All human beings sleep for 7-8 hours a day, which is almost one third of our lifespan. Sleep is important for human beings and it is believed that humans cannot survive if they do not sleep. Children including infants are now found to have many sleep related problems. These sleep disorders are being detected increasingly and can impact a child’s life. Research has shown that poor sleep quality and duration of sleep is associated with many problems such as academic deterioration, behavioral problems, weight abnormalities, and other health problems. Problems with the child’s sleep can also family dynamics and parental or sibling sleep.
What are the common sleep disorders in children?
The common sleep disorders seen in children are sleep related breathing disorders or sleep disordered breathing. This includes children with snoring and suspected obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep apnea in children is most commonly related to adenoids/tonsils and obesity. Children with neuromuscular disorders, craniofacial syndromes, Downs syndrome, Prader Willi Syndrome etc have a very high probability of having sleep apnea.
Various non respiratory sleep disorders are also seen in children such as difficulty to get in bed, trouble night awakenings, restless legs syndrome, sleep walking, night terrors, confusional arousals, insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness and delayed sleep phase disorders.
How do we diagnose sleep disorders in children?
Pediatric sleep specialist usually diagnose sleep disorders on the basis of the medical history and a physical examination of the child. Video recording of the Sleep events can be very useful for making a diagnosis in some sleep disorders. For certain sleep disorders children might need to undergo a sleep study or a polysomnography. This involves monitoring a child overnight in a sleep lab with few sensors including EEG for brain activity, belts for breathing, nasal cannula for airflow and audio video recording.
In case your child is suffering from any sleep related problems do get in touch with a pediatric sleep specialist and get problem evaluation.
Pediatric Sleep Disorders Clinic is a part of the Children’s Chest Clinic, Karkardooma, Delhi. We at Pediatric Sleep Disorders Clinic deal with various sleep issues which occur in infants, children, adolescents and young adults (up to 25 years). Children’s Chest Clinic also has a state of the art Level 1 sleep lab where all types of sleep studies can be performed.
