Postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder and behavioral insomnia in children: A Co-occurrence analysis and new research perspectives.

BACKGROUND

The Cognitive and Emotional Model of Young Children's Insomnia (CEMYCI) associates parental psychopathology with childhood sleep disorders. However, postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PP-PTSD) related to birth-related trauma has been little studied in this context.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the co-occurrence between maternal PP-PTSD and behavioral insomnia in children aged 6 to 48 months.

METHODS

A preliminary cross-sectional study included 674 mother-child dyads. PP-PTSD was assessed using the PCL-S scale and behavioral insomnia using the DIMS subscale of the SDSC. Analyses used frequency tables and chi-square tests.

RESULTS

16.0% of mothers (n=108) presented PP-PTSD symptoms and 50.7% of children (n=342) met criteria for behavioral insomnia. A significant association was observed between PP-PTSD and infant insomnia (χ² (1, 674) = 17.99, p < 0.001, OR = 2.54, 95% CI [1.64; 3.96]). Among children with insomnia, 21.9% had a mother with PP-PTSD compared to 9.9% among those without insomnia.

CONCLUSION

Despite limitations, these preliminary findings suggest that PP-PTSD constitutes a risk factor for behavioral insomnia in young children. While cross-sectional design limits causal inference, screening for PP-PTSD in pediatric sleep clinics could improve clinical management and guide trauma-informed interventions. Further longitudinal research with multivariate controls is warranted.