MATERNAL SLEEP AND AROUSALS DURING BEDSHARING WITH INFANTS

Contrary to popular perception, studies show that parent-infant bedsha ring is net uncommon in American society. A belief that bedsharing wit h infants negatively impacts the quality of adult sleep also appears w idespread. This has not been substantiated, however, because the few s tudies that have measured the impact of bedsharing on adult sleep exam ined only bedsharing with another adult. In the present study, laborat ory polysomnography was performed in 20 routinely bedsharing and 15 ro utinely solitary-sleeping, breastfeeding, Latino mother-infant pairs c omparing the mothers' sleep when bedsharing to solitary-sleeping night s. infants were 11-15 weeks old at the time. Irrespective of routine s leeping arrangement, mothers' total sleep time was net decreased on th e bedsharing night compared to the solitary night. Across the two grou ps, percent Stage 3-4 sleep (of total sleep time) was significantly re duced on the bedsharing night but only by 3.9%, while Stage 1-2 sleep was increased 3.7%. Episodes of both Stages 3-4 and 1-2 were significa ntly shorter. The amount of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep was unaffec ted. Overall, arousal frequency was significantly increased by 3.6 hou r(-1). As the increase in arousal frequency was stage specific, it cou ld account for the pattern of stage changes. Nocturnal wakefulness was not increased, however, because awakenings were of shorter duration. These effects of bedsharing did not habituate with routine bedsharing because they were not diminished in the routinely bedsharing mothers c ompared to the routinely solitary-sleeping mothers. We find that the i mpact of bedsharing on maternal sleep is modest and somewhat different from the reported impact of sleeping with another adult. From the inf ant's standpoint, the effects on maternal sleep are adaptive to the ex tent that opportunities to monitor the infant's status are enhanced. T he mother's caregiver role is likely germane to differential effects o n sleep of bedsharing with an infant versus another adult.