The Baby Care Study

State University of New York at Buffalo74 enrolled

Overview

The objective of this study is to provide pilot data on the feasibility and effectiveness of a web-based social networking intervention designed to promote sleep early in infancy and to explore the potential for this approach to promote healthy feeding routines, eating behaviors, and weight outcomes in subsequent larger-scale intervention research. First-time parents will be recruited (n=66) and randomized to an 8-week web-based social networking sleep intervention or general baby care control group with interventions beginning at infant age 8 weeks. Parents will complete online surveys, with research questions including: 1) whether the sleep intervention leads to longer nighttime and total sleep duration and decreased night waking among infants and 2) longer infant sleep bouts and improved parent sleep duration, stress, parenting efficacy, and parenting satisfaction. We will also examine infants' routines, feeding and eating behaviors, and emotion regulation to inform the application of this approach for childhood obesity prevention. The pilot research will provide insights into intervention feasibility, effects on infant sleep, and potential impacts on feeding and eating outcomes, informing our next steps.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Sleep Parenting

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * English-speaking, first-time parents/legal guardians \>18 years of a young infant who is \< 6 weeks at the time of recruitment (or pregnant first-time parents expecting an infant soon). We will not include any parents who report that they do not have access to or an interest in using a private group on social media and/or online surveys. Exclusion Criteria: * We will exclude families not meeting age criteria, as well as any parents who report that they do not have access to or an interest in using a private group on social media and/or online surveys. We will also exclude parents of infants who are born premature (prior to 37 weeks gestational age) and parents of multiples (twins, triplets, etc.).