Parents and Peadiatric Nurses Awareness of Infant Sleep

One of the most common complaints of mothers at the paediatrician's is complaint about the night sleep disorder, especially in older infants and toddlers. Long-term insomnia of a child negatively affects well-being of parents and disrupts peaceful atmosphere of home. We often encounter sleep disorders in babies; mostly they are frequent nocturnal awakenings and difficulty falling asleep. Parents should be therefore informed about sleep issues already at neonatal units, as they are informed about breastfeeding. The target group of this research was mothers of infants and nurses working at neonatal units and in primary paediatric care. The aim of the study was to determine the level of awareness of paediatric nurses and parents about infant sleep and create educational material for nurses. The survey was carried out using a snow ball technique, in-depth interviews with mothers and a questionnaire with open questions for nurses. Collected data were then transcribed, coded, and processed using frame analysis by. Then, using the snow ball method, we gradually extended the sample to 7 mothers of unsleepy infants and 7 mothers of sleepy infants, i.e. to cases that were supposed to strongly manifest the problem. Also, paediatric nurses were selected intentionally according to their place of work at neonatal departments and in primary paediatric care. Parents receive information about infant sleep most often on the Internet, from specialized books and from their own mothers and friends; and they usually do not ask nurses for information on infant sleep. Parent only find out at home that there is a problem with their child's sleep. They tend to try various interventions to lull their baby to sleep. Research has shown that the most common source of knowledge for nurses is their personal experience with their own children. Nurses also use their rich experience gained during long years of practice. Furthermore, they educate themselves in this issue using specialized books, visiting seminars, and they also use the internet. Nurses' advice to mothers regarding infant insomnia is shown in two perspectives in our research. The first is the perspective of mothers and the second one is the perspective of nurses. Surprisingly, there are discrepancies, especially regarding the nurses in primary care. Interventions that were reported by nurses coincide with working techniques of lulling a baby to sleep. In contrast, some interventions which were described by mothers as advice from a nurse rather indicate ignorance or indifference of some nurses. The research showed that the quality of infant sleep may be to some extent influenced by the information given to parents already at neonatal unit by medical staff, because they are in the best position to provide such information. However, mothers often choose different sources. The research has shown that mothers usually instinctively select proper techniques to lull restless infants to sleep without consulting a paediatric nurse. These results have prompted the development of an educational leaflet for nurses which informs about proper practices and appropriate techniques to lull restless unsleepy infants to sleep