Children's Sleep Problems Create Bad Health in Parents

Children's bedtime problems may not only make parents lose sleep, but can take a toll on their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, acording to a new research released yesterday. Mothers appear to be particularly affected if their child keeps them awake at nightime and show signs of physical and psychological distress. Fathers, on the other hand, show poorer general health. This may be because Mothers are usually the partner who deals with their children's sleep issues.

In a study of more that 10,000 families with infants or preschool kids, Australian researchers found that parents who said their children had sleep problems tended to report poorer physical health and emotional distress. The report findings in the current issue of the journal Pediatrics shows that the bottom line for parents is that they should not simply live with sleep problems that are draining them physically and emotionally. According to the study co-author Dr Harriet Hiscock, of the Royal Hospital and University of Melbourne quoted "They don't need to put up with it if their child's sleep is a problem for them"; she was referring to the parents.

Dr Hiscosk suggests that parents talk to their Paediatrician about behavorial techniques for helping their child to fall asleep and to stay asleep. Consistent bedtime routines can also help preschoolers that are resistant to the idea of going to bed. Dr Hiscock and her colleagues base their findings on a national survey of 5,107 families with infants and 4,983 with preschool-aged children. Based on the parents' responses, 17 percent of infants and 14 percent of preschoolers had a moderate to severe sleep problem.

The Mothers of these infants showed poorer scores on standard measures of general health and psychological distress, while fathers hav lower scores in general health. Similarly, mothers whose preschoolers had sleep problems tended to show poorer overall general health. There is no hard definitions of child sleep problems, according to Dr Hiscock, "In reality, if parents thing that their child's sleep is a problem, then something needs to be donw about it", she added. "The typical scenario in infant sleep problems include frequent wakings not related to feedings and difficulty going to sleep in the first instance. With preschoolers, bedtime resistance tends to be parents' top complaint."