Sleep studies

Sleep studies are assessments that indicate how much additional oxygen a baby might require. For the study, the baby is attached to a monitor that records his heart rate and oxygen saturation over a 12 hour period when he is both asleep and awake. Monitoring does not interfere with his normal care.

Who should get a sleep study?

Any baby who was born before 30 weeks gestation and required oxygen for at least 4 weeks.

When should the sleep study be done?

Sleep studies are carried out:

• when a baby has been weaned to air and has been in air for one week OR
• if a baby is still in oxygen and has reached at least 36 weeks gestation, and it is anticipated that the baby will be ready for discharge in around 2 weeks.

Interpretation of sleep studies

• We believe that by the time of discharge, any infant who was born before 30 weeks gestation and needed oxygen for at least 4 weeks should have an average saturation during sleep of 93% or above during their sleep study.
• If the baby is in oxygen when the study is done, the study will be used to fix the oxygen for discharge
• If the baby is in air when the study is done and the success criteria are met, no further studies will be required before discharge
• There will be an occasional baby who is in air and during the sleep study can maintain saturations around 90% but cannot average 93% or more. These babies can stay in air in hospital if they are not ready for discharge.
• If they are to go home in the near future they will need to go home in oxygen.