In this 75 minute presentation, Kathleen Kendall-Tackett explores mother-infant sleep. A short multiple-choice quiz follows to reinforce the key concepts discussed.
Mother-infant sleep is surprisingly complex, yet practitioners issue advice that does not consider these complexities. When infants do not sleep, they often cry, which is stressful for mothers and can lead to depression. Simply telling mothers to supplement or avoid nighttime breastfeeding increases mothers’ fatigue and can harm their mental health. Infant sleep is influenced by their sex, temperament, and gestational age. Mothers’ depression, anxiety, or PTSD during pregnancy also influences their infants’ sleep. However, exclusive breastfeeding ameliorates many of these difficulties because it downregulates the hyperactive stress response. It also protects mothers’ mental health because it leads to better sleep. This presentation also offers suggestions for how to help mothers with extreme fatigue.
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