<This week's British Medical Journal contains an article on controlled
crying
techniques and infant sleep patterns.  The study was done at the Royal
Childrens' Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.
Are there any of you in Melbourne, or in Australia, who know something about
this trial or the one preceding it (which showed that about 46% of mothers
of babies attending a routine hearing test at age 7-9 months, stated their
babies had a sleep problem) and could comment?
The article is on line at:
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/324/7345/1062
(Randomised controlled trial of behavioural infant sleep intervention to
improve infant sleep and maternal mood)>

The first part of the study was published in Pediatrics last year. I think
there was a bit of discussion on Lactnet about it. It was a survey conducted
in middle-class areas of Melbourne, with the intention of recruiting women
who responded that their infant had a sleeping problem into an intervention
trial. So, it is not a population-based sample, ie may not be representative
of all of Melbourne (or Victoria or Australia). (The mean age of the mothers
in the trial is 33 and 34 years - significantly older than the population
mean). The aim of the survey was to recruit the sort of women who would be
suitable for a trial - a point that I thought wasn't made clear in the
Pediatrics article. This trial had already been conducted, but this wasn't
mentioned in the first article.

I agree with Rachel, that the definition of infant sleep problem is very
subjective, as it relies on the mother stating that her infant has a sleep
problem.

The intervention consisted of three sessions at the Maternal and Child
Health Centre (well baby clinic) with the researcher (Harriet Hiscock), a
young paediatrician. The control group were given a written sheet about
infant sleep. I wonder if this is an appropriate control group. We know that
spending time with an interested listener is helpful to new mothers (eg
research with health visitors in the UK). I think a more appropriate control
would have been for the control women to spend the same amount of time with
the researcher - but NOT talking about infant sleep (eg safety in the home,
introducing solids, first aid, etc).
At the time of the Pediatrics article, there was quite a lot of local
publicity about the research, so I imagine this will also appear in the
media.
Lisa Amir
MBBS, MMed, IBCLC in Melbourne, Australia

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