OBJECTIVE: Verify whether there is association between sleep disorders in babies at 12 months of age and postpartum depression in motherhood. METHODS:Cross sectional study. The sample was made up of women who had done their prenatal medical care at the National Health System (SUS), at the health basic units in Pelotas and who had their deliveries from June, 2006. The 12 month old babies from these women are also part of the sample. In order to assess depressive symptoms in the mothers, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was used and the following sleeping behaviors of the babies were investigated: hours of sleep per day, regularity of sleep and wake up time, disturbed sleep and night awakening. Poisson Regression was used for the analysis. RESULTS: 35.7% of the babies showed alterations in their sleeping patterns. After adjusting for the proposed hierarchal model, sleep alteration of the babies was still associated with the depressive symptoms of the mothers (p < 0,01). CONCLUSIONS: Health professionals should regularly investigate sleeping behaviors of babies and pay attention to mothers' mental health in order to identify problems early and offer support in the management of babies' sleep.
Perinatal depression; sleep disorders; child; interaction mother-child
