INFANTS AND TODDLER SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS

AMONG CHINESE AND MALAY FAMILIES

Shazia Iqbal Hashmi
Chew Min Chong

ABSTRACT

The main objective of this study was focused on cultural diversities among
Chinese and Malay families (50 each participating) relating to sleeping
arrangements for their infants and toddlers, such as sleeping locations,
bedtime routine and nighttime feeding practices. One hundred Chinese and
Malay two-parent families, residing around the city of Malacca, Malaysia
participated in this study. A modified questionnaire was used for collecting
data for investigation. Descriptive analysis was conducted to analyze the
data. Results indicated that Chinese and Malay families were different in
child-rearing practices in general and sleeping arrangements in particular.
Both Chinese and Malay families practiced different bedtime routine, provided
different type of nighttime feedings and arranged different sleeping location
for their infants and toddlers.

Keywords: Cultural diversities, sleeping arrangements, infants and toddlers.

INTRODUCTION

Culture refers to the patterns for living that a group of people passes onto
future generations through language, customs, values and activities.
Culture shapes goals, behaviours, thoughts and feelings. Families’ roles,
rules and celebrations may be related to ethnic roots. Child-rearing
is influenced by culture, but it is also a vehicle by which culture is
transmitted from parent to child (Harkness & Super, 1995).
The parent-child bond is unique both in its biological foundations
and psychological meanings. This relationship has been granted and
assumed to be the most natural and ubiquitous of all human associations.
Parenting occurs in a social context. Children live in families and
families belong to a social group in larger societies, which in turn
Shazia Iqbal Hashmi & Chew Min Chong

influence how parents carry out their tasks. Finally, parents’ cultural
backgrounds and social heritage influences their goals and how they go
about to accomplish them (Bigner, 1997). Every family with different
cultural background has their own styles of parenting according to
their set of beliefs.
Children sleeping durations are important because it provides
breaks for parents in what may otherwise seem like constant care
provided by them to their children. Newborn babies normally sleep
90 percent of their time during the day and night. Afterwards, the total
amount of sleeping time per day decreases until 6-8 weeks of age, and
we can see the signs of day or night sleep rhythms. By six months,
infants are still sleeping more than 14 hours per day, but the regularity
and predictability of the sleep is even more noticeable. All these aspects
of the infants’ sleep patterns have implication for the emerging parent-
child interactions (Helen, 1995).
Therefore, infant and toddler sleeping arrangements are an essential
part of parenting. In many cultures, parents’ view parenting processes and
sleeping arrangements as simple, general and common practices. Thus,
they pay less attention to the important issues regarding sleeping locations
and arrangements, which can affect the children’s development.
The infant and toddler sleeping arrangements are a combination
of bedtime routine, nighttime feeding and sleeping locations. Bedtime
routine comprise a of lot of activities which parents carry out to make
their children relax, comfortable, adaptable and stimulated during
nighttime atmosphere. Bedtime routines include feeding before
changing diaper and night cloths, singing lullaby, reading some stories
and so on. Nighttime feeding includes parental information and attitude
towards preferred way of feeding, i.e., bottle-feeding or breastfeeding.
Sleeping locations refer to being in the mother bed (co-sleeping), in
the mothers’ room but separate bed, in separate room alone, or in
separate room accompanying other family members, such as siblings
or grandparents. According to Burton and Whiting (1961), co-sleeping
is defined as bed or room sharing, between parents and their infants. It
is the most commonly practiced arrangement around the world.
However, in the United State of America and other western
cultures, many researchers and practitioners concerning child

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development have advised parents against this practice, citing infant

stress associated with co-sleeping and subsequent negative effects
on infant development, as well as increased risks for smothering and
sudden infant death syndrome (Hunsely & Thomas, 2002).
At the same time, numerous studies have identified tremendous
benefits of co- sleeping, such as stronger personality characteristics,
particularly when infant shared a room, but not a bed, with parents
(Crawford, 1994), promotion and increase of breast feeding (Ball,
Hooker & Kelly, 1999; McKenna, Mosoko & Richard, 1997) and less
complex bedtime routines (Hayes, Roberts & Stowe, 1996).

Cultural and Social Influences that Affect Parenting and Sleeping

Arrangements

Parent-child relationships are being nested in social and cultural

influences. Social scientists Harkness and Super (1995) believe that
cultures provide a “developmental niche” in which children develop.
This niche includes; (1) the physical and social settings that culture
provides for parents and children, (2) the child-bearing practices that
culture recommends, and (3) the psychological characteristics of the
caregivers. So, culture shapes a broad range of parental behaviours
from the more general values parents teach to the concrete aspects of
daily life, such as their eating and sleep habit (Brooks, 2001).
Greenfield and Suzuki (1998) surveyed differences among many
ethnic groups and described two cultural models; the independent and
interdependent models that provide a framework for organizing and
understanding parents’ preferences for their children. The differences
between the two models are seen clearly in infancy. The interdependent
model emphasizes close physical contact and a very close relationship
between parents and children. The infant is held or carried much of
the time, is nursed often and at nighttime, frequently sleeps with the
mother in the same bed. Mother and child are considered as a unit and
babies grow with the intuitive understanding of what parents want. The
independent model emphasizes on the child’s growing independence
and interest in the world. There is less carrying, less holding, more toys
to manipulate and more devices such as strollers and playpens, which

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emphasize separation between parents and children. Children are more

likely to be bottle-fed and at night are expected to sleep alone in their
own cribs, often in their own rooms.
Communities that practice co-sleeping include both highly
technological and less technological communities. Japanese urban
children usually sleep adjacent to their mothers in early childhood and
generally continue to sleep with a parent or an extended family member
until the age of 15 (Takahashi, 1990). Within United States of America,
demographic, ethnic and economic factors that are correlated to co-
sleeping have been identified. Mothers with college education practice
less co-sleeping compare to mothers with only high school education.
Differences in demographic, socioeconomic and ethnic factors appear
to influence the prevalence of co-sleeping arrangements (Brenner et al.,
2003), with co-sleeping more commonly reported among black families
(Lozoff, Wolf & Davis, 1984) and families with lower socioeconomic
background (Abbott, 1992).
Previous literature has identified a stress on independence training
as being connected with middle-class parents’ avoidance of co-sleeping
(Munroe, Munroe & Whiting, 1981). The rare middle-class US families
who do practice co-sleeping often recognize that they are violating
cultural norms (Hanks & Rebelsky, 1997). In contrast, Brazelton
(1990) noted, “the Japanese think the US culture is rather merciless in
pushing small children towards such independence at night.” Parents
in communities where co-sleeping is common may regard co-sleeping
as important for the development of interpersonal relationships.
Rothbaum et al. (2000) examined differences in expression
and meaning of physical closeness (sleeping arrangements) between
Euro-American families and immigrant Chinese families. Results
indicated that immigrant Chinese parents as compared with Euro-
American parents sleep in close proximity with their children—more
emphasis were placed on interdependence—were more likely to
emphasize family as a unit and place greater importance on inhibition
of expression and hierarchy of relations. In contrast, Euro- Americans
were more accepting of independence, celebrating the child’s
distinctiveness and place greater importance on intimacy, pleasure
and spousal exclusiveness.

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Developmentally, co-sleeping has been associated with healthy

child development, inclusive of greater health confidence and stronger
personalities, in cultures other than United States (Crawford, 1994).
Some researchers have indicated that sleeping in close proximity
with mother promotes mother–infant attachment (Sears, 1999) as the
infant and toddler senses that he or she can count on the mother to
meet basic emotional and physical needs (LeVine, 1990) which aid the
attachment process. According to Ainsworth (1979), positive parent-
child interactions have led to positive long-term effects regarding
emotional, cognitive and physical development.
Morelli et al. (1992) studied the cross-cultural sleeping practices
and decisions of middle-class US and Highland Mayan parents regarding
sleeping arrangements during their child’s first year. They found that
all 14 Mayan children slept in their mothers’ bed up till toddlerhood.
However, none of the 18 US infants slept in bed with their mother on
regular basis, although 15 slept near their mother until the age of 3 - 6
months, and then most were moved to separate rooms. In contrast, US
families, but not Mayan families, used bedtime routines and objects to
facilitate the transition to sleep.
Thus, keeping in mind cultural diversities in child-rearing
practices and sleeping arrangements, the present study is a systematic
effort to explore the practices, styles, attitude and parental preference
in sleeping arrangements among Chinese and Malay families. A social
cultural approach is involved in understanding how parenting practices
within two cultural groups are related to infant and toddler aspects, such
as bedtime routine, nighttime feeding and sleep location.

METHODOLOGY

Participants and Location

The number of respondents who participated in this study was 100

mothers from two-parent families, with at least one child below the
age of 30 months. 50 mothers belonged to the Chinese community and
another 50 belonged to the Malay community. The religious affiliations
of the families reflected those of their communities. All Chinese families

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were Buddhist and Malay families were Muslims. All the families were
living in urban areas in residential colonies. For Chinese mothers, the
average age was 30 years old (range 26 - 36) and the Malay mother’s
average age was 26 year old (range 20 - 39). All the families from both
communities have almost the same number of children (1 - 5) with the
average of 2.
As for educational background of the mothers collectively, 3
percent have no education, 16 percent have primary education, 65
percent secondary education and 16 percent with degree and diploma
level. Respondents of this research were residents of the historical
city of Malacca, Malaysia. All the respondents were living in the
urban areas.

Research Instrument

Items used by Moreli et al. (1992) were adopted. All the items were
translated and modified according to cultural requirements and were
presented in the form of questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided
into two parts. Part I, comprising 15 items, dealt with demographic
information (personal information) such as name, age, educational and
occupational levels of mothers and information about children under
investigation. Part II comprised of three sections (A, B and C). Section
A comprised of nine items; dealing with bedtime routines such as diaper
changing, singing, bedtime stories, bathing, etc.; response mode was
on 1 - 4 scale from Always, Sometime, Often and Never.
Section B, containing two items, was related with feeding
practices such as breast feeding or bottle feeding; response mode was
available on 1 - 4 scale of agreement from Strongly Agree, Agree,
Disagree and Strongly Disagree. Section C, containing five items, was
related to location of infant or toddler sleeping arrangements such as
baby sleeping with parents in the same bed, in different bed but same
room, in different room, etc.; response mode for this section was a
binary scale with answers available as Yes or No.

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RESULTS

The infant and toddler sleeping arrangements in the present study

are a combination of bedtime routines, nighttime feeding and
sleeping locations.

Infant and Toddlers Bedtime Routine among Chinese and

Malay Families

According to frequency statistics, Malay mothers reported that while

providing bedtime routines, 40 percent fed the baby, 38 percent changed
diapers, 36 percent sang to the baby, 12 percent bathed the baby, 60
percent changed into night clothes, 24 percent engaged in play activities
with baby and 12 percent read books for babies. As for holding and
kissing babies, 54 percent of the Malay mothers reported that they
always do that and 34 percent reported that they provide companion
objects such as toy blanket, etc., to their babies.
However, for bedtime routines, Chinese mothers reported that
62 percent fed the babies before bedtime, 60 percent changed diapers,
46 percent sang to the babies, 20 percent bathed the baby, 60 percent
changed the baby clothes, 24 percent engaged in play activities and 12
percent read books for their babies before bedtime. A total of 44 percent
of the Chinese mothers reported that they hold and kiss their babies,
while 50 percent always provided companion objects, such as toy or
blanket, before bedtime. Detailed results are presented in Table 1.

Infant and Toddlers Nighttime Feeding Practices among Chinese

and Malay Families

Night feeding practices also showed that each ethnic group had their
own style for providing night feed to their babies. As for Malay
mothers, 36 percent strongly agreed with breastfeeding and 44 percent
strongly agreed with bottle-feeding. However, for Chinese mothers,
12 percent strongly agreed with breast feeding, while 56 percent
strongly agreed with bottle feeding. Details for feeding practices
are found in Table 2.

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Shazia Iqbal Hashmi & Chew Min Chong

Infant and Toddler Sleeping Location among Chinese and

Malay Families

On the issue of sleeping location, 88 percent of Malay mothers reported

that their babies sleep with them, while 66 percent Chinese families
answered that they practice co-sleeping and their children slept near to
them. Thus, the results indicated that Malay families were more likely
to practice co-sleeping compared to Chinese families.
As for babies sleeping alone in a separate room immediately after
birth or first year following birth, 86 percent of Malay mothers and 66
percent of Chinese mothers responded negatively, which meant that it
was not practiced frequently, and both Malay and Chinese mothers were
not in favour of putting their babies into sleep in separate rooms.
For babies sleeping with other family members or siblings, 54
percent of Chinese mothers and 64 percent of Malay mothers reported
that their babies slept with other family members, such as siblings and
grandparents. The details are shown in Table 3.

DISCUSSION

The authors’ results indicated that there was a difference in infants and
toddler sleeping arrangements among Chinese and Malay families. It
was observed that both ethnic groups had different parenting practices
in general and sleeping arrangements in particular. However, under the
term sleeping arrangements, three concepts were observed, namely,
bedtime routines, feeding practices and sleeping locations. To study
the nature of these differences in sleeping arrangements among these
two ethnic communities was the objective of the present study.
Thus, in the light of the above-mentioned facts, the authors start
their analysis with these three goals; (1) to study the differences in
bedtime routines followed by Chinese and Malay mothers while putting
their infants and toddlers to bed, (2) to study the feeding practices in
both ethnic groups, and (3) to study the preferable sleeping locations
chosen by Chinese and Malay parents for their infants and toddlers.

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 Infants and Toddler Sleeping Arrangements Among Chinese and Malay Families

With respect to the first goal regarding bedtime routines, there

was significant difference among Chinese and Malay families. Chinese
families, for example, put more emphasis on feeding babies before
bedtime as compared to Malay families which emphasized more on
play activities. However, both Chinese and Malay parents reported that
they changed baby clothes before bedtime. Regarding physical contact
through kissing and holding babies, both ethnic groups emphasized on
it. The authors’ results have been supported by Morelli et al. (1992) in
that the cultures are different on how they provide night time routines
for their children. Their study found that bedtime routines were not an
issue for Mayan families, and they were less likely to carry out bedtime
routines in sleeping practices.
Mayan infants and toddlers hardly received bedtime stories,
singing to babies, bathing, or other activities. However, US families, as
compared to the rural Mayan families, were more accepting of bedtime
routines as a meaningful experience for parents and children.
As to the second goal regarding feeding practices, it was found
that Chinese and Malay mothers were different in their practices and
attitude towards feeding practices. Chinese mothers seemed to prefer
bottle feeding while Malay mothers more preferred breast feedings.
The authors’ results are in accord with previous research that feeding
practices and preferences are different among cultures. While studying
US and Mayan families, Morelli et al. (1992) found that both ethnic
groups were different in their preferences and practices about night
feedings. Mayan mothers were more accepting of breast feeding and
found it quite comfortable at night. However, US mothers reported
having stayed awake during the night while feeding their babies.
As for the third goal regarding sleeping location, it was found
that Chinese and Malay mothers were significantly different in their
preferences for sleeping locations of their infants and toddlers. Malay
families practiced more co-sleeping among infants and parents
compared to Chinese families. Previous researches found out that the
cultures are different in how they prepare sleeping locations for their
children. Takahshi (1990) presented that co-sleeping was commonly

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practiced around the globe, in industrialized countries such as Japan.

Cohen and Eldestein (1995) found that daytime bed sharing was more
common in African-American and Latin American families than in
white families.
More Malay parents disliked the practice of putting babies to sleep
in separate room on their own compare to Chinese parents. Morelli
et al. (1992) also reported that parents living in co-sleeping cultures
are often disturbed to hear that some Western babies are left to sleep
alone. To them, the practice seems tantamount to child neglect. Both
Chinese and Malay families reported that they sometimes allowed
their infants and toddlers to sleep with other family members, such
as grandparents and siblings. John Bowlby explained the process of
attachment in humans—especially parent-child relationship—with a list
of preferred care givers; with the parents at top, but closely followed
by grandparents, siblings, and so on (in Holmes, 1993).
Thus, in the light of the above-mentioned facts, it was found
that both Chinese and Malay families followed different sleeping
arrangements with regards to infants and toddlers bedtime routines,
nighttime feeding practices and nighttime sleeping locations. The
differences appeared to be consistent with what the authors know
about distinctions of each ethnic group in cultural norms and values.
According to Harkness (1992), cross-cultural literature has suggested
that child-rearing practices and beliefs were important factors that may
mediate cultural influences on child development.
The present study was simply to note the patterns and to come
to a broader understanding of cultural practices in which all families
participate. Decisions about infants sleeping arrangements, like other
parenting decisions, also relate to the community, values, and goals
regarding the desired characteristics of citizens. In both Chinese and
Malay communities, sleeping arrangements reflected child-rearing
goals and values for interpersonal relation.

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Table 1 Infant and toddlers bedtime routine among Chinese and

Malay families
Items Ethnic Always Sometime Often Never Total
Feeding the baby Malay 20 (40%) 18 (36 %) 12 (24%) 0
50 (100%)
Chinese 31(62%) 7 (14%) 12 (24%) 0

Changing diapers Malay 19 (38%) 13 (26%) 18 (36%) 0

50 (100%)
Chinese 30 (60%) 10 (20%) 9 (18%) 1 (2%)

Singing to baby Malay 18 (36%) 22 (44%) 7 (14%) 3(6%)

50 (100%)
Chinese 23 (46%) 16 (32%) 3 (6%) 8 (16%)

Bathing the baby Malay 6 (12%) 30 (60%) 2 (4%) 12 (24%)

50 (100%)
Chinese 10 (20%) 21 (42%) 2 (4%) 17 (34%)

Changing night cloths Malay 30 (60%) 11 (22%) 9 (18%) 0

50 (100%)
Chinese 30 (60%) 7 (14%) 12 (24%) 1 (2%)

Playing with baby Malay 12 (24%) 26 (52%) 4(8%) 8 (16%)

50 (100%)
Chinese 12 (24%) 18 (36%) 3 (6%) 17 (34%)

Reading books Malay 12 (24%) 25 (50%) 8 (16%) 5 (10%)

50 (100%)
Chinese 12 (24%) 18 (36%) 3 (6%) 17 (34%)

Holding and kissing Malay 27 (54%) 7 (14%) 16 (32%) 0

50 (100%)
Chinese 22 (44%) 4 (8%) 24(48%) 0

Sleep companion Malay 17 (34%) 17 (34%) 14 (28%) 2 (4%)

50 (100%)
  Chinese 25 (50%) 9 (18%) 10 (20%) 6 (12%)  

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Shazia Iqbal Hashmi & Chew Min Chong

Table 2 Infant and toddlers nighttime feeding practices among

Chinese and Malay families
Strongly Strongly
Items Ethnic Disagree Agree Total
disagree Agree
Breast feeding Malay 4 (8%) 18 (36%) 10 (20%) 18 (36%) 50 (100%)

Chinese 13 (26%) 25 (50%) 6 (12%) 6 (12%) 50 (100%)

Bottle Feeding Malay 7 (14%) 17 (34%) 4 (8%) 22 (44%) 50 (100%)

  Chinese 4 (8%) 7 (14%) 11 (22%) 28 (56%) 50 (100%)

Table 3 Infant and toddler sleeping location among Malay and

Chinese Families
Items Ethnic Yes No Total

Sleeping with parent Malay 44 (88%) 6 (12%) 50 (100%)

Chinese 33 (66%) 17 (34%) 50 (100%)

Sleeping with mother only Malay 2 (4%) 48 (96%) 50 (100%)

Chinese 0 50 (100%) 50 (100%)

Sleeping alone in separate room Malay 7 (14%) 43 (86%) 50 (100%)

Chinese 17 (34%) 33 (66%) 50 (100%)

Sleeping with other family member Malay 32 (64%) 18 (36%) 50 (100%)

Chinese 27 (54%) 23 (46%) 50 (100%)

Sleeping in parents room in separate bed Malay 9 (18%) 41(82%) 50 (100%)

  Chinese 6 (12%) 44 (88%) 50 (100%)

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 Infants and Toddler Sleeping Arrangements Among Chinese and Malay Families

CONCLUSION

The present research was an effort to investigate cultural variations.

Infants and toddlers sleeping arrangements discussed in this study can
help parents to identify and practice healthy child-rearing styles. Both
ethnic groups are significantly different in their cultural practices. This
research is a systematic effort to discuss the issues pertaining to views
and perceptions of people within two ethnic groups; therefore, aiming
to lessen cultural and ethnic discrimination among cultures.
Findings of the present study can be used in future to relate
infants sleeping arrangements with better child development
outcomes. However, literature available on infant and toddler sleeping
arrangements is very limited and in the Malaysian culture, it is virtually
non-existent. Further studies are required to understand parenting
practices and sleeping arrangements adopted in Asian cultures.

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