Lia Ohana, Verrazzano Class of 2025, completed major in Psychology
Within my first week after joining the research lab with Dr. Sarah Berger, I knew I wanted to be part of the Nanit project, which explores how infant sleep
is affected around the time of motor skill onset. While collecting data, I
began noticing differences in the ages at which babies were reaching
milestones, which made me wonder what might be causing these variations. As I
continued working, I read more about motor development and came across an
article discussing how season of birth might influence
the timing of milestone achievement. That idea interested
me, and it ultimately inspired me to focus my honors thesis on the potential effects of seasonality and sleepwear on motor milestone timing.
My research provided a new perspective
by monitoring infants over several nights
and considering sleepwear
patterns, which could
affect how future studies interpret the effects of seasonality on motor
development. Even though I didn't find conclusive evidence that season or sleepwear delays
motor milestones, the project
helped me understand how environmental factors like weather and clothing, could
interact with motor development.
Through this experience I learned that
research is not just about data, rather interpretation, building on previous
studies, and continuously learning throughout
the process. Additionally, I learned
that not finding significant results still provides valuable insights.
While
my research revealed
no significant seasonal
variations in milestone timing or sleepwear
use, it did show how caregiver routines, such as regularly using sleep sacks,
may lessen seasonal variation. To better understand how seasonal clothing
patterns may affect infants' opportunities for movement and motor
development, future research
should expand on this study by examining clothing worn during the day in addition to sleepwear.
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