User:Michael.Babysleep/sandbox

= Baby Wink sleep app = The Baby Wink sleep app allows families to apply two tailored behavioural sleep techniques to treat their infant's sleep problem. The app was developed in partnership between the Flinders University of South Australia's commercial arm, Flinders Partners, and Finnish tech company, Nordicomm Technologies Oy, in Helsinki, Finland. The app is available in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland from the Apple and Google Play stores and the Baby Wink sleep app website. Future translated releases are scheduled for Japan and China in 2017. The app is based on a 2016 study led by Dr Michael Gradisar and conducted at Flinders University.

App Description
The Baby Wink sleep app mimics the step-by-step processes that a baby sleep expert would provide to families who identify their baby as having a 'sleep problem'. First, parents are encouraged to seek a check-up with their medical specialist prior to beginning the training to rule out any medical reasons for their baby's sleep problem (e.g., colic). Second, various tips are provided to ensure the baby's sleep environment in safe and conducive for sleep. Third, the parents are guided through the completion of a sleep diary for their baby. This helps to tailor the sleep interventions for their child. Finally, parents are then provided with a choice of two sleep techniques they can use for their child - bedtime fading or sleep training.

The Research
A 2016 study published in the journal Pediatrics set out to test the hypothesis of whether extinction-based methods of treating infants' sleep problems caused chronic levels of stress, which in turn lead to long-term negative outcomes (e.g., emotional and behavioural difficulties in children; child-parent attachment problems). Using a randomized controlled trial design, 43 families who identified their infant as having a 'sleep problem' were randomly assigned to receive either (i) graduated extinction (also known colloquially as 'controlled crying' or 'sleep training'), (ii) bedtime fading, or (iii) the control group (i.e., education about infant sleep). Compared to the control group, sleep training demonstrated improvements in the time taken to fall asleep (sleep onset latency), the number of awakenings during the night, and the amount of time awake during the night (wake after sleep onset). Bedtime fading showed significant improvements in sleep onset latency compared to the control group. Analysis of infants' salivary cortisol indicated no evidence for chronic stress, and cortisol levels for each group, across time, were within normal limits. No significant differences were found 12 months after treatment between each group on child-parent attachment or child emotional-behavioural difficulties. The lack of evidence for long-term negative outcomes were corroborated with another Australian study of 326 families.

The Media Response
Pediatric 's press release on May 25th 2016 resulted in significant media coverage across the United States   , Canada  , Australia  , New Zealand , the United Kingdom  , Spain , Germany   , Greece , Hungary , Russia , Romania , Slovenia , Croatia , Portugal , France , the Netherlands , Denmark , Norway , Ireland , Italy  , Indonesia , India , Vietnam , China  , Honduras , Cuba , Brazil , and many other countries - with the New York Times coverage being the 2nd most emailed story on the day, behind the US Presidential Elections.