Sleep Organization in Premature Infants With Feeding Difficulties

January 27, 2020 updated by: Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati
Babies born too soon, premature babies, can have complications following birth because their systems are immature. Hospitals help prevent deformities and delays in motor development by using therapeutic positioning to provide containment as they would experience in the womb. They also often have trouble eating. They have discomfort, are irritable, refuse to eat and cry because their digestive system is immature. The neonatal intensive unit can create stress and disrupt their sleep. Going from active to deep sleep is essential for infant brain development, learning and memory formation. Their sleep states early in life predict their developmental outcome. The purpose is to determine whether a conformational positioning system, one that can mold to the baby and contain him or her, will allow more time asleep in premature infants with feeding problems compared to the standard crib mattress. We hypothesize that the number of total sleep time will be longer and the number of arousals out of sleep lower when they are sleeping on the conformational positioning system compared to the mattress.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Premature infants are at risk for complications due to the immaturity of motor, gastrointestinal, respiratory, cutaneous and behavioral systems. Therapeutic positioning is routinely used to provide containment, maintain a flexed position and prevent skeletal deformities and delays in motor development. Premature infants have feeding difficulties and frequently experience gastroesophageal reflux, discomfort, refusal to feed, irritability, and crying. The neonatal intensive care environment can create stress and disrupts sleep-wake cycles and self-regulatory behaviors. Cycling from active to deep sleep states is required for neurosensory processing, learning, memory formation and brain plasticity. Sleep and waking states for premature infants are predictive of neurodevelopmental outcomes. The purpose of the study is to determine whether the use of conformational positioning will be associated with greater total sleep time in premature infants with a history feeding difficulty compared to positioning on a mattress alone. We hypothesize that the number of arousals and total sleep time will be affected by the support surface. Specifically, the number of arousals will be lower and total sleep time will be greater for infants when they are on a conformational positioning (CP) device compared to when they are on the standard positioning system (mattress) (SP). The use of CP will reduce the number of arousals, increase the total sleep time, and bring about behavioral states that are conducive to regulation of attention, state and motor response relative to SP.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

25

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Ohio
      • Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, 45229
        • Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

5 months to 8 months (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Gestational age of < 37 weeks
  • Feeding difficulty due to prematurity or a medical condition
  • Not taking sedative medications for 24 hours before sleep study
  • Post-surgery
  • Sufficiently medically stable to undergo procedures

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Gestational age equal to or greater than 37 weeks
  • Clinical apnea
  • Require mechanical ventilatory support
  • Received sedative medications 24 hours before sleep study
  • Brain injury or neurological condition that limits movement
  • Orthopedic conditions requiring fixed positioning
  • Arthrogryposis
  • Osteogenesis imperfecta
  • Medically unstable such that procedures cannot be tolerated

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: conformational positioner & mattress
conformational positioner & mattress, five hours on each
Other: Conformational positioning system
The conformational positioning system will be compared to the standard infant crib mattress.
Other Names:
  • therapeutic positioner
  • fluidized bed positioner

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Sleep organization defined as efficiency, active sleep time, quiet sleep time, number of arousals, measured by polysomnography
Time Frame: Overnight, 10.5 hour standard EEG sleep study
Standard polysomnography electrodes are applied to the subject in the evening and the subject is placed on either the standard mattress or the conformational positioning system (assigned at random) for the first 5 hours. The subject is then moved onto the second treatment for the remainder of the study. EEG measures are recorded continuously over the entire period. The EEG data are assessed by trained sleep study physicians and clinical staff.
Overnight, 10.5 hour standard EEG sleep study

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Sleep state by behavioral observation
Time Frame: Two 30-minute periods, one on each treatment, during the EEG sleep study
Nurses trained in the techniques of premature infant behavioral state determination will observe the infant for two 30-minute periods while the EEG sleep study is being conducted. One nurse will observe when the subject is on the standard mattress and the other will observe when the subject is on the conformational positioning system. They will record specific behaviors observed in 2-minute intervals during the 30-minute period.
Two 30-minute periods, one on each treatment, during the EEG sleep study

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Impact of prior surgery on sleep organization
Time Frame: Overnight, 10-hour sleep study
Standard polysomnography electrodes are applied to the subject in the evening and the subject is placed on either the standard mattress or the conformational positioning system (assigned at random) for the first 5 hours. The subject is then moved onto the second treatment for the remainder of the study. EEG measures are recorded continuously over the entire period. The EEG data are assessed by trained sleep study physicians and clinical staff. The sleep organization and behaviorally observed sleep state will be compared for the subjects grouped as having had surgery prior to the study or not having had surgery to ascertain the impact of surgery while controlling for the treatment effects.
Overnight, 10-hour sleep study

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Marty O Visscher, PhD, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

September 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 17, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 18, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

September 19, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 29, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 27, 2020

Last Verified

September 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CHMC 2011-1456

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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