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Sleep problems are common in children with an intellectual disability, and occur more frequently than in typically developing children. Problems usually include settling difficulties, long sleep latencies, night waking, and early morning waking. Sleep problems are also likely to be stressful for other family members, particularly parents. This paper reports a study of children’s sleep problems, and their relationship with parent stress and coping, and child behaviour problems. Fifty-two children (age 2-19 years) with an intellectual disability (ID) and their families, and a comparison group of 25 typically developing children (age 2-17 years) and their families, participated in the study. Parents completed a sleep questionnaire, the Developmental Behaviour Checklist (DBC), the Parenting Hassles Scale (PHS). Analysis showed that the presence of sleep problems was significantly associated with both the intensity and frequency of hassles, and the presence of behaviour problems. Implications for children with...

Most U.S. pediatricians advise parents to sleep apart from their children, primarily to promote early autonomy and avoid sleep problems. In order to understand the relationship between sleep practices and sleep problems, two highly industrialized countries with contrasting approaches to sleep management were compared. Mothers of healthy 6- to 48-month-old children were interviewed in the U.S. and Japan. The 42 U.S. and 44 Japanese children averaged two years of age and all had been breast fed, had two-parent families and had college-educated mothers. In certain aspects of sleep management, i.e., maintaining a regular time for bed and a bedtime routine, making a firm response to bedtime struggles or night waking, and co-sleeping for part of some nights, no U.S.-Japan differences were found. However, other differences were marked (p values

Study 1. A prospective, longitudinal study of 249 breastfeeding mothers revealed that 35% of primiparas terminated breast feeding within the 1st 6wks. On the average those who stopped breast feeding in the 1st 6wks breast fed for only 18.2 days. Early termination was related (p=.01) to infant behaviours (crying, waking) which were assumed to indicate hunger. Study 2. An experimental study was conducted to compare maternal perceptions of hunger-related behaviours and to evaluate the effect of social support on increasing the duration of breast feeding. Three groups (N=50 each, primiparas) were randomly selected: Formula (F), Breast Control (BC), Breast Experimental (BE). At 6wks breast-feeding mothers reported higher rates of infant crying (p=.02) and night waking (p=.02) and less total hours of sleeping (p=.03) as compared with formula-feeding mothers. During weeks 1-4, BE mothers were telephoned weekly by a nurse to provide informed support for breast feeding and related infant care. Social support for these primiparous mothers increased their duration of breast feeding to 28.6 days as compared with 21.0 days in the control group (p