Night Sleep, Parental Bedtime Practices and Language Development in Low-Risk Preterm and Full-Term Late Talkers: A Longitudinal Study in the Third Year of Life.

: Studies on night sleep and parental bedtime practices and their associations with language development in populations at risk of language delay and neonatal conditions, such as late talkers and preterm children, are scarce. : Our objective was to longitudinally examine the development of night sleep (total night sleep difficulties, settling, night waking, and co-sleeping), parental bedtime practices (total parental bedtime practices, active physical comforting, encouraging autonomy, and leaving to cry), and expressive language (word and sentence production), and their associations in low-risk preterm and full-term late talkers from 31 to 37 months of age. : Parents of 38 late talkers, 19 low-risk preterm and 19 full-term children, completed the Italian versions of the Infant Sleep Questionnaire, the Parental Interactive Bedtime Behavior Scale, and the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory Words and Sentences Long Form.

Maternal Differentiation of Self and Toddlers' Sleep: The Mediating Role of Nighttime Involvement.

Good sleep is essential for optimal development and adaptive functioning. Hence, identifying the factors that shape sleep quality is important. Based on the transactional model of sleep development and drawing on Bowen's concept of differentiation of self (DoS), the present study examined the interrelations between sleep-related parental behavior, child's sleep quality, and mothers' DoS.

Night Sleep and Parental Bedtime Practices in Low-Risk Preterm and Full-Term Late Talkers.

Night sleep and parental bedtime practices have rarely been investigated in late talkers. This study aimed to explore: night sleep, parental bedtime practices, and their associations in late talkers as well as individual, socio-demographic, and socio-relational factors affecting them. Parents of 47 30-month-old late talkers, born low-risk preterm ( = 24) or full-term ( = 23), with an expressive vocabulary size ≤10th percentile measured by the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory Words and Sentences, and normal cognitive abilities measured by the Bayley Scales, completed the Infant Sleep Questionnaire, the Parental Interactive Bedtime Behaviour Scale, and the Parenting Stress Index Short Form.

Infant motor development predicts the dynamics of movement during sleep.

The characteristics of infant sleep change over the first year. Generally, infants wake and move less at night as they grow older. However, acquisition of new motor skills leads to temporary increases in night waking and movement at night.

The unique contributions of day and night sleep to infant motor problem solving.

The current study sought to tease apart the unique contributions of napping and nighttime sleep to infant learning, specifically in the context of motor problem solving. We challenged 54 walking infants to solve a novel locomotor problem at three time points-training, test, and follow-up the next morning. One group of infants napped during the delay between training and test.

Exposure to War Prior to Conception: Maternal Emotional Distress Forecasts Sex-Specific Child Behavior Problems.

Objectives: Exposure to maternal stress during the prenatal period adversely affects child outcomes. Recent investigations have shifted to an even earlier period, the preconception period, to better understand the role of this formative period in human health and disease. We investigated the links between maternal emotional distress following preconception exposure to war, and child outcomes at age 10.

Nap timing makes a difference: Sleeping sooner rather than later after learning improves infants' locomotor problem solving.

Twenty-nine newly-walking infants who had recently given up crawling trained to navigate a shoulder-height, nylon tunnel to reach a caregiver waiting at the other end. Infants in the Nap First group napped within 30 min of initial training. Infants in the Delay First group napped four hours after training.

The contribution of good sleep to working memory in preschool: A matter of sleep quality or duration?

Good sleep is essential for efficient cognitive performance. The present research examined the link between sleep and working memory (WM) during early childhood, a period of major advances in neurodevelopment. The sample included 80 healthy children, 40 3-year-olds and 40 4-year-olds, attending childcare settings.

Newly walking infants' night sleep impacts next day learning and problem solving.

Sleep is part of the process that prepares children and adults for next day cognitive activity. Insufficient or fragmented sleep has a detrimental impact on subsequent encoding (Rouleau et al., 2002) and cognitive functioning (Joo et al.

Infant motor activity during sleep: Simultaneous use of two actigraphs comparing right and left legs.

Motor asymmetry during the first hours of sleep documented in adults found higher activity in the non-dominant limb. The stage of development at which such asymmetries first appear is unknown. Twenty healthy infants were followed from 7 to 12months of age, at 3-week intervals, comparing motor activity of the right and left legs during sleep using twin actigraphs (AMI).

Naps improve new walkers' locomotor problem solving.

In this first study of the impact of sleep on infants' problem solving of a locomotor task, 28 newly walking infants who were within a week of having given up crawling trained to navigate a shoulder-height tunnel to reach a caregiver waiting at the end. During the transitional window between crawling and walking, infants are reluctant to return to crawling, making this task uniquely challenging. Infants were randomly assigned to either nap or stay awake during a delay between training and a later test session.

Sleep Problems in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Study of Parenting Stress, Mothers' Sleep-Related Cognitions, and Bedtime Behaviors.

Introduction: Disrupted sleep is common among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Aims: Our goal was to (1) examine the contribution of sleep problems to parenting stress in children with ASD as compared to typically developing (TD) and (2) to address maternal sleep-related cognitions and behaviors in both groups.

Methods: Mothers of 34 ASD (mean age = 39.

Actigraphic motor activity during sleep from infancy to adulthood.

A secondary analysis of longitudinal and cohort studies was carried out to quantitatively investigate the motor activity pattern, recorded through actigraphy, during the first six hours of nocturnal sleep. The first study was of longitudinal nature. Ten healthy participants (four females) were monitored three times, at baseline (T1) when they were infants (mean age 7.

Sleep disruption and motor development: Does pulling-to-stand impacts sleep-wake regulation?

During the second half of the 1st year, periods of increased sleep disruption have been documented alongside overall improvement in sleep-wake regulation. The objective of the present research was to test if pulling-to-stand (PTS), a milestone typically achieved during the latter part of the 1st year, co-occurs with a period of disrupted sleep. In a longitudinal design, 20 healthy infants were followed-up, from 7 to 11-12 months, at 3-week intervals.

Sleep as a mirror of developmental transitions in infancy: the case of crawling.

The associations between the onset of crawling and changes in sleep were examined in 28 infants who were followed from 5 to 11 months-of-age. Motor development and sleep (actigraphy) were assessed at 2- to 3-week intervals. Along with the overall improvement in sleep consolidation, periods of increased long wake episodes were also manifested; the rise in sleep disruption was temporally linked to crawling onset.

Assessing motivation to move and its relationship to motor development in infancy.

Motivation to move has typically been a post hoc explanation for infants' discovery of new patterns of behavior. As a first step to studying motivation to move directly, we qualitatively assessed motivation to move and measured its relationship to motor development in infancy. We observed 27 infants longitudinally from ages 7 to 12 months.

Seasonal effect on infants' sleep regulation: a preliminary study in a Mediterranean climate.

Infants' sleep-wake rhythms are influenced by multiple factors, including developmental and contextual aspects, as well as circadian cycles. Empirical studies that address the seasonal impact on infants' sleep are scarce. The present study examined aspects of sleep schedule and quality, comparing summer and winter months in a Mediterranean climate.

Continuity and change in infants' sleep from 8 to 14 months: a longitudinal actigraphy study.

In this report changes and stability in sleep-wake characteristics, at the latter part of infancy, were examined. The sample comprised of 34 healthy infants whose sleep was assessed by means of actigraphy at 8, 10, 12 and 14 months. The results indicated that while sleep schedules did not change significantly from 8 to 14 months, sleep consolidation continued across time.

Pulling to stand: common trajectories and individual differences in development.

This longitudinal study of 27 infants examined the development of pulling-to-stand (PTS). In general, infants began PTS using a two-leg strategy and transitioned to a half-kneel strategy. As a group, infants showed no preference for either strategy at the onset of PTS, switching between strategies until half-kneeling became the dominant pattern about 1 month after the onset of PTS.

Sleep quality, cortisol levels, and behavioral regulation in toddlers.

This study examines the association between nighttime sleep characteristics and cortisol levels and how these variables relate to aspects of children's temperament and behavior. Twenty-seven healthy children, aged 12-36 months, attending group childcare settings, participated in the study. Each child's sleep was measured at home with actigraphy over three nights.

Parenting and infant sleep.

Infant sleep undergoes dramatic evolution during the first year of life. This process is driven by underlying biological forces but is highly dependent on environmental cues including parental influences. In this review the links between infant sleep and parental behaviors, cognitions, emotions and relationships as well as psychopathology are examined within the context of a transactional model.

Maternal separation anxiety as a regulator of infants' sleep.

Background: The regulation of infants' sleep is determined not only by biological factors but by relational aspects too. This study focused on maternal separation anxiety and examined its association with sleep-wake regulation at 10 months of age.

Method: In a community sample comprising 52 infants and their mothers, sleep was measured objectively with an activity monitor, as well as through questionnaires.

Sleep difficulties in infants at risk for developmental delays: a longitudinal study.

Objectives: We compared the sleep of infants at risk for neuromotor delays to that of infants without such risks, and examined the predictive validity of risk indicators to the development of sleep problems.

Methods: Conveniently recruited infants (n = 142) were assessed for neuromotor achievements and sleep behaviors at 4-6 months and 10-12 months of age. Assessment tools were the Harris Infant Neuromotor Test and Morrell's Infant Sleep Questionnaire.

Parenting anxiety and stress: does gender play a part at 3 months of age?

In this study, the authors compared 90 pairs of mothers and fathers with respect to aspects of negative emotionality experienced in the early parenting role. Mothers and fathers of 90 healthy 3-month-old infants completed questionnaires pertaining to parenting stress and separation anxiety. Mothers reported significantly higher levels of negative emotionality than did fathers.