Babies and their Sleep Environment

Abstract

What factors influence the choice of babies' sleep environments? What options do parents have in choosing unique sleep environments for their infants? Is there a relation between babies' sleep environments and subsequent sleep problems? Although these questions are not answered completely in this paper, a review of sleep-wake state physiology in human infants is combined with historical, crosscultural and evolutionary perspectives that provide some direction in understanding current practices and making informed recommendations for constructing optimal sleep environments for human infants.