EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO ALCOHOL IN MOTHERS MILK ON INFANT SLEEP

Objective. To test the hypothesis that exposure to alcohol in breast m ilk affects infants' sleep and activity levels in the short term. Meth ods. Thirteen lactating women and their infants were tested on 2 days, separated by an interval of 1 week. On each testing day, the mother e xpressed 100 mt of milk, while a small, computerized movement detector called an actigraph was placed on the infant's left leg to monitor sl eep and activity patterning. After the actigraph had been in place for similar to 15 minutes, the infants ingested their mothers breast milk flavored with alcohol (32 mg) on one testing day and breast milk alon e on the other. The infants' behaviors were monitored for the next 3.5 hours. Results. The infants spent significantly less time sleeping du ring the 3.5 hours after consuming the alcohol-flavored milk (78.2 min utes compared with 56.8 minutes after feeding alcohol in breast milk). This reduction was apparently attributable to a shortening in the lon gest sleeping bout (34.5 compared with 56.7 minutes for sleeping after breast milk alone) and the amount of time spent in active sleep (25.8 minutes compared with 44.2 minutes after breast milk alone); the decr ease in active sleep was observed in all but 2 of the 13 infants teste d. Conclusions. Although the mechanisms underlying the reduction in sl eep remain to be elucidated, this study shows that short-term exposure to small amounts of alcohol in breast milk produces distinctive chang es in the infant's sleep-wake patterning.