The effects of selective interruption and deprivation of sleep in the human newborn

In two separate studies, newborn infants' responses to sleep stage deprivation were investigated. In the first study, neonates were selectively awakened from either REM or NREM sleep during 1 interfeeding sleep period and allowed to recover in an undistrubed second. In the 2nd study, infants were kept totally awake for 1 interfeeding period and allowed to sleep undisturbed during the next. The results indicate that selective sleep stage deprivation by manual awakenings was impossible to achieve during the newborn period. Rather, the infants were partially sleep deprived (both stages of sleep were reduced) with increased amounts of wakefulness. During the disturbance the interrupted sleep stage demonstrated considerable “tenacity.” During undisturbed recovery sleep, in both studies, total sleep time was markedly increased. NREM sleep demonstrated a greater tendency for preferential recovery than REM sleep.