0775 Differences in subjective sleep measures in mothers and fathers of premature infants: A preliminary study

Abstract Introduction It has been documented that newborn’s sleep is strongly associated with maternal and paternal sleep. However, mothers seem to be more affected by their infant’s sleep than fathers. These associations are not well known in families of premature newborns yet. This was the objective of the present study. Methods 30 families of premature newborns (mothers, fathers and infants) participated in this study one month after discharge from the hospital. Parents completed, among other measures, sleep diaries during three consecutive weekdays for themselves and their child. Multiple linear regression analyses were computed to examine the association between sleep duration and nocturnal awakenings of the premature infant and their mothers’ and fathers’ sleep duration and number of awakenings during the night. Analyses were done separately for mothers and fathers. Results Regression models for parents’ sleep duration were significant and explained 31.7% of the variance in mothers’ sleep duration (p=.009) and 30.8% of the variance in fathers’ sleep duration (p=.01). Infants’ sleep duration was the only significant predictor in both models (□=.663, p=.005 and □=.670, p=.005, respectively for mothers and fathers). Thus, shorter sleep duration in premature infants predicted shorter sleep duration in mothers and fathers. Analyses of parents’ nocturnal awakenings showed that the model was significant for mothers (p<.001), but not for fathers (p=.372). The variables explained 73.4% of the variance in mothers’ awakenings, and infants’ nocturnal awakenings was the only significant predictor (□=.801, p<.001). Conclusion Our results suggest that premature infants’ sleep is strongly associated with mothers and fathers’ sleep. In addition, it seems that nocturnal awakenings are particularly associated with the mothers, but not the fathers’ awakenings during the night, which may be related to their involvement in feeding schedules during the night. Future studies should focus on sleep disturbances in families of preterm infants and on interventions targeted for both mothers and fathers that can be implemented to improve sleep in this population. Support (if any)