Sleep medicine, Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick

To make an appointment at our clinic, you will need a referral from your paediatrician or specialist. 

They will assess your child, discuss your concerns, and make a referral to the appropriate service.  

Our department uses Consultmed to manage referrals. Your referring clinician sends the e-referral to us using the secure Consultmed platform.  

Once we receive the referral, we will send you an email with your tracking information. We will update you as we process the referral and book your appointment. 

To receive these updates, please ask your referring clinician to include your email on the referral.  

If your clinician has questions about Consultmed or require technical support, they can contact helpdesk@consultmed.co.  

If you need help or have questions about the referral and appointment process, please contact us on (02) 9382 1381. 

The following may assist you in preparing for your visit to the Sleep unit:

• Admission time is 2.30pm
• Discharge time is around 7am
• Time to set up equipment is 40 minutes to an hour
• Free Wi-Fi access is available through the Health Guest Wi-Fi Network 
• Each room has an intercom to communicate with the nurses in the monitoring room
• Between 5AM - 6 AM the night staff will wake your child and remove the equipment
• Dinner is provided for your child. Please advise us before admission of any dietary requirements. Parent/carers need to provide their own food. There is a cafeteria open until 7pm and several food outlets in the area. You may use the facilities in the kitchen to prepare food.

• Medicare card 
• Health insurance and pension card if available 
• If your child has long hair, a hairbrush and bands are helpful
• Any regular medication that your child may take
• Familiar pillows, toys, blankets, or comforters
• Favourite books and games
• A good book for the carer staying with the child, some nightwear and toiletries
• A camera. Some children like to have a memento of their study. Printouts of the actual study are usually available on follow-up.
• Comfortable pyjamas or nightie, preferably button-fronted. For babies a 'sleep-suit' is ideal, but not essential. Mittens may be of assistance in preventing equipment removal by little fingers. 
• Routine overnight toiletries. Please bring shampoo and conditioner.
• Please remove any nail polish, as this may interfere with monitoring of your child.

Secure car parking is available and can be accessed from the main campus entrance on Barker Street, Randwick.

One parent or carer must stay with the child overnight. A single sofa bed is provided in the room for one carer. 

A Sleep Study ("polysomnogram") serves many purposes. It is considered the 'gold standard' for the diagnosis of your child's problem, such as obstructive sleep apnoea, periodic leg movement disorder, or narcolepsy. Treatment often depends on the Sleep Study results. There are over 80 different classified sleep disorders.

The sleep study is often used to guide treatment, such as adenotonsillectomy. It is important that a follow-up appointment is made to ensure that the results are communicated and treatment arranged.

A sleep study begins with the painless application of monitoring equipment.

• Seven leads are attached to previously measured and marked positions on the scalp. These record brain waves indicating the various stages of sleep.
• Four stickers are placed on the face to monitor eye movement and chin muscle tone.
• A small plastic tube, with two soft prongs, is placed beneath your child's nose. This will measure nasal airflow.
• Seven stickers are placed over the chest and abdomen. These monitor the heart rhythm and muscle activity from the diaphragm and abdomen.
• Two elastic straps are placed around the chest and abdomen. These monitor chest and abdominal movement.
• A lead with a sticker is placed over each calf, to measure leg movement.

We ask you to come in the early afternoon so that you and your child have time to settle into the Sleep Unit. We apply the stickers and leads shortly after your arrival so that your child has time to get used to wearing them so as to cause the least amount of disruption to your child's normal sleep routine. Following the application, your child is free to move around the ward, to play or to watch TV.

Bedtime is around the usual time for your child, ideally in bed by 8 or 8.30pm to begin the sleep study by 8 or 9pm.

At bedtime further equipment is applied:

• An oxygen saturation probe is applied to the finger or toe. This measures the oxygen. It consists of a simple red light source and a sensor
• A carbon dioxide monitor is applied to the skin. This will estimate the carbon dioxide in the blood
• A small plastic sensor is placed beneath the nasal prongs, to measure airflow through the mouth
• Most studies will involve sound and video recording.
• At bedtime, everything is connected to the computer for the overnight study

We expect your child will be monitored for about 8 hours overnight. During this time, should your child wake, please do whatever you would normally do to resettle your child. Nursing and technical staff will assist you as required. Your child should be able to continue the usual feeding pattern if they are taking overnight feeds.

Results will not be ready at the end of the sleep study as it takes time to analyse and interpret the results.  You must make a follow up appointment in the sleep clinic (where you were originally seen) two weeks after the study has taken place to receive the results.

Please make the follow-up appointment once you have received your sleep study appointment date to minimise any delay in obtaining the results and treatment.  

If there are urgent results please be assured that the Sleep Unit will call before the follow-up appointment.

If you are from outside the Sydney area, the results can be obtained from the referring doctor.

Please do not hesitate in calling the Sleep Medicine Unit if you have any further inquiries regarding a sleep study.