The demands of early parenthood and their impact on the ability to obtain rest and sleep are exponentially high for parents of twins. Mothers of twins are at particularly high risk for depression, and sleep restriction may play a role in this increased risk. Twin births have continued to rise over the last 25 years, increasing the number of parents at high risk for partial sleep deprivation, also known as sleep restriction. Moreover, over half of twins are born prematurely and thus require more vigilant care. Sleep restriction results in a cascade of negative effects for families of twins. Unrelenting infant care demands of two high-risk infants result in a lack of time for parents’ personal needs, including the need for sleep. Free time that a parent may have to rest is obliterated by the need to care for a second infant. For many families, help from relatives is short-lived, and financial constraints preclude the ability to hire someone to provide assistance with child care.
While mothers are typically the primary care providers for newly born infants, fathers are actively involved as the primary source of instrumental and emotional support for mothers of twins. Fathers who assist mothers of twins to meet childrearing demands, while also meeting their own employment responsibilities, are at high risk for sleep restriction, and fathers have been studied minimally. We do not know if the extent of sleep restriction for fathers is different from mothers or if fathers are more at risk than mothers. Finally, sleep patterns reflect behaviors that are amenable to change. Although new parents are counseled to obtain adequate sleep, few empirically supported strategies exist that effectively decrease sleep restriction for new parents. Moreover, no tailored strategies exist to meet the unique needs of parents raising twins.
This project examines relationships between sleep and depression and fatigue in mothers and fathers of twins and will identify useful strategies to be tested in a future study to minimize sleep loss and its adverse effects.
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