Infant Sleep Difficulties at the 6th Week and the 12th Month Postpartum: What Is their Relationship with Maternal Mental Health and Other Perinatal Factors?

Maria Dagla; Calliope Dagla; Irina Mrvoljak-Theodoropoulou; Aikaterini-Taxiarchoula Kavakou; Eleni Rigoutsou; Evangelia Antoniou

doi:10.5455/msm.2021.33.21-25

Infant Sleep Difficulties at the 6^th Week and the 12^th Month Postpartum: What Is their Relationship with Maternal Mental Health and Other Perinatal Factors?

Mater Sociomed. 2021 Mar;33(1):21-25. doi: 10.5455/msm.2021.33.21-25.

Authors

Maria Dagla^{1

2}, Calliope Dagla¹, Irina Mrvoljak-Theodoropoulou¹, Aikaterini-Taxiarchoula Kavakou¹, Eleni Rigoutsou¹, Evangelia Antoniou^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Day Center for the Care of the Mental Health of Women (Perinatal Mental Health Disorders), Non-Profit Organization "FAINARETI", Athens, Greece.
² Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Health and Caring Sciences, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

Introduction: Infant sleep difficulties are often a challenge for new parents and may be related to maternal mood.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the presence of reported infant sleep difficulties at the 6^th week and at the 12^th month postpartum is associated with maternal psychological well-being and the presence of a mental health disorder in the perinatal period or with other perinatal factors.

Methods: It is a retrospective longitudinal study, examining a sample of 622 women who attended a 12-month innovative psychosocial intervention. Data were obtained through the EPDS and PHQ-9 psychometric tools, and the completion of a health history. Statistical analyses included Spearman rank correlation coefficients and Chi-square tests.

Results: Reported infant sleep difficulties at the 6^th week postpartum were associated with a) increased maternal scores on psychometric tools (EPDS and PHQ-9) during pregnancy and at the 6^th week postpartum, b) the presence of pathological maternal mental health symptoms in the perinatal period (p =.034), c) high maternal educational level (p <.001), and d) reported maternal breastfeeding difficulties at the 6^th week postpartum (p =.031). Reported infant sleep difficulties at the 12^th month postpartum were associated with a) increased maternal scores on the EPDS at the 6^th week after birth (p =.030), and at the 6^th (p =.031) and the 12^th month (p =.006) postpartum, b) reported infant sleep difficulties (p <.001) and frequent infant awakenings in the puperperium (p <.001), d) maternal fatigue at the 6^th week postpartum (p <.001), e) infant gastro-esophageal reflux problems (p <.001), and f) high maternal educational level (p =.001).

Conclusions: This study demonstrates a positive relationship between infant sleep difficulties at the 6^th week and at the 12^th months postpartum, with poor maternal mental health in the perinatal period.

Keywords: infant sleep difficulties; maternal mental health; postpartum.