Relationships between postpartum depression, sleep, and infant feeding in the early postpartum: An exploratory analysis.

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 symptomatology.

Methods: Participants were 61 new mothers aged 18 to 45 years old, and their full-term, normal birth-weight, singleton infants. Participants were recruited from a large teaching hospital in northeast England.

Biologically normal sleep in the mother-infant dyad.

Objectives: We examine infant sleep from evolutionary, historico-cultural, and statistical/epidemiological perspectives and explore the distinct conceptions of "normal" produced by each. We use data from the "Sleeping Like a Baby" study to illustrate how these perspectives influence the ideals and practices of new parents.

Methods: The "Sleeping Like a Baby" study investigated maternal-infant sleep in north-east England.

Residential immersive life skills programs for youth with disabilities: Experiences of parents and shifts in parenting approaches.

Introduction: Residential immersive life skills (RILS) programs are designed for youth with disabilities and facilitate the development of adaptive behaviors for life skills required to navigate adulthood. This study explored parents' experiences of the RILS program journey, shifts in parenting approaches, and the implications of those shifts.

Methods: This study draws on twenty-three qualitative interviews that were conducted with nine parents of youth who attended RILS programs in Ontario, Canada.

Residential immersive life skills programs for youth with disabilities: a case study of youth developmental trajectories of personal growth and caregiver perspectives.

Background: Professional support in pediatric and rehabilitation care environments has been recommended as a means to build youth competence in life skills during their transition to adulthood. Life skills are the essential psychosocial competencies and interpersonal skills needed to manage one's life. Residential immersive life skills (RILS) programs offer youth with physical disabilities enriched learning environments to acquire these skills.

Discrepancies in maternal reports of infant sleep vs. actigraphy by mode of feeding.

Objectives: Many studies of infant sleep rely solely on parentally-reported data, assuming that parents accurately report their infant's sleep parameters. The objective of this paper is to examine whether night-time sleep parameters of exclusively breastfed or exclusively formula-fed infants differ, and whether correspondence between parental reports and objective measures varies by feeding type.

Methods: Mother-infant dyads intending to breastfeed or formula-feed exclusively for 18 weeks were recruited.

Exploring Maternal Perceptions of Infant Sleep and Feeding Method Among Mothers in the United Kingdom: A Qualitative Focus Group Study.

Background: In a context with strong rhetorical support for breastfeeding in the health system, yet extremely low rates of breastfeeding after hospital discharge, U.K. women's decisions about infant feeding reflect the reality of competing priorities in their lives, including obtaining adequate sleep.

Oxytocin and Epstein-Barr virus: Stress biomarkers in the postpartum period among first-time mothers from São Paulo, Brazil.

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between self-reported stress levels among new mothers in São Paulo, Brazil and two biomarkers of stressful experience, oxytocin (OT) and Epstein-Barr Virus antibody level (EBV-ab), with planned pregnancy hypothesized as a moderator of biological response to stressful conditions.

Methods: Sixty-three first-time mothers between the ages of 15 and 45 were recruited from neighborhoods in São Paulo, Brazil. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected longitudinally, bi-weekly between two and 12 weeks postpartum.

Determinants of tubal ligation in Puebla, Mexico.

Tubal ligation provides an effective and reliable method by which women can choose to limit the number of children they will bear. However, because of the irreversibility of the procedure and other potential disadvantages, it is important to understand factors associated with women's choice of this method of birth control. Between May 1999 and August 2000, data were collected from 755 women aged 40 to 60 years from a cross-section of neighborhoods of varying socio-economic make-up in Puebla, Mexico, finding a tubal ligation rate of 42.

Examining health equity through satisfaction and confidence of patients in primary healthcare in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Surveys of patient satisfaction are widely used for identifying priorities and problems in healthcare reforms. The present study examined satisfaction and confidence of patients in public healthcare in Trinidad and Tobago. Data were gathered by interviewing a random sample (n = 280) of primary healthcare (PHC) patients.