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Published on: February 18, 2012

Sleep behaviour in preterm children from birth to age 10 years: a longitudinal study

Ivo Iglowstein1, Beatrice Latal Hajnal, Luciano Molinari

  • 1Child Development Centre, Department of Paediatrics, University Children's Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

Acta Paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992)
|November 30, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Preterm children show similar sleep behaviors to term-born children up to age 10. This includes sleep duration, night wakings, and bedtime difficulties, suggesting prematurity does not impact long-term sleep patterns.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine
  • Neonatal Development
  • Child Psychology

Background:

  • Preterm birth can impact neurodevelopment and long-term health outcomes.
  • Sleep disturbances are common in early childhood and can affect development.
  • Understanding sleep patterns in preterm children is crucial for their well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare sleep behavior in preterm children versus term-born controls.
  • To investigate sleep duration, night wakings, and sleep-onset difficulties.
  • To assess the long-term impact of prematurity on sleep up to age 10.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study design.
  • Prospective data collection via structured interviews.
  • Involved 130 preterm and 75 term children from birth to 10 years.

Main Results:

  • No significant differences observed in sleep duration.
  • Bedsharing, night wakings, and bedtime resistance showed no significant variations.
  • Sleep-onset difficulties were comparable between preterm and term children.

Conclusions:

  • Preterm children exhibit similar sleep behaviors to their term-born peers up to age 10.
  • Prematurity and neonatal intensive care experience do not significantly affect sleep in the first decade of life.
  • This finding supports the typical developmental trajectory of sleep in children born preterm.
Abstract

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