Feeding methods, sleep arrangement, and infant sleep patterns: a Chinese population-based study.
BACKGROUND
Findings from prior research into the effect of feeding methods on infant sleep are inconsistent. The objectives of this study were to examine infants' sleep patterns by feeding methods and sleep arrangement from birth to eight months old.


METHODS
This longitudinal cohort study enrolled 524 pregnant women at 34-41 weeks of gestation and their infants after delivery in 2006 and followed up until eight months postpartum. The study subjects were recruited from nine women and children hospitals in nine cities in China (Beijing, Chongqing, Wuhan, Changsha, Nanning, Xiamen, Xi'an, Jinan, and Hailin). Participating infants were followed up weekly during the first month and monthly from the second to the eighth month after birth. Twenty-four hour sleep diaries recording infants' sleeping and feeding methods were administered based on caregiver's self-report. Multivariable mixed growth curve models were fitted to estimate the effects of feeding methods and sleep arrangement on infants' sleep patterns over time, controlling for maternal and paternal age, maternal and paternal education level, household income, supplementation of complementary food, and infant birth weight and length.


RESULTS
Exclusively formula fed infants had the greatest sleep percentage/24 h, followed by exclusively breast milk fed infants and partially breast milk fed infants (P<0.01). Night waking followed a similar pattern. However, the differences in sleep percentage and night waking frequency between exclusively formula and exclusively breast milk fed infants weakened over time as infants developed. In addition, compared to infants with bed-sharing sleep arrangement, those with room sharing sleep arrangement had greater daytime and 24-hour infant sleep percentage, whereas those with sleeping alone sleep arrangement had greater nighttime sleep percentage.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data based on caregiver's self-report suggested that partial breastfeeding and bed-sharing may be associated with less sleep in infants. Health care professionals need to work with parents of newborns to develop coping strategies that will help prevent early weaning of breastfeeding.
['Huang|Xiao-Na|XN|', 'Wang|Hui-Shan|HS|', 'Chang|Jen-Jen|JJ|', 'Wang|Lin-Hong|LH|', 'Liu|Xi-Cheng|XC|', 'Jiang|Jing-Xiong|JX|', 'An|Lin|L|']
D044466:Asians D001942:Breast Feeding D015331:Cohort Studies D005248:Feeding Methods D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D007231:Infant, Newborn D008137:Longitudinal Studies D008297:Male D010290:Parents D011446:Prospective Studies D012890:Sleep
feeding method sleep arrangement infant sleep breast feeding