The Sleep Laboratory for Children at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children performs sleep studies (or polysomnograms) with the capability of simultaneously monitoring sleep stage with EEG, breathing parameters with oxygen saturation, end tidal CO2, and breathing efforts, along with gastric Ph monitoring to detect gastroesophageal reflux in infants, children, and teenagers. The laboratory is equipped to perform two sleep studies per night, Tuesday through Friday, and multiple sleep latency tests (MSLT) on Saturday mornings. These studies are interpreted by a board certified Sleep Medicine Specialist and Child Neurologist/Epileptologist, Sanjeev V. Kothare, MD, and by a board certified Pediatric Pulmonologist, Suzanne E. Beck, MD, who both serve as the Co-Directors of the Sleep Laboratory for Children at St. Christopher’s Hospital. 

Sleep studies are performed to diagnose the presence or absence of sleep apnea in children who snore or have difficulty breathing during sleep. Sleep studies are also useful to help evaluate children who have night terrors, nighttime seizures, and difficulty sleeping due to a variety of other causes. MSLTs are performed to diagnose narcolepsy, a condition where patients have sleep attacks during day time. 

The Sleep Disorders Program for Children at St. Christopher’s is a multidisciplinary outpatient service offered by the Sections of Pulmonology and Neurology Thursday afternoons to evaluate children with sleep problems. Here, children and teens with diverse sleep problems such as difficulty breathing during sleep, snoring, sleep apnea, teeth grinding, night terrors, seizures in sleep, or who have difficulty with getting up in the morning or staying awake during the day are evaluated clinically. Patients are examined either by Dr. Beck, a pediatric pulmonologist who specializes in sleep disordered breathing, or Dr. Kothare, a pediatric neurologist who specializes in epilepsy and sleep medicine. Those who need a sleep study are then scheduled for one in the Sleep Laboratory for Children at St. Christopher’s on a convenient night. They are then followed back in the Sleep Disorders Program for Children for various interventions and treatments as required.

To schedule a sleep study or appointment, call 215-427- 3800.