Article in "The Age"
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THE miracle of birth can quickly become the misery of sleep deprivation and depression for many new mothers.
But Melbourne researchers taking part in a world-first study have found postnatal depression can be dramatically reduced by teaching parents techniques to settle restless babies.
The study of 300 Victorian families who had babies with sleeping disorders found that after interventions by specially trained nurses, mothers were 41 per cent less likely to suffer depressive symptoms than those with no intervention.
Babies given sleep management plans at eight months were 41 per cent less likely s to have sleeping problems at 10 months.
When the babies reached two years old, their mothers were 59 per cent less likely to have depressive symptoms.
Training will now be provided for 200 maternal and child health nurses to teach the techniques across Victoria, the state Minister for Children, Sherryl Garbutt, announced yesterday.
Study author Harriet His****, a pediatrician from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute at the Royal Children's Hospital, said about 45 per cent of Australian babies aged six to 12 months had sleep problems and one in seven women experienced postnatal depression.
"Sleep deprivation can be akin to torture. You can feel, as a mum, that you can function only on automatic pilot. It can feel relentless — 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Dr His**** said. "If you've got a baby with a sleep problem, your levels of depression symptoms are often a lot higher."
Parents of sleepless babies were shown how to replace triggers for sleep such as rocking, driving around the block or using dummies with "controlled comforting" or "camping out".
Results were seen within two weeks.
"Controlled comforting, which used to be known as controlled crying, is for babies over six months," Dr His**** said.
"If you know that they're well fed and have a clean nappy, you put them into their cot awake and, if they cry, you wait increasing time intervals before going back to resettle them — two minutes the first night, then four the next and so on.
"Within a week, they should be learning to put themselves to sleep, rather than their mother or father doing it for them."
With "camping out", the baby goes to bed in their cot and the parent lies in a camp bed beside it. Each night, the camp bed is moved away until eventually it is out of the room.
Emma Reiterer, a mother of two from Sandringham, participated in the study that began in 2004 and finished early this year.
She said of her son Nicholas, now three: "At eight months he was still waking probably two-hourly overnight and I also had a two-year-old who was waking.
"I wasn't depressed, but exhausted certainly. Now he'll sleep a good 12 hours through the night, which is fantastic."
Sleep interventions are designed for babies aged six to eight months.
Giulia Leaman, mother of eight-week-old Holly, is looking forward to her daughter being old enough to benefit from the sleep techniques.
"It will be useful … because if you're not getting enough sleep, you can't cope — you're just on auto pilot," she said.
HUSH, LITTLE BABY …SOURCE: HARRIET HIS****, MURDOCH CHILDREN'S RESEARCH INSTITUTE, ROYAL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
■Controlled comforting Once baby* is well fed and clean, put them in their cot. If they cry, wait two minutes before resettling them (try not to pick them up). Increase time between crying and resettling by two minutes each night until baby falls asleep independently.
■Camping out Lie in a camp bed close to the cot. Over two to three weeks, move the bed away until it is out of the room.
■Put baby to bed sleepy but awake, so the last thing they remember is being in their cot.
■Develop a bedtime routine.
■Remember, it takes babies 10 minutes, on average, to fall asleep. Grizzling is normal.
*Techniques for babies aged 6-8 months
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