Elevated Hair Cortisol Levels in Newborns Cause Sleep Difficulties

Infants' sleep patterns can be predicted by cortisol levels during late pregnancy, says a new study to be presented at the annual meeting of SLEEP 2023 (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Newborn Hair Cortisol and Sleep Health in Infancy

Go to source). The findings indicate that infants with elevated cortisol levels in their hair samples experienced delayed sleep onset at 7 months old. Hair cortisol in neonates reflects fetal cortisol during the final trimester of pregnancy.

“Although increases in cortisol across pregnancy are normal and important for preparing the fetus for birth, our findings suggest that higher cortisol levels during late pregnancy could predict the infant having trouble falling asleep,” said lead co-author Melissa Nevarez-Brewster, graduate student at the University of Denver. “We are excited to conduct future studies to better understand this link.”

The researchers collected hair cortisol from 70 infants in the first days after birth; 57% of the infants were female. Parents then completed a sleep questionnaire when their child was 7 months old. Analyses covaried for gestational age at birth and family income-to-needs ratio.

Study Fetal Cortisol's Long-Term Effects on Sleep Development: Tessa Benefield

Tessa Benefield, lead co-author and research staff, noted that it will be important for future research to further study potential long-term effects of fetal cortisol production on sleep health through infancy into childhood.

“The results indicate that there may be prenatal influences on sleep health early in life, pointing to the need to better understand what factors may set the stage for better sleep health in infancy and beyond,” she said.

This study was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health. The research abstract was published recently in an online supplement of the journal Sleep and will be presented Tuesday, June 6, during SLEEP 2023 in Indianapolis. SLEEP is the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

Reference:

1. Newborn Hair Cortisol and Sleep Health in Infancy - (https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/46/Supplement_1/A54/7181716)

Source-Eurekalert