During the Sleep Study

Overnight Sleep Test

Step 1: Quick Check-Up

After you arrive for the “sleepover”, we will weigh your child, measure their height, take their blood pressure and look in their throat to assess their tonsils. If your child is staying the next day for a nap study, we will collect a urine sample. Meanwhile, you will complete a questionnaire regarding your child’s health and sleep behaviors. Next, your child will get ready for bed and we will start the set-up.

Step 2: Set Up

To conduct the child’s sleep study, sticky patches or sensors that look and feel similar to stickers are placed on the child’s legs, chest, head and face. Prior to applying the sensors, different areas on the child’s skin will be cleaned with a lotion. A few other sensors will be placed on the child’s fingertip or toe, around the belly and chest, and under the nose. Discussing this part of the sleep study with the child is important so he or she knows what to expect.

Attached to each sensor or sticker is a wire or string that connects to a small monitoring box placed by the child’s pillow as movements and noises are recorded by videotape. It takes about one hour to put the sensors on the child’s body. Then both parent and child will stay overnight in the room at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital or a nearby hotel. The overnight sleep test helps doctors to better understand the child’s sleep patterns to determine the best sleep disorder treatment.

Step 3: Time for Bed

We will turn off the lights in your room between 9 – 9:30 p.m. Once the lights are turned off, we will start to monitor your child from outside the room. The stickers and sensors we attached earlier in the night tell us how your child is sleeping. Also, we will watch on video and listen on a microphone to make sure your child is safe.

The parent/guardian must be very quiet during the night so they do not disturb the child’s sleep. Please silence or turn off your cell phone. The sleep technician will likely enter the room at various times during the night to get a closer look at your child or to fix any loose sensors.

Step 4: Time to Wake Up

When your child wakes up in the morning, we will gently remove the sensors with a liquid sticker remover and you will be able to go home, unless a daytime nap study is also planned. Let us know the night before if you would like to take a shower in the morning so we can plan ahead.