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Moms’ Expectations About Infant Sleep: Is There a Connection to Actual Sleep Patterns?

Child Development Classics · June 10, 2009

Sneak peek: We all go into parenting with expectations about our children’s behavior. How might these expectations actually influence our children’s behavior in subtle ways? The role of infant sleep expectations and their actual sleep patterns.

A new study just released in the journal Child Development addresses an interesting issue–do moms’ thoughts and expectations (i.e., cognitions) about infant sleep actually influence how well (or not so well) their babies sleep? It’s an interesting idea when you think about it. The concept is that parents have infant sleep expectations or preconceived ideas about how much intervention babies need in order to sleep.

In general, parents have expectations about how children will behave, whether it be in regards to sleeping or eating, playing, etc. These expectations may actually influence how parents respond to their children and thus influence the child’s actual behavior. This same theory could apply to any number of child behaviors. This is one of the few studies I’ve seen, however, that consider it in regards to sleep.

infant sleep expectations

The main premise of the study was this: take 85 first-time pregnant women and ask them about their thoughts regarding infant sleep expectations. Specifically, they were asked about the amount of help parents should give to help infants fall asleep or go back to sleep after waking.

These thoughts regarding sleep basically fell along a continuum between

(1) parents should provide a lot of direct help to soothe infants back to sleep, to

(2) parents should limit how much intervention they offer to infants so that the infant can learn self-soothing techniques. Once the moms gave birth, the infants’ actual sleep patterns were monitored along with the amount of soothing techniques moms actually used (this was done at 1, 6, and 12 months of age).

The results were pretty interesting. Moms whose expectations during pregnancy emphasized infants needing a lot of assistance to sleep were more likely to have infants who had a greater number of nighttime wakings at 6 months. The opposite was also true–moms whose expectations during pregnancy emphasized limited parental intervention to help infants sleep were more likely to have infants with fewer nighttime wakings at 6 months.

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baby sleep tips

The study went on to show that moms whose expectations during pregnancy emphasized a lot of parental intervention to help infants sleep did actually provide more assistance to their infants to soothe them to sleep. This pattern was, in turn, related to poorer sleep patterns at age 6 and 12 months. The interesting part about this to me is that this shows that parents’ expectations regarding their child’s behavior may be just as important as the child’s actual behavior in how they react.

 

Better sleep in 1-3 nights

Related reading: The Fascinating Reason You Should Care About Your Baby’s Babbling

The authors put it this way,

“These findings support the hypothesis that parental soothing methods are not solely dependent on infant’s characteristics. It appears that mothers bring their own perceptions into the interaction and those cognitions seem to shape their behavior toward the infant around bedtime.”

baby sleep expectations


Of course, these findings do not necessarily imply there is a “right” or “wrong” way to deal with helping an infant sleep. The authors emphasize (and rightly so) that early in life infants need parents to provide comfort and soothing. Gradually over time, however, the infant develops more ability to self-soothe.

Any thoughts? Did you have expectations about how you’d deal with nighttime wakings? Did your expectations and reality match up?

 

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Filed Under: Child Development Classics Tagged With: babies, parenting, sleep

Amy Webb, Ph.D.

Writer and mom of two who brings academic child development and parenting information into the lives of ordinary parents who can use it in their daily lives.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. ~Juanita~ says

    June 12, 2009 at 1:29 pm

    I'm not sure if the sleeping schedule matched up or not. All I know is my babies kept me awake for feedings until they were about 6 to 7 months old. All of them except my oldest.

    Interesting study though.

    ~Nita (under 100 club)

    Reply
  2. The Mother says

    June 12, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    "mothers bring their own perceptions into the interaction"???

    Isn't this a DUH moment?

    My perception was that the baby ought to sleep. At least once in a while.

    BUT NO!

    Whoever said, "sleeping like a baby" never had one. They really meant sleeping like a teenager.

    Your baby's not here yet. You haven't screwed up yet. Go buy a copy of Ferber's book (How to solve your child's sleep problems) and read it.

    Don't make the same mistakes I did.

    Reply
  3. Lori Nawyn says

    June 14, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    My third child was the most difficult. Indeed I did worry and ended up having reason to–she wasn't able to self soothe for long time.

    Following your wonderful blog from MBC 100 Club. Visit me at http://www.heartsandhands.blogspot.com.

    Reply
  4. Catholic Chicks says

    June 21, 2009 at 8:16 pm

    I really can't wait to one day have my own lil' one!

    Reply
  5. Jacqueline says

    June 21, 2009 at 8:16 pm

    following from mbc. stop by luckyjune.blogspot.com

    Reply
  6. tanya says

    June 24, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    Interesting study. I am following you from mbc under 100 club. I hope you'll check out my site and follow me too.

    Reply
  7. klawellin says

    June 30, 2009 at 5:02 pm

    Hi…I would Love to follow!
    I from the MBC 100.

    My link is…www.thelawellinfamily.blogspot.com

    Thanks!
    Kimberly

    Reply
  8. Mary O' says

    September 5, 2009 at 1:46 pm

    We just discussed this topic on our blog, http://www.parentingpearlsofwisdom.blogspot.com. You might check what the survey said about letting babies cry it out to go to sleep, as well as a couple other resources.

    Reply

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Amy Webb
As a mom of two young boys, I've seen first-hand how research-based child development information, combined with intuition, can guide you through your parenting journey. Although I have a Ph.D.in Human Development and Family Sciences, many of my real parenting discoveries have come through my experience. I believe parenting with confidence comes from knowledge; parenting with grace comes from insight. Join me on this parenting journey of learning and discovery

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