Michal Kahn, Maristella Lucchini, Emily Oster, Shambhavi Thakur, Mali Waugh, Natalie Barnett
The Journal of Pediatrics
Abstract
Objective
To examine prospectively the relationship between teething and infant sleep using objective sleep measurements.
Study design
Over a 4-week period, 849 infants aged 3-18 months (mean = 8.4 ± 1.8) from the US and Canada were monitored using auto-videosomnography, based on computer-vision technology to decode video footage from crib camera monitors. Parents also provided reports of tooth eruption timing, symptoms, and management strategies. Objective sleep metrics, including total sleep time, nighttime awakenings, and parental crib visits, were compared between teething and non-teething nights using generalized estimating equations and changepoint analysis.
Results
Both analytic approaches showed no significant differences in sleep metrics between teething and non-teething nights. Although over half the parents reported sleep disturbances during teething, these subjective reports were not corroborated by the objective data.
Conclusions
These findings challenge the widely held belief that teething disrupts sleep and highlight the need for pediatric healthcare professionals to consider alternative explanations for infant sleep problems. Educating parents with evidence-based information may prevent potentially harmful management strategies for teething (eg, excessive use of analgesics and local anesthetics) and improve sleep problem management. Future research should explore these relationships using multiple objective measures and more diverse populations.
About the Researchers
The researchers included Michal Kahn, Maristella Lucchini, Emily Oster, Shambhavi Thakur, Mali Waugh, and Natalie Barnett.
- Dr. Michal Kahn is a sleep researcher and licensed clinical psychologist, specializing in pediatric insomnia and sleep development. She is a senior lecturer (assistant professor) at the School of Psychological Sciences at Tel Aviv University, Israel.
- Dr. Maristella Lucchini serves as Senior Clinical Researcher at Nanit. In her role, Maristella works to secure grant funding in collaboration with Nanit’s university research partners and supports the development of the company’s research collaborations around the world. Previously, Maristella served as an Assistant Research Scientist in the Division of Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center where she led projects across several cohorts focusing on sleep health for pregnant and postpartum women and their children. Maristella’s research focused on underserved communities and sleep health disparities in the perinatal period. During her years as a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Department of Psychiatry, Maristella was selected to participate in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Young Investigator Research Forum. She holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano.
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Professor Emily Oster is a Professor of Economics at Brown University and the author of Expecting Better, Cribsheet and The Family Firm. She holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard. Prior to being at Brown she was on the faculty at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Emily’s academic work focuses on health economics and statistical methods. She is interested in understanding why consumers do not always make “rational” health choices — why do people not eat a fully healthy diet, or pursue all recommended preventative health behaviors? Her work also concerns methods for learning causal effects from observational data. Emily’s books analyze the data behind choices in pregnancy and parenting. Expecting Better analyzes the data behind many common pregnancy rules, and aims to improve decision-making for pregnant women. Cribsheet does the same for early childhood — what does the evidence really say on breastfeeding, co-sleeping or potty training. Finally, The Family Firm takes this approach to parenting in the early school years, looking at data on school, extracurriculars, sleep and also providing a framework to make unexpected decisions and address the logistical challenges of this period of parenting. Emily writes a newsletter called ParentData on data, pregnancy, child rearing and whatever else is on the mind of parents. In recognition of this work, she was named to TIME's list of "The 100 Most Influential People of 2022."
- Shambhavi Thakur serves as Clinical Research Data Analyst at Nanit. She holds a Masters degree in Health Informatics and Life Sciences. She oversees the research collaborations with various universities and analyzes sleep data for internal as well as external studies.
- Dr. Natalie Barnett serves as VP of Clinical Research at Nanit. Natalie initiated sleep research collaborations at Nanit and in her current role, Natalie oversees collaborations with researchers at hospitals and universities around the world who use the Nanit camera to better understand pediatric sleep and leads the internal sleep and development research programs at Nanit. Natalie holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of New England in Australia and a Postgraduate Certificate in Pediatric Sleep Science from the University of Western Australia. Natalie was an Assistant Professor in the Neurogenetics Unit at NYU School of Medicine prior to joining Nanit. Natalie is also the voice of Nanit's science-backed, personalized sleep tips delivered to users throughout their baby's first few years.