The ‘Better sleep better well-being’ intervention for parents of infants with moderate sleep problems: A quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Healthy development of infants/toddlers is associated with adequate parent–child interactions, infant sleep patterns, and infant nutrition. In early childhood, learning to fall and stay asleep is essential and can contribute to infants’ self-regulation and to regulating emotions and behavior. Sleep problems in infancy are, however, of significant concern to parents. This study aimed to research the benefit of a face-to-face family education and support intervention concerning ‘Better sleep better well-being’ (FES-BSBW). Six advanced community healthcare nurses provided three sessions of FES-BSBW intervention to the parents. Data were assessed from 35 primary caregivers. The TREND and TIDieR guidelines were used to report findings. The intervention focused on parent–child interactions and normal child development, temperament, parents’ beliefs about the infants’ sleep patterns, and the impact of the infants’ sleep problems on the parents’ quality of life after the intervention. The intervention was delivered over approximately one month. The primary findings showed that mothers reported significantly higher perceived family support, improved sleep pattern beliefs, better physical functioning and longer infants sleep periods on average at nights after the FES-BSBW intervention. These findings are promising and might prevent sleep problems in infants/toddlers from escalating later into more severe health problems.