Virtual Tour: Pediatric Sleep Center
Our pediatric sleep lab offers a warm and friendly space tailored to children and adolescents. To help you prepare your child for their visit, we have created this virtual tour.
Introduction
Welcome to the pediatric sleep lab! That means we take care of kids with sleep issues, like kids who have a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep, or kids who snore a lot at night. Sometimes we ask kids to take a sleep study test, so our team can figure out why they have sleep issues.
What is a sleep study?
A sleep study test shows how well you sleep and breathe at night. It is done at night in a special place called the sleep lab.
What is a sleep study like?
Being at the sleep lab feels like spending the night at a hotel room. You will arrive at 7 p.m. and meet the sleep tech. The tech will explain everything that is going to happen at the lab and will answer any questions you have.
For me to know how well you sleep and breathe, I will need to place small sensors on different parts of your body to monitor your sleep, your breathing, and even your leg movements! It may seem a little silly or strange, but remember, it doesn't hurt!
The tech will place a few sensors on your head so I can see what your brain is doing while you sleep. Some are just like stickers that stick to your forehead and under your chin. Others stick to the top of your head with a special paste. The paste will wash right off in the morning!
The next things are the sensors that look at your breathing. These include: A belt around your chest and belly to see how you move them when you breathe...
...and a long sticker above your lip and clear tube that lies under your nose to see how you move air in and out of your nose and mouth.
To look at your oxygen levels, we have a little sticker that can go on your finger or toe. This sticker glows in the dark — it's kind of like your own nightlight!
To see how your heart is working, we will place two more stickers on your chest. Then there are some stickers that will be placed on your legs to see how much you kick at night.
Wow! That's a lot of stickers but remember, nothing hurts! When all this is done, you will get into bed and try to fall asleep.
You can bring things that will make it comfortable for you to spend the night, like your favorite pajamas, blanket, pillow, book or movie. You can even bring your best soft friend!
Of course your grown-up will sleep right next to you all night long. We have a special chair for them that stretches out into a small bed.
There is also a full bathroom available, just like in a hotel!
In the morning the tech will wake you up, take off all the sensors and send you home.
What happens when the sleep study is done?
When the study is done, our team will watch it through computers and let you and your grown-ups know how you slept at night. We also use the information from the study to figure out how to help your sleep issues.
Questions?
If you or your family have any questions, please contact the Sleep Center at (646) 962-3410.
