Depressed mothers and sleepless babies

Researchers at the University of Michigan compared sleep patterns of babies whose mothers had depression to those whose mothers were unaffected by the condition. Their study followed 18 healthy, full-term babies for a week a month, over 24 weeks and the babies' mothers kept daily diaries of how much their children slept. 11 of the mums had depresssion while the others had no family history of the illness. The children of the depressed mothers took longer to fall asleep (80 vs 20 mins) and woke up more often in the night (4 vs 2 times). The team said that if the babies' sleep problems mean that they themselves become depressed this may be something that needs treatment.

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE5443GU20090505?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews