Why the study?
Does sleeping with the head covered by bedclothes alter cardiac autonomic nervous controls in healthy infants?
Population
16 healthy infants, median age 12 weeks (range 9-13 weeks)
Comparison
Sleeping in usual supine position with a… vs Sleeping with the head free
Follow-up
one night
Authors
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Head covering associated with autonomic shifts in infants; leaves open SIDS relevance and requires prospective validation.
Does sleeping with the head covered by bedclothes alter cardiac autonomic nervous controls in healthy infants?
Covering an infant's head with a bedsheet during sleep significantly alters autonomic balance by decreasing parasympathetic and increasing sympathetic activity, which may be related to microenvironmental temperature elevation and relevant to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome risk.
Franco et al. (2003) studied this question.
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