Does my child need a sleep study?

Getting enough quality sleep can help your child feel their best. When kids of any age sleep well, they’re more likely to have a better mood, regulate their emotions and focus at school. Quality sleep also gives them enough energy to do the activities they love and supports their long-term health, including lowering the risk of conditions like diabetes and obesity.

However, many children don’t get the sleep they need. And it can be hard to know why since many factors can affect sleep – including physical factors, emotional well-being and bedtime routines.

When a doctor thinks there may be something happening in a child’s body disrupting their sleep, a sleep study (also called a polysomnogram) can provide helpful answers.

"A sleep study can be very useful when a doctor suspects a condition like sleep apnea may be impacting a child’s sleep," says Kamal Naqvi, M.D., Pediatric Pulmonologist, Sleep Medicine Specialist at Children’s Health℠ and Clinical Professor at UT Southwestern. "But a sleep study doesn't diagnose all sleep conditions and may not be the right first step for many common sleep complaints."

What is a sleep study?

A sleep study is a nighttime recording of how a person sleeps.

Each year, Children’s Health Sleep Center performs more than 5,000 sleep studies on children of all ages – in one of our two sleep labs designed especially for children.

Sleep studies are most often used to help diagnose sleep breathing disorders in children (also called obstructive sleep apnea), which is when a child frequently pauses their breathing during sleep.

How does a sleep study work?

A sleep study uses multiple gentle sensors placed on a child’s head, face, chest, belly, fingers, and legs. These sensors measure your child’s breathing, oxygen, brain waves, heart rate and movements – all things doctors can’t see when a child is sleeping at home.

Typically, a sleep study takes about 12 hours and a parent or caregiver accompanies a child to the sleep lab and sleeps next to them, in a separate bed.

Signs a child might benefit from a sleep study

A pediatrician may recommend a sleep study if a parent or caregiver notices that their child regularly experiences:

• Snoring

• Difficulty breathing during sleep

• Pauses in breathing while sleeping

• Restless or unusually active sleep

• Frequent nighttime awakenings

Sometimes, another type of specialist will order a sleep study for a child. These specialists may include ENTs, pulmonologists, neurologists, urologists, surgeons or endocrinologists.

For example, kids who have large tonsils or adenoids, conditions like hypotonia, where the muscles of the chest wall don’t function well, or obesity, which causes a thickened chest wall can have problems breathing at night and may benefit from a sleep study.

Conditions or disorders a sleep study can help diagnose

Sleep studies typically help diagnose breathing problems during sleep or conditions disrupting a child’s sleep.

A sleep study can:

• Measure if your child is getting enough oxygen and ventilating when they sleep.

• Confirm whether snoring is related to obstructive sleep apnea, often caused by enlarged tonsils or adenoids.

• Sometimes help sort out whether movements during sleep are within a normal range or if a child has pediatric periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD).

• Sometimes help find the cause of other behaviors that disrupt sleep including bedwetting, night terrors, sleepwalking and narcolepsy.

When a sleep study does reveal obstructive sleep apnea, the first line of treatment for kids is typically surgery to remove the tonsils and adenoids. And the second line of treatment includes machines that help with breathing, like pediatric continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP).

“It’s important to understand that a sleep study cannot diagnose all sleep problems, especially insomnia, which is trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or waking too early,” says Dr. Naqvi. “Our sleep center can help children with insomnia, but we don't typically recommend a sleep study initially for them.”

When a sleep study is not the answer

It’s common to think a sleep study could be an important step towards helping your child get better sleep. But for many children, a sleep study won’t help detect the cause of their sleep problems.

Common sleep disruptors include:

• Lack of a bedtime routine or consistent sleep schedule.

• Use of electronics and screens too close to bedtime. (The recommendation is to not use a screen for 1 to 2 hours before bed.)

• Too little sleep overall – commonly due to homework, after school activities, overscheduling or excessive screen time.

• Emotional or psychosocial factors (such as bullying, abuse, substance misuse, depression, anxiety, stress or caffeine intake that can interfere with good sleep) and can be treated with expert counseling from our dedicated sleep psychologist.

“I tell parents to really pay attention to the sleep needs of their kids. Adults need seven hours, but kids need 8 to 9 hours of sleep,” says Dr. Naqvi.

Read this parent’s guide to better sleep for tips on how to prioritize a good night’s sleep for your kid – and for yourself.

If your child does need a pediatric sleep study

It’s important for parents to have an open mind when they bring their child to a sleep study – and not worry too much about how their child will react.

“Many children are excited to come to our center for a sleep study because it feels kind of fun, like they’re coming to a hotel night stay,” says Dr. Naqvi.

A few other important facts about sleep studies include:

• Kids who come to a sleep center for a sleep study should not sleep at all during the day of the study.

• Parents and caregivers can help a younger child feel more comfortable by bringing a favorite blanket or stuffie.

• 99% of kids will sleep for long enough to collect the necessary information – despite having wires and bands on their body and sleeping in a strange environment.

• The staff at both of our Sleep Centers have years of experience making all children feel as comfortable as possible during a sleep study, including children with sensory issues or with Down syndrome.

“We work with families every day to help children get the sleep they need to feel and function better,” says Dr. Naqvi. “The process isn’t always simple, but the benefits for kids and their families can be huge.”

If your child is having a sleep study at Children’s Health, let us help you prepare by watching our sleep study videos, tailored by age.

Learn more

Children’s Health offers the largest dedicated pediatric sleep center in North Texas accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, treating all forms of pediatric and adolescent sleep disorders.

Every year the Children’s Health Sleep Center performs more than 5,000 sleep studies for children in our two sleep labs to help diagnose and treat sleep disorders. Our sleep specialists, sleep psychologist and other clinical staff help kids get better sleep by performing in-depth evaluations of their habits and behaviors and providing counseling that leads to healthier, happier kids – and families. Learn more and request an appointment.

Tune in to our “In the Know” video series to get to know the Sleep Disorders Center.