Journal Article
MacMillan, K. K., Bourke, D., Watson, S. J., Lewis, A. J., Teti, D. M., Ball, H. L., & Galbally, M. (2024). Infant sleep and anxiety disorders in early childhood: Findings from an Australian pregnancy cohort study. Infant and Child Development, 33(4), Article e2501. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.2501

Emphasis on continuous infant sleep overnight may be driven by parental concern of risk to child mental health outcomes. The Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study (MPEWS) examined whether infant sleep at 6 and 12 months postpartum predicts an... Read More about Infant sleep and anxiety disorders in early childhood: Findings from an Australian pregnancy cohort study.

Sociodemographic, temporal and bedtime routine correlates of sleep timing and duration in South Asian and white children: A Born in Bradford study (2023)
Journal Article
Pal, E., Blackwell, J. E., Ball, H. L., & Collings, P. J. (2023). Sociodemographic, temporal and bedtime routine correlates of sleep timing and duration in South Asian and white children: A Born in Bradford study. Sleep medicine. X, 5, Article 100068. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleepx.2023.100068

Objective The study aimed to examine sociodemographic, temporal and bedtime routine correlates of parent-reported sleep duration and timing in a biethnic sample of 18 month and 36 month old children from a disadvantaged location. Methods Between Octo... Read More about Sociodemographic, temporal and bedtime routine correlates of sleep timing and duration in South Asian and white children: A Born in Bradford study.

Relationships between postpartum depression, sleep, and infant feeding in the early postpartum: An exploratory analysis (2023)
Journal Article
Rudzik, A. E., Robinson-Smith, L., Tugwell, F., & Ball, H. L. (2023). Relationships between postpartum depression, sleep, and infant feeding in the early postpartum: An exploratory analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1133386

Introduction: The study objectives were to determine the relationships between postpartum depression and maternal and infant sleep parameters and to examine the impact of infant feeding method on infant and maternal sleep and postpartum depression sy... Read More about Relationships between postpartum depression, sleep, and infant feeding in the early postpartum: An exploratory analysis.

ABM Clinical Protocol #37: Physiological Infant Care—Managing Nighttime Breastfeeding in Young Infants (2023)
Journal Article
Zimmerman, D., Bartick, M., Feldman-Winter, L., Ball, H. L., Stehel, E., Noble, L., Bartick, M. C., Bettinelli, M. E., Kair, L., Larson, I., LeFort, Y., Marshall, N., Mitchell, K., Okogbule-Wonodi, A., Rothenberg, S., Seo, T., Szugye, H., Weissman, G., Wight, N., & Young, M. (2023). ABM Clinical Protocol #37: Physiological Infant Care—Managing Nighttime Breastfeeding in Young Infants. Breastfeeding Medicine, 18(3), https://doi.org/10.1089/bfm.2023.29236.abm

Relationship of Estradiol and Progesterone with Partnership and Parity Among Bangladeshi and British Women of European Origin (2023)
Journal Article
Bentley, G. R., Núñez-de la Mora, A., Freed, M. C., Begum, K., Muttukrishna, S., Sharmeen, T., Murphy, L., Chatterton, R. T., Chowdhury, O., Gunu, R., & Leidy Sievert, L. (2023). Relationship of Estradiol and Progesterone with Partnership and Parity Among Bangladeshi and British Women of European Origin. Human Nature, 34(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-023-09442-6

Recent studies in social endocrinology have explored the effects of social relationships on female reproductive steroid hormones—estradiol and progesterone—investigating whether they are suppressed in partnered and parous women. Results have been mix... Read More about Relationship of Estradiol and Progesterone with Partnership and Parity Among Bangladeshi and British Women of European Origin.

The impact of swaddling upon breastfeeding: A critical review (2023)
Journal Article
Dixley, A., & Ball, H. L. (2023). The impact of swaddling upon breastfeeding: A critical review. American Journal of Human Biology, 35(6), Article e23878. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23878

Introduction Many parents swaddle their infants to promote sleep and reduce night-waking, however lack of definitive evidence about the pros and cons of swaddling when breastfeeding hinders postnatal recommendations regarding this infant care practic... Read More about The impact of swaddling upon breastfeeding: A critical review.

Sleep deprivation among adolescents in urban and indigenous-rural Mexican communities (2023)
Journal Article
Silva-Caballero, A., Ball, H. L., Kramer, K. L., & Bentley, G. R. (2023). Sleep deprivation among adolescents in urban and indigenous-rural Mexican communities. Scientific Reports, 13(1), Article 1058. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28330-8

Comparing the nature of adolescent sleep across urban and more isolated, rural settings through an ecological, cross-cultural perspective represents one way to inform sleep nuances and broaden our understanding of human development, wellbeing and evo... Read More about Sleep deprivation among adolescents in urban and indigenous-rural Mexican communities.

Digital health tools to support parents with parent-infant sleep and mental well-being (2022)
Journal Article
Ball, H. L., & Keegan, A.-A. (2022). Digital health tools to support parents with parent-infant sleep and mental well-being. npj Digital Medicine, 5(1), Article 185. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-022-00732-4

Digital technology is increasingly important in people’s lives, particularly for new parents as it allows them to access information, stay connected to peers and offers them seductive solutions for improving infant sleep and parental well-being. Digi... Read More about Digital health tools to support parents with parent-infant sleep and mental well-being.

The effect of swaddling on infant sleep and arousal: A systematic review and narrative synthesis (2022)
Journal Article
Dixley, A., & Ball, H. L. (2022). The effect of swaddling on infant sleep and arousal: A systematic review and narrative synthesis. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 10, Article 1000180. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2022.1000180

To explore the effect of swaddling on infant sleep and arousal in infants under 12 months of age we conducted a systematic review of the evidence published over the past 15 years since the review of van Sleuwen et al. (1). This previous review conclu... Read More about The effect of swaddling on infant sleep and arousal: A systematic review and narrative synthesis.

Bed-sharing and SIDS: an evidence-based approach (2022)
Journal Article
Blair, P. S., Ball, H. L., Pease, A., & Fleming, P. J. (2023). Bed-sharing and SIDS: an evidence-based approach. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 108(4), https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2021-323469

We read with interest the viewpoint article ‘Bed-sharing is a risk for sudden unexpected death in infancy’ written by David Tappin and his colleagues1 and feel the issues raised and some of the claims made need contextualising. Essentially this is a... Read More about Bed-sharing and SIDS: an evidence-based approach.

Lost in translation - the influence of language on infant sleep research (2022)
Journal Article
Medvecová Tinková, L., & Ball, H. L. (2022). Lost in translation - the influence of language on infant sleep research. Sleep Health, 8(1), 96-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2021.10.010

Objectives: We consider whether language shapes cultural interpretations of sleep in the family context using ethnographic data from the Czech Republic to explore one of the methods employed by Czech parents in helping their children aged 0-3 years t... Read More about Lost in translation - the influence of language on infant sleep research.

Maternal Depression and Early Parenting: A Comparison between Culturally and Linguistically Diverse and Australian born Mothers (2022)
Journal Article
Eatt, J., Watson, S., Ball, H., Sevar, K., & Galbally, M. (2022). Maternal Depression and Early Parenting: A Comparison between Culturally and Linguistically Diverse and Australian born Mothers. Australasian Psychiatry, 30(1), 119-125. https://doi.org/10.1177/10398562211052886

Objective: To examine the risk of perinatal depression, parenting stress and infant sleep practices in Australian culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) women. Method: Within the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study, we examined 487 pr... Read More about Maternal Depression and Early Parenting: A Comparison between Culturally and Linguistically Diverse and Australian born Mothers.

The impact of breastfeeding on mother-baby sleep -- addressing popular myths (2021)
Journal Article
Ball, H. L., & Keegan, A.-A. (2021). The impact of breastfeeding on mother-baby sleep -- addressing popular myths. Laktation und Stillen, 33(3), 4-8

Does breastfeeding affect sleep, and does sleep affect breastfeeding? The answers to both these questions are largely ‘Yes’, however much of the relevant research is recent, and evidence-based information on the relationship between breastfeeding and... Read More about The impact of breastfeeding on mother-baby sleep -- addressing popular myths.

The validity, reliability, and feasibility of measurement tools used to assess sleep of pre-school aged children: a systematic rapid review (2021)
Journal Article
Phillips, S. M., Summerbell, C., Ball, H. L., Hesketh, K. R., Saxena, S., & Hillier-Brown, F. C. (2021). The validity, reliability, and feasibility of measurement tools used to assess sleep of pre-school aged children: a systematic rapid review. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 9, Article 770262. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2021.770262

Background: Sleep of pre-school aged children is important for their health and development, but there are currently no standards for measuring sleep in this age group. We aimed to examine the validity, reliability and feasibility of tools used to as... Read More about The validity, reliability, and feasibility of measurement tools used to assess sleep of pre-school aged children: a systematic rapid review.