Hospital’s dream team
SLEEPY HEADS: Tyden Lambert, 7, and Summah Wills, 10, with nurse Donna Sleigh at Mater Hospital. Tyden and Summah took part in a sleep study at the hospital. THE first sleep study on children outside of southeast Queensland has been conducted at the Mater Hospital in Townsville.
Tyden Lambert, 7, and Summah Wills, 10, were the first two children to be evaluated in the sleep study.
The study was held at the hospital last Wednesday and involved monitoring their breathing, restlessness and brain waves to evaluate their sleep quality.
Dr Scott Burgess, a paediatric sleep physician based in Brisbane is now running clinics in Townsville to assist with the management of medical and developmental sleep problems in children.
“Sleep is increasingly being recognised as a factor for children who are having trouble at school, potentially impacting on their learning or behaviour,” Dr Burgess said. “Some estimates suggest a third of all children are not having enough sleep or have a problem affecting sleep quality.”
He said children not sleeping well may have problems with attention, concentration, memory and learning.
“Children who are sleep- deprived are twice as likely to disobey instructions compared with those who have well,” Dr Burgess said.
The study also monitors sleeping problems such as a snoring and mouth breathing.
About 10 per cent of children snore regularly.
Dr Burgess said of these, one in four was having regular dips in blood oxygen level and/ or broken sleep, also known as obstructive sleep apnoea.
Problems are more common in those who snore loudly, who breathe harder in sleep or who have enlarged tonsils, he said.
Tyden’s mother Amy Lambert said it was wonderful to be able to now have the study done in Townsville without having to travel to Brisbane. Rosemary Wills agreed. “It is so convenient as you don’t have the added expenses of flights and accommodation and taking time off work,” she said. “Summah won’t even have to miss a day at school.”
The Mater Hospital has operated a sleep study unit for a number of years for adults but this is the first time children have been able to be evaluated.
Two Mater nurses, Tegan Greenfield and Donna Sleigh, travelled to Brisbane to undergo extensive paediatric sleep study training followed by completion of theory prior to the first child’s sleep study. slept