The Discovery of Pediatric Sleep Medicine

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to depict the discovery of sleep physiology in infants and the emergence of the discipline of pediatric sleep as relatively autonomous entity. The gradual awareness regarding sleep disorders in infants and children begins in the nineteenth century when the first doctors and pediatricians begin to classify infants and children sleep disorders. The process that leads to the increasing understanding and knowledge of pediatric sleep disorders was not easy. Children's sleep has been neglected until the end of the last century with the main textbook of pediatrics reporting no chapters or only few paragraphs devoted to pediatric sleep. It is interesting to note that the first observation that leads to the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep was made on neonates and infants, and the first study on the negative behavioral consequences of sleep apnea has been reported in children. The story of the infants' and children's sleep behavior during the antiquity is briefly delineated, and subsequently the first recommendations on the sleep time duration are reported with surprisingly data. This chapter also briefly lists the fundamental contribution of researchers from different countries and their role in the development of pediatric sleep medicine. Finally, the history and the establishment of the scientific associations related to the pediatric sleep medicine are delineated. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)