Maristella Lucchini, Daniela Macia, Liat Tikotzky, Sarah Berger, Natalie Barnett
Presented at Sleep and Breathing 2025
Introduction:
Infants commonly wake at night, affecting parental sleep and contributing to increased parental fatigue. Most research on sleep and parenting has focused on mothers, but limited evidence indicates that fathers are also affected by infant sleep disturbances. This study examines the relationship between infant sleep and parent sleep disturbances and sleep related impairment, investigating differences between mothers’ and fathers’ experiences.
Methods:
We recruited 567 parents with infants 4-6 months old, among Nanit consumers in the US (119 fathers, 448 mothers). Objective infant sleep metrics of nighttime sleep duration (NSD), number of night awakenings (NA) and parental visits (PV) were obtained from the Nanit (6.8±1.8 nights). Parents completed the PROMIS Sleep disturbances (SD; 8-40) and Sleep Related Impairment (SRI; 8-40). We ran regression analyses.
Results:
SRI and SD were higher in mothers (respectively β=2.5±0.7, p=0.001; β=2.3±0.8,
p=0.002) Higher maternal SD and SRI were associated with shorter infant NSD (respectively β=-0.8±0.3, p=0.01; β=-1.4±0.3, p<0.001). Both maternal and paternal higher SD and SRI were associated with more PV (mothers SD β=0.3±0.1, p=0.04; SRI β=0.4±0.1, p=0.001; fathers SD β=0.7±0.2, p=0.03; SRI β=0.5±0.2, p=0.05). NA were not associated with either SD or SRI.
Conclusion:
Shorter infant NSD was significantly associated with maternal, but not paternal,
SRI and SD, reflecting more sleep disturbances and sleepiness and lower alertness when awake. On the other hand, more PV, but not NA, was associated with paternal and maternal SRI and SD, showing a significant association between nighttime sleep disruptions due to infant care and parental sleep quality and daytime alertness. These results suggest that the relationship between infant sleep and parental sleep is different between mothers and fathers and more information on these associations could help to define more tailored approaches to better sleep.
Scatterplot of the relationship between Parental Sleep Disturbances PROMIS score and infant nighttime sleep duration, for fathers in blue and mothers in red.
Scatterplot of the relationship between Parental Sleep Disturbance PROMIS score and number of parental crib visits, for fathers in blue and mothers in red.
Scatterplot of the relationship between Parental Sleep Disturbance PROMIS score and number of parental crib visits, for fathers in blue and mothers in red.
Scatterplot of the relationship between Parental Sleep Related Impairment PROMIS score and number of parental crib visits, for fathers in blue and mothers in red.
About the Researchers
The researchers included Maristella Lucchini, Daniela Macia, Liat Tikotzky, Sarah Berger, Natalie Barnett
- Dr. Sarah Berger is a Professor of Psychology at the College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She received her PhD from New York University. Dr. Berger was an American Association of University Women Postdoctoral Research Fellow and a Fulbright Research Scholar. Dr. Berger studies the interaction between cognitive and motor development in infancy, particularly response inhibition and its implications for the allocation of attention in very young children. A line of National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded work, in collaboration with Dr. Anat Scher, has been the first to study the impact of sleep on motor problem solving in infancy.
- Dr. Maristella Lucchini serves as Senior Clinical Researcher at Nanit. In her role, Maristella works to secure grant funding in collaboration with Nanit’s university research partners and supports the development of the company’s research collaborations around the world. Previously, Maristella served as an Assistant Research Scientist in the Division of Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center where she led projects across several cohorts focusing on sleep health for pregnant and postpartum women and their children. Maristella’s research focused on underserved communities and sleep health disparities in the perinatal period. During her years as a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Department of Psychiatry, Maristella was selected to participate in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Young Investigator Research Forum. She holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano.
- Dr. Natalie Barnett serves as VP of Clinical Research at Nanit. Natalie initiated sleep research collaborations at Nanit and in her current role, Natalie oversees collaborations with researchers at hospitals and universities around the world who use the Nanit camera to better understand pediatric sleep and leads the internal sleep and development research programs at Nanit. Natalie holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of New England in Australia and a Postgraduate Certificate in Pediatric Sleep Science from the University of Western Australia. Natalie was an Assistant Professor in the Neurogenetics Unit at NYU School of Medicine prior to joining Nanit. Natalie is also the voice of Nanit's science-backed, personalized sleep tips delivered to users throughout their baby's first few years.