Infant sleep as a topic in healthcare guidance of parents, prenatally and the first 6 months after birth: a scoping review

Inger Pauline Landsem; Nina Bøhle Cheetham

doi:10.1186/s12913-022-08484-3

Infant sleep as a topic in healthcare guidance of parents, prenatally and the first 6 months after birth: a scoping review

BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Sep 8;22(1):1135. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08484-3.

Authors

Inger Pauline Landsem^{1

2}, Nina Bøhle Cheetham³

Affiliations

¹ The Arctic University of Norway, The Health Research Faculty, Institute of Health and Caring Science, Hansine Hansens veg 18, 9019, Tromsø, Norway. inger.p.landsem@uit.no.
² Child and Adolescent Department, University Hospital of North Norway, Sykehusvegen 38, 9019, Tromsø, Norway. inger.p.landsem@uit.no.
³ The Arctic University of Norway, The Health Research Faculty, Institute of Health and Caring Science, Hansine Hansens veg 18, 9019, Tromsø, Norway.

Abstract

Background: This scoping review focuses on infant sleep-related factors and themes that are relevant when health practitioners provide preventive health services to expectant and new parents.

Methods: A systematic literature search in CINAHL, PubMed, and PsycINFO, published in 2010 or later, identified 1661 records. The search was further narrowed to focus on sleep in healthy term-born infants until the second half of the first year of life. A blinded review by both authors covered 136 papers, of which 43 papers were reviewed in the full text. Finally, 38 articles were included in the data extraction.

Results: The analysis process showed that the selected studies formed three main information categories: 11 studies thematised safe infant sleep issues, 10 studies described design and findings from sleep-related intervention studies, and 17 studies focused on different parent-child interactive aspects that may influence the quality and duration of infant sleep in the first six months of life. The main finding is that knowledge about early infant sleep is very complex, and includes both child, parent, and environmental factors. Several studies have shown that the concepts and factors related to safe infant sleep also influence the development of healthy infant sleep patterns. Thus, these aspects are interwoven with each other and should be addressed together in communication with parents.

Conclusions: Health practitioners with different professional backgrounds need to search for an agreement on when and how different aspects of sleep-related knowledge should be communicated to new and expectant parents to enable the design of national follow-up programs. Parents want coherent and personalized services regarding infant sleep issues that may allow them to choose sleeping arrangements, routines, and behaviors that fit in with their sociocultural attitudes and traditions. Many different sources and formats may be used to empower parents regarding infant sleep issues. Studies have described the use of group or individual meetings, videos, and written materials. The key issue is the importance of consistent and seamless knowledge-based services.

Keywords: Bedtime routines; Infant sleep; Parental guidance; Place of sleep; Sleep consolidation; Sleep safety.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Communication
Delivery of Health Care
Humans
Infant
Parent-Child Relations*
Parents*
Sleep