The association between sleep consolidation and growth and development in early childhood: A systematic review

Abstract

Background: Achieving sleep consolidation, during the first years of life can be a key factor affecting child growth and development. To our knowledge, for the first time, we aimed to systematically assess the relationships between sleep consolidation and growth and development in early childhood. Methods: Following the latest version of PRISMA, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched up to February 2023. We included observational studies in which 0-3-year-old children were enrolled and the association between sleep consolidation and either children's growth or development were assessed. The quality assessment was done using the NIH quality assessment tool. Results: Out of the 342 studies initially screened, 18 studies met the eligibility criteria, encompassing a total of 10 068 infants and toddlers under 3 years of age. Overall, not in all but in some studies sleep consolidation showed a significant association with better cognitive, social- emotional and language outcomes. However, the relationship between sleep consolidation and motor development was less clear, with no significant associations observed across the studies. Additionally, no significant connections were found between sleep consolidation and physical growth indices, such as body mass index (BMI) or weight gain. Conclusion: According to the existing evidence, at least, the potential associations between sleep consolidation and child development particularly cognitive, social-emotional, and language cannot be ruled out. However, due to the heterogenicity of results and inconsistent findings in some studies, we cannot still strongly declare that sleep consolidation is a remarkable predictor for child growth and development.