Sleep Disorder Research for Children By: Dr. Dan Merenstein Family Physician and Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Johns Hopkins University dmerenstein@yahoo.com

There is one question on the mind of every parent of a newborn: When will she sleep through the night and what can I do to make it happen sooner rather later? This is the question that dominates every waking (and sleep-walking) moment, from doctor’s offices, mom’s groups, and the aisles of the bookstore where the sleep books line the shelves. Most infants under one year spend around two-thirds of their lives in sleep and many of them are considered poor sleepers. Unfortunately, very little is known about infant sleep.

When a parent goes to their local bookstore and sees the rows of books about how to get their child to sleep they may think that infant sleep is one of the most studied issues in medicine. Nothing could be further than the truth. The one thing that has been studied is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and research has shown that it is important to place infants to sleep on their back.

Little is known about what makes one little Johnny a poor sleeper and another little Sally a great sleeper. Most of the sleep books available are based on good theories by authors who truly want to help parents, but little scientific evidence supports most of these theories. When I see tired parents in my clinical practice, I assure them that most children naturally learn to become good sleepers with time. Unfortunately, children have irregular sleep schedules for their first six months, so for many children learning to become a better sleeper takes up to six months and beyond.

The most common theories recommended to get children to sleep through the night are:

Co-sleeping - where your child sleeps in your bed with you, although the American Academy of Pediatrics and Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends caution with this sleep method as deaths have been attributed to this method.

Controlled or prolonged crying -where you delay your reaction to your child’s crying in order to teach them to fall asleep on their own.

Parental education - where you learn to pay attention to your child’s cues and help to schedule naps and bedtimes in a more prescribed manner.

Sedatives - In the United States this is usually some form of an antihistamine used to help the child fall asleep in a shorter time period. In a survey in 2003, 50% of pediatricians report having recommended parents try diphenhydramine, (commonly referred to as Benadryl®) for infants under age 2 to help with sleep.

As a parent of two boys who were both terrible sleepers as infants, I personally had many questions about using any of the above methods. As a researcher at Johns Hopkins Medical School, I had additional questions about the scientific evidence behind the theories and recommendations. Six months ago I began studying some of these methods to determine which ones actually work and which ones are a waste of time for both you and your infant. I have decided to first start with sedatives, as this is the place that doctors generally become involved.

I have developed a national study that is enrolling infants between 6-15 months old who get up more than one time per night to study the effectiveness of Benadryl®. No travel is required. We will mail you everything and get all the information we need with an initial phone interview and three short follow-up phone calls. For more information about this study, please email me at dmerenstein@yahoo.com or call toll free, 866-770-3847.

Dan Merenstein is a family physician and Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Johns Hopkins University. He lives in Washington DC with his wife, an elementary school teacher, and their two boys, a 4 year old and 17 month old. All four now sleep through the night.