Mom”s Poor Sleep in Late Pregnancy Linked to Offspring”s Obesity Risk in Early Childhood

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 23, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Poor late-pregnancy sleep quality may influence early childhood growth trajectories in offspring, according to a study published online Sept. 22 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Xiaoran Yang, Ph.D., from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues evaluated whether late-pregnancy sleep quality was associated with children”s weight trajectories from age 0 to 2 years. The analysis included data from 645 mother-child pairs.

The researchers found that most mothers reported mild-to-moderate sleep disturbance (mean Jenkins Sleep Scale, 8.0) in late pregnancy. Compared with children whose mothers had good sleep quality (25th percentile Jenkins Sleep Scale), children of mothers who reported poor sleep quality (≥75th percentile Jenkins Sleep Scale) in late pregnancy had lower weight from 0 to 6 months, followed by greater growth, leading to significantly greater weights from ages 1 to 2 years. Comparing children at age 1 year, the difference in weight was 346.7 g between those whose mothers had 90th versus 25th percentile Jenkins Sleep Scale scores. The highest differences were seen at 17 months (751.5 g). There was substantial variation in associations by sex and preterm status but not by childhood feeding practices.

“Poor sleep health in pregnancy is common and often overlooked, and our findings suggest that monitoring it in routine prenatal care could be a simple and powerful step toward healthier growth for the next generation,” Yang said in a statement.

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