Photo Credit: Javi Indy

The following is a summary of “Early Sleep Intervention for improving infant sleep quality: a randomized controlled trial, Preliminary Result,” published in the May 2024 issue of Pediatrics by Sinthong et al.

Ensuring healthy sleep patterns in infants is crucial for family well-being during the first six months of life. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of early sleep intervention on nighttime sleep quality in infants.

Infants aged 4 months ± 2 weeks were randomized to receive either an early sleep intervention or usual care. Sleep-related data were collected through parental interviews at baseline and again when the infants were 6 months old. The efficacy of the early sleep intervention was analyzed using logistic regression.

A total of 335 eligible infants were enrolled and randomized, with 306 completing the study: 148 in the early sleep intervention group and 158 in the usual care group. The early sleep intervention group exhibited significantly longer nighttime sleep duration and shorter night waking duration compared to the usual care group (585.20 ± 80.38 minutes vs. 496.14 ± 87.78 minutes, p < .001, and 61.01 ± 36.38 minutes vs. 89.72 ± 45.54 minutes, p < .001, respectively). By 6 months of age, infants in the early sleep intervention group were more likely to have longer nighttime sleep episodes (≥ 4 hours at a time) compared to those in the usual care group, with an adjusted odds ratio of 2.39 (95% CI: 1.34–4.28).

Early sleep intervention, initiated at 4 months of age, significantly improves nighttime sleep quality in infants. This intervention should be recommended as part of routine well-child care to enhance sleep quality and overall family well-being.

Source: bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12887-024-04771-6