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Sleep Disturbances in Newborns

Daphna Yasova Barbeau1, Michael D Weiss2

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA. daphy@peds.ufl.edu.

Children (Basel, Switzerland)
|October 21, 2017
PubMed

Insights

This review introduces fetal and neonatal sleep, highlighting its role in information consolidation. Neonatal sleep cycles evolve, with active sleep decreasing and quiet sleep increasing, influenced by various factors.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal physiology
  • Sleep science
  • Developmental neuroscience

Background:

  • Sleep is crucial for cognitive functions like memory consolidation.
  • Understanding sleep patterns in newborns is essential for assessing their development and health.
  • Sleep architecture undergoes significant changes from fetal to term neonatal stages.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To provide an introductory overview of sleep in fetuses and neonates (preterm and term).
  • To discuss the developmental changes in neonatal sleep cycles.
  • To highlight factors affecting neonatal sleep and methods for its evaluation.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on fetal and neonatal sleep.
  • Analysis of sleep cycle characteristics and developmental trajectories.
  • Discussion of electroencephalography (EEG) as a tool for sleep assessment.

Main Results:

  • Neonatal sleep is characterized by a predominance of active sleep, which progressively shortens.
  • Quiet sleep increases as neonates mature.
  • Sleep patterns are dynamic and influenced by factors such as gestational age, disease, and environmental stimuli.

Conclusions:

  • Sleep plays a vital role in neonatal development, particularly in information processing.
  • The amplitude-integrated EEG is a valuable tool for monitoring neonatal sleep and detecting disturbances.
  • Further research is needed to fully understand protective factors for infant sleep.

Keywords:
aEEGapneapremature neonatesleepsleep disordersleep disturbancessleep statessleep wake cycling

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