Jeong Yeongsang, Eun Sohee, Seo Won Hee, Choi Byung Min, Ji Tae Chung
Background
Many social and cultural factors have influences on sleep patterns, and sleep condition of each child may be different from that of each other depending on the approaches and concerns of their parents. The objective of this study is to assess sleep condition of Korean infants.
Method
In 2014, a total of 627 Korean parents/caregivers of infants(48.6% boys) aged 0 till 18 months completed the internet-based expanded version of the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire(BISQ), which included specific questions of infants’ daytime and nighttime sleep patterns as well as their sleep related behaviors.
Results
Among 627 subjects, the number of boys are 305(48.6%). Most of the infants went to bed at about 21.80±1.72 hours at night and woke up at around 7.41±1.55 hours in the morning. The night sleep time duration was 9.43±1.75 hours, and the total sleep time for a day was 12.62±2.62 hours. 0-6 months old children group had less nighttime sleep duration(8.90±2.13 vs 9.78±1.23 vs 10.07±1.01, hours, p< 0.05) and more daytime sleep duration(4.30±2.49 vs 2.51±1.05 vs 2.36±1.23, hours, p< 0.05) than older children. There were no significant differences in number of night-waking between 0-6 months old children group and 7-12 months old children group, but 13-18 months old children group had significant less frequent night-waking(2.45±1.58 vs 2.38±1.59 vs 1.70±1.41). More than half of children in this survey sleep in their parents’ bed(59.8%), and most common bedtime routine was milk feeding until sleep(37.1%), and the second one was cradling(29.0%).
Conclusion
Korean infants have a short sleep time and bedtime routine and bed-share of Korean infants showed difference patterns compared with western countries. These results suggest that aggressive education for sleep condition is needed for Korean infants and their parents.