A recent study of 5,107 infants and 4,983 school aged children finds that sleep problems are common among children of both age groups, and that infant sleep problems are associated with severe psychological distress in mothers with no past history of depression. It was also revealed that 36% of new mothers say that their infants rarely or never sleep through the night. The results suggest that problems in infants and children have a negative impact on mothers’ mental and physical health and are linked with higher risk of post-partum depression or “Baby Blues”.
PNAS May 22, 2007 vol 104 (21); pp 9081-9086