Does Sleep Matter? Impact on Development and Functioning in Infants

Pennestri and colleagues’¹ article “Uninterrupted Infant Sleep, Development, and Maternal Mood” is a glimpse into the question driving much of sleep research: "does sleep matter?" The knee-jerk answer is "of course it does." Ask any parent of an infant or health care practitioner and the perception is that sleep has to affect development. However, a closer look at the literature provides different answers depending on the study.

Pennestri et al¹ followed 369 infants at 6 and 12 months, completing the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID-II) at both time points (although it was unclear how many completed the BSID-II at each point). The authors measured the percentage of infants that slept consecutively, as an indication of sleep consolidation, for 6, 8, or 12 hours on the basis of the Self-Administered Questionnaire for the Mother (SQAM). They found no relationship between this measure of sleep and concurrent or...