Ep. 61: How does parental presence and contact affect children's stress and sleep?

Bedtime. It's one of the biggest struggles parents face. Everyone is tired, we just want our kids to calm and go to sleep. But how does our bedtime affect their sleep? Often we hear that we need our kids to be independent at bedtime, do things on their own, that that will lead to a good sleep. The problem is that there hasn't really been any research on how these actions affect bedtime... until now. This week I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Lauren Philbrook who is with me to talk about her new research looking at the question of how parental presence and contact as well as calming activities at night influence children's stress levels and quality of sleep. If you've bought into the idea that parents need to separate themselves at bedtime, you might want to hear what Dr. Philbrook has to say. Dr. Lauren Philbrook: https://www.colgate.edu/about/directory/lphilbrook Research Articles of Interest https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22322: https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001027 https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsz078 https://doi.org/0.1002/dev.21442