Methods: It is a descriptive qualitative study. Purposive sampling method was used to recruit the participants who were the mothers with healthy infants aged 6 to 24 month old. Data from six mothers with infants aged 6 to 17 month old were collected through face-to-face in-depth interview up to now, using a semi-structured interview guideline. The interview was taken at their home for about 30 to 50 minutes. Miles & Huberman's matrix and network analysis was used to analyze the data in the time, space, and context dimensions.
Results: In the dimension of time, the mothers of this study reported that the period of three months after birth was the most challenging time in their sleep. Frequent feeding was the main reason of their sleep disturbance. In terms of space, all infants shared the bed or room with their parents for night sleep regardless of having extra rooms in their house. The mothers felt sharing the bed was helpful for their infants’ good sleep. They did not consider separating their infants during the night although their own sleep was interrupted while sleeping with their infants. This result reflects maternal responsibility for caring their child in Korean culture. Lastly in the dimension of context, factors facilitating infants’ sleep were identified satiation after feeding, presence of mother, quiet environment, and turning off the light. Light, noise, high room temperature, presence of siblings in the sleep area, and health status of infant were the factors inhibiting infants’ sleep. All mothers tried different strategies facilitating their infant’s sleep and struggled to find the right one appropriate to their infant. They expressed needs to have correct sleep information and support specific to their own infant’s case.
Conclusion: The Korean mothers considered room- or bed-sharing with their infant was inevitable for infant’s good sleep without considering their own sleep. In the midst of information overload about sleep, the mothers were confused and experienced trial and error to find out optimal sleep strategies for their infants. Therefore, tailored sleep interventions for infants and their mothers should be developed based on understanding of temporal, spatial, and contextual characteristics of sleep in a pair of infant and mother.