Text: Sara Dozio and Andjela Markovic
Imagine being able to peek into the future of your baby’s sleep before he or she is even born. Our new study is opening a window into the world of fetal circadian rhythms, those tiny biological clocks that regulate the alternation between sleep and wakefulness. Using wearable technology, we monitored the movements of fetuses in the third trimester of pregnancy by placing sensors on the belly of mothers-to-be. For five consecutive days, these devices recorded the baby’s activity, distinguishing between quiet moments and more intense movements.
What did we find?
- Fetuses have well-defined diurnal rhythms aligned with those of their mothers. Already in the womb, most babies tend to rest more during the night than during the day.
- Fetuses that rest at night in the belly tend to maintain this preference even after birth. After following infants until they had reached six months of age, we observed that babies with more daytime activity and less nighttime movement in the fetal stage continued to show this tendency after birth, possibly developing a mature sleep-wake rhythm faster.
- The regularity of maternal sleep also plays a key role. Mothers who sleep on a regular schedule are more likely to have babies with a more mature sleep-wake rhythm with longer sleep during the night.
Why is this important?
Understanding how circadian rhythms develop in fetuses could have important implications, such as:
- Identifying children at risk for sleep disorders as early as in the womb.
- Developing targeted interventions to promote healthy sleep-wake rhythms from the earliest days of life.
- Provide practical advice to expectant mothers to support their baby’s sleep regulation as early as pregnancy.
A step towards better infant sleep
Understanding fetal sleep patterns opens new possibilities for improving infant sleep early on. Supporting healthy sleep habits in pregnancy not only benefits your own health, but it also may set the foundation for a lifetime of better rest and well-being for your baby.
Stay tuned!
Our work on this topic was featured on SRF Einstein in an episode that will be out soon. Be sure to watch it for more insights on the earliest stages of sleep development!
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Photo: film shooting with SRF Einstein
NotebookLM and ChatGPT for drafting and editing