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Neuropediatrics 1973; 4(1): 64-75
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1091728
Original article

© 1973 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.

The Relationship between Maternal and Neonatal Sleep

Thomas F. Anders, Howard P. Roffwarg
  • Department of Psychiatry Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center Bronx, New York, USA
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Publication History

1972

1972

Publication Date:
18 November 2008 (online)

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Abstract

Three mother-infant pairs were recorded together during their hospital stay for a total of 5 nights following delivery. Infants slept in their bassinets in the newborn nursery while their mothers slept on the obstetrical ward. Physiologic measures of sleep in each were monitored simultaneously by a single, centrally located polygraph. Both the infants and their mothers demonstrated characteristic sleep cycles and sleep stage proportions independent of each other. No temporal relationship between infant and maternal sleep states were observed. These findings are discussed with respect to previous reports suggesting associations between sleep patterns of mothers and their infants.

Keyword

Sleep Physiology - Mother-Infant Sleep - REM Sleep - EEG