Mother-child interaction and sleep regulation in one-year-olds

The regulation of sleep-wake states is controlled not only by biological mechanisms but by care-giving context as well. In this study the association between mother-child relationship and the infant's sleep was examined. Thirty-seven 12-month-olds and their mothers participated in a 10-minute laboratory play episode. The dyadic interaction was coded with the Early Parent-Child Relational Assessment (Clark, 1985) and with the Emotional Availability scales (Biringen, Robinson, & Emde, 1993). The child's sleep was measured at home with a small-computerized activity monitor. Although mothers' behavior was not related to the child's sleep, infants who were more responsive in the play episode woke up more frequently compared to infants who were less involved in the interaction. The link between social-emotional competency and fragmented sleep, among nonrisk infants, could be an age-related phenomenon.