Neonatal sleep development and early learning in infants with prenatal opioid exposure

Nicole A. Heller, Department of Psychology, Siena College, Loudonville, NY, United States.
Hira Shrestha, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States.
Deborah G. Morrison, Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
Katrina M. Daigle, Department of Psychology, Suffolk University, Boston, MA, United States.
Beth A. Logan, Hillman Center for Pediatric Transplantation, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
Jonathan A. Paul, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, ME, United States.
Mark S. Brown, Department of Pediatrics, Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, ME, United States.
Marie J. Hayes, Department of Psychology and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, ME, United States. Electronic address: mhayes@maine.edu.

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to examine the role of sleep and cognition in the context of the cumulative risk model examining samples of at-risk infants and maternal-infant dyads. The cumulative risk model posits that non-optimal developmental outcomes are the result of multiple factors in a child's life including, but not limited to, prenatal teratogenic exposures, premature birth, family socioeconomic status, parenting style and cognitions as well as the focus of this volume, sleep. We highlight poor neonatal sleep as both an outcome of perinatal risk as well as a risk factor to developing attentional and cognitive capabilities during early childhood. Outcomes associated with and contributing to poor sleep and cognition during infancy are examined in relation to other known risks in our clinical population. Implications of this research and recommendations for interventions for this population are provided.