Infants' sleep patterns can be disrupted if their parents have relationship problems and argue constantly.
Researchers analysed data from 357 American children and their parents. All of the children were adopted at birth, which let researchers focus on how family relationships - without the influence of genetics - might affect the infants' sleep patterns.
Regulated sleep is essential during infancy for healthy brain and physical development. Disrupted sleep patterns early in life have serious implications for children's long-term development.
How couples/parents relate to each other - specifically, how they manage conflicts in their everyday lives - is recognised as having significant implications for children's long term emotional, behavioural and academic development. Understanding which comes first, children's sleep problems affecting parent relationship quality or parent relationship quality affecting children's sleep problems, has significant clinical implications.
Infants who heard regular blow-ups between parents when they were 9 months old continued to have troubled sleep patterns - marked by problems getting to sleep and staying asleep - even when they were 18-month-old toddlers. However, infants' sleep patterns had no effect on parents' relationships.
Researchers analysed data from 357 American children and their parents. All of the children were adopted at birth, which let researchers focus on how family relationships - without the influence of genetics - might affect the infants' sleep patterns.
Regulated sleep is essential during infancy for healthy brain and physical development. Disrupted sleep patterns early in life have serious implications for children's long-term development.
How couples/parents relate to each other - specifically, how they manage conflicts in their everyday lives - is recognised as having significant implications for children's long term emotional, behavioural and academic development. Understanding which comes first, children's sleep problems affecting parent relationship quality or parent relationship quality affecting children's sleep problems, has significant clinical implications.
Infants who heard regular blow-ups between parents when they were 9 months old continued to have troubled sleep patterns - marked by problems getting to sleep and staying asleep - even when they were 18-month-old toddlers. However, infants' sleep patterns had no effect on parents' relationships.