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CompletedNCT03320083Updated Oct 27, 2017

Behavioral Insomnia of Childhood: Impact of Parent Education

An interventional study of Educational care derived from POSSUMS in Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders, sponsored by Marmara University. Completed. Open to participants aged 6 Months to 12 Months, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2017-10-27.

Sponsored by Marmara University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 1 year 8 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Feb 2016, registered Oct 2017).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
157
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
6 Months to 12 Months
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Behavioral Insomnia of Childhood (BIC) is among the most prevalent problem presented to pediatricians with a reported occurrence of approximately 30% worldwide.The most widely applied treatment strategies for BIC in infants comprise behavioral procedures such as unmodified extinction; graduated extinction (ignoring the infant cries with minimal checks), or camping out. Unfortunately, breastfeeding is usually considered as an undesirable sleep association in these strategies. Moreover, less is known regarding the effects of these interventions on breastfeeding outcomes. The cued care is defined as a pattern of care characterized by sensible caregiver responsiveness, which meets the need underlying the infant's cues in a flexible manner. In this context, POSSUMS has been developed as a cued care sleep intervention, which is quite different from the conventional sleep training techniques. In the current study, investigators hypothesized that mothers receiving the cued care sleep intervention would report less sleep problems in their infants. Secondary outcomes included improvement in maternal mood and maintenance of the breastfeeding during the observation period.

Read the detailed description

Behavioral Insomnia of Childhood (BIC) is among the most prevalent problem presented to pediatricians with a reported occurrence of approximately 30% worldwide.Like all the other behavioral problems, sleep problem is defined by the the parents, and influenced by parental psychopathology, parenting styles, family dynamics, culturally-based differences in values, socio-economic factors, temperament, developmental stage and medical condition of the child. Moreover, there is also data suggesting an association of depressed mood among mothers to infants with BIC. The most widely applied treatment strategies for BIC in infants comprise behavioral procedures such as unmodified extinction; graduated extinction (ignoring the infant cries with minimal checks), or camping out. The primary outcomes of these interventions include enabling infants to learn to self soothe to sleep, having less fragmented night-time sleep and longer night-time sleep periods. Unfortunately, breastfeeding is usually considered as an undesirable sleep association in these strategies. Moreover, less is known regarding the effects of these interventions on breastfeeding outcomes. Within the infant sleep research field, not breastfed but the formula fed baby is usually considered as the biological norm. However, since nursing influences both the maternal and infant sleep architecture, the outcomes of those behavioral interventions can not be accurately evaluated without considering the breastfeeding.

The cued care is defined as a pattern of care characterized by sensible caregiver responsiveness, which meets the need underlying the infant's cues in a flexible manner. In this context, POSSUMS has been developed as a cued care sleep intervention, which is quite different from the conventional sleep training techniques. This method uses the breast to make the baby go back to sleep as quickly as possible as long as the mother is happy with breastfeeding at night.

In the current study, investigators hypothesized that mothers receiving the cued care sleep intervention would report less sleep problems in their infants. Secondary outcomes included improvement in maternal mood and maintenance of the breastfeeding during the observation period.

The first part of the study was a baseline assessment of sleep problems. Software generated random number table was used to randomly allocate subjects to intervention and usual care groups. Mother-infant dyads in both groups were reassessed 3 months post intervention.

225 consecutive mother-infant dyads were assessed for eligibility at Marmara University Medical School, well- child outpatient clinic, Istanbul between 01 February 2016 and 15 April 2016. Seven did not meet the inclusion criteria, and 35 participants declined to participate. 91 were allocated to usual care, and 92 were allocated to patient education. Twenty five participants from the usual care and 1 mother infant dyad from the intervention group were lost to follow up and 157were included in the final analysis.

02

Conditions studied

  • Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

Keywords

  • sleep, infants, behavioural insomnia, breastfeeding
03

In context

Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

2,726 studies on the registry are indexed under Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; 728 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 157 is above the median of 68 across 2,353 interventional studies indexed under Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders.

Browse Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

Marmara University is the lead sponsor of 599 studies on the registry; 138 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
6 Months to 12 Months
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • infants' gestational age ≥37 weeks, healthy with normal birth weight (≥2.5 kg),and absence of any neonatal or postnatal medical condition

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • premature infants, infants with acute or chronic medical condition
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
157 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Educational care derived from POSSUMS

    Intervention group were offered a sleep education session using behavioral change counseling communication skills, derived from the POSSUMS approach developed by Douglas P and Whittingham K. However we could not use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), because none of the investigators had sufficient training on ACT at the time the study was conducted.

    Behavioral: Educational care derived from POSSUMS

  • No intervention
    Usual Care

    General anticipatory guidance given

Interventions

  • BehavioralEducational care derived from POSSUMS

    Intervention group were offered a sleep education session on healthy practices for parent-baby sleep which included information on sleep needs, sleep hygiene, training in strategies to remove obstacles that get in the way of healthy sleep. Information were provided to guide the parent in forming an action plan based on cued care which included aligning the circadian clock with real time, removing the obstacles that get in the way of healthy sleep, physical activity, mindfulness, and relaxation techniques for mothers derived from the POSSUMS approach. However, we could not use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, because none of the investigators had sufficient training on ACT at the time the study was conducted.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Rates of infant sleep problems

    Infant sleep problems reported by the mother and according to Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ). It is not a scale. The variables of the questionnaire included 1) nocturnal sleep duration (between the hours of 7 pm and 7 am); 2) daytime sleep duration (between the hours of 7 am and 7 pm); 3) number of night wakenings; 4) duration of wakefulness during the night hours (10 pm to 6 am); 5) nocturnal sleep-onset time (the time when the child falls asleep for the night); 6) settling time (latency to falling asleep for the night); 7) method of falling asleep; 8) location of sleep; 9) preferred body position; 10) age of child; 11) gender of child; 12) birth order; and 13) role of the responder who completed the BISQ. If the child woke up more than 3 times per night, spent more than 1 hour in wakefulness during the night, or spent less than 9 hours in sleep (day and night), then they were considered as poor sleepers

    Time frame: 3 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Breastfeeding rates

    Infant breastfeeding rates

    Time frame: 3 months

  2. Maternal depression

    Mothers' depressive symptoms measured by Beck depression scale. The Beck depression Inventory is a 21 item, self-report rating inventory that measures characteristic attitudes and symptoms of depression. The highest possible total score for the test is sixty three. The score between 11-16 indicates mild mood disturbance, 17-20 borderline clinical depression, 21-30 moderate depression, 31-40 severe depression, over 40 extreme depression

    Time frame: 3 months

07

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Feb 2016 to primary completion in Sep 2016, 7 months.

Of 1,211 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders, half reached primary completion within 15 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 35. This study's 7 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 1,289 studies reached it within 15 months; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 34.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Oct 20, 2017
First posted
Oct 25, 2017
StartActual
Feb 1, 2016
Primary completionActual
Sep 30, 2016
CompletionActual
Oct 30, 2016
Last update
Oct 27, 2017
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Oct 27, 2017, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03320083
Lead sponsor
Marmara University
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Oct 25, 2017
Start date
Feb 1, 2016
Primary completion
Sep 30, 2016
Completion
Oct 30, 2016
Last update
Oct 27, 2017

Study contacts

Perran Boran
study chair · Marmara University medical school

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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