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Pulmonology (Lung Disease)

Pediatric Sleep Disorders Center

At one time or another, most parents must have coped with a child’s sleep problem. Some sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy and behavioral sleep issues, can have serious consequences affecting a child’s mood, memory, academic performance, and general health. Early diagnosis and treatment of a sleep disorder will promote your child’s long-term health and development. Our sleep specialists at the Pediatric Sleep Disorders Center at New York-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, a full service sleep center accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, are available to help.

• Sleep apnea
• Excessive sleepiness
• Unusual behaviors in sleep – sleep walking
• Difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep
• Narcolepsy
• Restless legs syndrome/periodic leg movements
• Night terrors, nightmares
• Circadian rhythm disorders
• Insomnia

Sleep Consultation A good starting place is the comprehensive sleep consult, overseen by one of our pediatric sleep specialists. We will obtain a detailed sleep history and physical examination. You can provide important supplemental information for the initial consult by bringing a completed two-week sleep log (insert link sleep log instructions, sleep log) and a sleep questionnaire (insert link child sleep questionnaire, adolescent sleep questionnaire) at the time of your office visit.

Sleep Testing for most cases is performed in our comfortable state-of-the-art outpatient sleep laboratory and for more complex cases on the inpatient service in Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. Sleep studies are conducted by our friendly sleep technicians who are experts in performing sleep studies in children.

• Nocturnal Polysomnogram (overnight sleep study) is used to assess the quality of a child’s sleep and aids in the diagnosis of sleep disorders. It is most often performed when there is concern for breathing problems during sleep such as sleep apnea.
• Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) is used to determine how sleepy a child is and aids in the diagnosis of narcolepsy. The test consists of four to five naps at two-hour intervals during the daytime.
• Complex Respiratory Disorder Evaluations
  a. CPAP titration: for treatment of sleep apnea
  b. Noninvasive ventilation titration: for management of hypoventilation
  c. Ventilator titration: to assess respiratory status of children who are ventilator dependent
  d. Tracheostomy evaluation: to aid in the management of tracheostomy decannulation
  e. Oxygen titration: to evaluate oxygen needs of children with severe chronic lung disease
  
• Actigraphy employs a wristwatch-like device to measure sleep patterns. It is helpful to evaluate many sleep disorders and is generally performed outside the sleep laboratory.

• Many children with sleep apnea are treated by having their tonsils and/or adenoids removed. Sometimes treatment for sleep related breathing disorders is best delivered with devices such as CPAP or BPAP. Our team will educate you and your child on the use of these machines and can help your child become accustomed to these devices.
• Our sleep physicians can analyze your child’s sleep patterns and offer behavioral recommendations to help a sleepless child develop good sleep habits.
• Sleep specialists use a multidisciplinary approach to helping children with sleep disturbances. Many pediatric specialists are available for consultation when needed at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital Pediatric specialists with expertise in disorders that affect sleep. These include pediatric ENT physicians, obesity experts, bariatric surgeons, developmental specialists, craniofacial surgeons, neurosurgeons, neuromuscular physicians, and gastroeneterologists.

Important Forms
Please complete relevant forms located in right-hand column.

• Referral Form
• Child Sleep Questionnaire
• Adolescent Sleep Questionnaire
• Sleep Log Instructions
• Sleep Log