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Examining the Effectiveness of Two Behavioral Interventions for Sleep Problems in Infants
Sponsor: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Summary
Behavioral insomnia of childhood affects 15-30% of infants. Behavioral interventions, based on limiting parent-child bedtime and nighttime interactions, are effective in significantly improving infant sleep problems. However, the implementation of these interventions frequently encompasses significant infant crying and parental distress that deter many parents. Research on gradual sleep interventions that involve a lower "dose" of parent-infant separation, and thus may be more acceptable by parents, has so far been sparse. The proposed study aims to advance research in this area through systematically studying the processes through which parent and infant factors impact treatment outcomes of a behavioral intervention method that involves parent-infant separation only at bedtime ("bedtime checking"), in comparison to an intervention that also directly targets night-wakings ("standard checking"/"graduated extinction").
Official title: Early Childhood Insomnia: Underlying Mechanisms of Intervention Effects of the "Bedtime Checking" and the "Standard Checking" Methods
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
9 Months - 18 Months
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
230
Start Date
2023-03-09
Completion Date
2028-09-30
Last Updated
2025-09-23
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
bedtime intervention for early childhood insomnia
The intervention focuses on providing parents with skills on how to modify and limit their sleep-related interactions with their infant at bedtime. These changes are expected to foster the infant's ability to fall asleep independently at bedtime. It is also expected that after 1-2 weeks, these changes would lead to self-soothing also during the night.
bedtime and nighttime intervention for early childhood insomnia
The intervention focuses on providing parents with skills on how to modify and limit their sleep-related interactions with their infant at bedtime and during the night. These changes are expected to foster the infant's ability to fall asleep independently at bedtime and to resume sleep independently during the night.
Locations (1)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Beersheba, Israel