Researchers at the Institute for Mental Health, at the University of Birmingham in collaboration with the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, in Helsinki, found a clear relationship between sleep problems in infancy such as frequent night wakings, short sleep duration or difficulty in falling asleep and particular emotional and behavioural problems at 24 months of age.
The researchers found that high frequency of night wakings at 3 months was strongly linked to emotional, behavioural and self-regulation (the ability to control emotions and behaviours) problems in toddlers.Further, infants who experienced shorter sleep duration, who took longer to fall asleep and who experienced frequent night wakings at different stages of early childhood were likely to find problems in regulating their behaviour and emotions at the age of 24 months, leading to disrupting emotions and behaviours, such as temper tantrums.
Read more at: https://neurosciencenews.com/baby-sleep-toddler-behavior-15893/