The Impact of Infant Rooming-In on Maternal Sleep at Night

Two opposing issues in postpartum rooming-in are the benefits of continuous interaction and the threat of maternal sleep disruption. A two-group comparison study was designed to investigate differences in sleep patterns for a group of mothers who roomed-in with their infants at night as compared with a group who was separated from their infants at night. The data collected from the mothers in the study indicated that mothers did not sleep longer or better when their infants were returned to the nursery during the night.