Sleep-wake states and their regulatory mechanisms throughout early human development

Proposal for mechanisms of protection of supine sleep against sudden infant death syndrome: an integrated mechanism review

“…This requires the building of specific circuits at specific times from cortical and subcortical areas through limbic brain centers and back (30), and the coupling of these circuits into networks. Sleep cycling is essential for brain wiring (30,31), including receptor systems, pathway processing, cortical processing, learning, cognition, and memory (31). Each part of the sleep-wake cycle has fundamental importance for brain wiring and neurodevelopment (31); it is not merely sleep, but the quality of sleep that matters.…”

A neurophysiological perspective on sleep and its maturation

“…They amount to 53% in infants born at 30 weeks' conceptional age and increase to 60% near term. At 40 weeks' gestational age, there is no significant difference between infants born preterm and term neonates, 21 except for a higher respiratory rate in the former. 22 Quiet sleep/non-REM sleep Prechtl's behavioural state 1, recognized by eyelid closure, deep breathing, and absence of general movements, is often referred to as 'quiet sleep' (QS).…”

The development of potentially better practices to support the neurodevelopment of infants in the NICU

“…AS is a more immature form of REM sleep. 68,69 In the fetus and preterm newborns during AS, there may be irregular respirations, with active movement of facial muscles (grimacing, smiling, frowning, sucking and whimpers) and limbs (twitching, tonic or writhing motions of the body, extremities and hands), as well as breathing, sucking and swallowing motions. These early motor movements during AS are consistent with an anticipatory or preparative development of muscle groups mediated by endogenous stimulation.…”

“…With maturation, there are decreasing arousal periods during sleep, longer periods of uninterrupted sleep and wakefulness, and a shift to a diurnal or circadian sleep-wake cyclity. [68][69][70][71][72][73] Ontogenetic hypothesis. The 'ontogenetic hypothesis' theorizes that normal sleep cycles, with a predominance of REM sleep, are necessary for early brain development.…”

“…69 Other aspects of routine care practices with temporally related activity and auditory stimulation, timing of feeds and even the timing of expressing of mother's breast milk 425 may also function as non-visual circadian cues.…”