Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders
Want to improve your family's sleep health?
Struggling to get your child to fall asleep, or stay asleep? Difficulty getting your teen out of bed in the morning? Concerned about frequent nightmares, night terrors or sleepwalking? Wondering whether your child's snoring is something to worry about?
You’re not alone. Many parents have these questions, and our sleep page can help.
Conditions & Treatments
Sleep disorders can have real and far-reaching effects on your child: They can impact her learning, development, behavior and overall health. What’s more, if your child isn’t sleeping well, that can take a toll on your whole family. Fortunately, sleep disorders are very treatable.
At the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children’s Hospital Boston, we care for children—from newborns to adolescents—with a wide variety of sleep problems. The center was established in 1978 as the first comprehensive center devoted to evaluating and treating sleep disorders in children. Founded by pediatric sleep medicine authority, Richard Ferber, MD the center is now led by interim medical director Sanjeev Kothare, MD.
Today, we see more than 3,000 children each year in our sleep clinics and sleep laboratories. We now have facilities in four locations: Sleep specialists see patients at our locations in Boston, Waltham, Lexington, Peabody and Weymouth; we have sleep laboratories at Boston and Waltham.
We offer:
A focus on children:
All of our doctors, nurses and sleep lab technologists specialize in working with children, and every aspect of what we do is designed specifically for children. We take time to carefully diagnose your child’s condition and provide close follow-up care. At every step, we work together with families: We consider you to be a central part of the care team.
A multidisciplinary approach:
Our primary team includes physicians from Neurology, Pulmonary and Respiratory Diseases, and Developmental Medicine who work together to diagnose and treat a variety of complex and chronic sleep disorders. Associate members of our team are from other departments, including Otolaryngology and Communication Enhancement, Gastroenterology, Psychiatry/Psychology, Dentistry and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. We also work closely with your primary care physician.
Specialized equipment and techniques:
Our clinics and laboratories use advanced methods and sleep-monitoring technologies to study your child’s sleep and breathing patterns throughout the night and across the week. These allow us to noninvasively diagnose even subtle forms of sleep disorders and help lead us to proper treatment. In addition, modified sleep studies are performed to evaluate nocturnal events.
A short wait time:
We try to quickly schedule consultations and sleep studies. Our goal is for families not to have to wait longer than 30 days for an appointment.
AASM names Children's Center a "Comprehensive Academic Sleep Program of Distinction"
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has named Children's Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders as one of their Comprehensive Academic Sleep Programs of Distinction—an honor recognizing programs that have made major strides toward becoming independent, interdisciplinary units outside of traditional divisions or departments. The Center at Children's is only the fifth institution in the U.S., and the only freestanding, independent pediatric facility, to be honored with this distinction.
The AASM grants this five-year recognition to academic sleep programs that have demonstrated excellence though compliance with rigorous standards in the areas of clinical service, educational mission and research accomplishments.
Learn more.
Sleep deprivation in teens: Risky business?
If your teenager is constantly staying up too late and is hard to mobilize in the morning, at least you’re not alone. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control indicates that two third of American teens aren’t getting enough sleep.
“Between school, sports, part-time jobs, homework and recreation, a teenager’s day can easily go from 6 a.m. until 10 at night,” says Sanjeev Kothare, MD, interim director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children’s Hospital Boston. “And once they’re done, they can’t just immediately fall asleep; it naturally takes some time to wind down. Before many teens realize it, the day is over and it’s almost time to get up and do it all over again.” Read more.
Children's ranks high
Children's Dr. Kothare named AASM section chair
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Sleep deprivation in teens: risky business?
