1Department of Nursing, Wonkwang Health Science College, Korea. 2Department of Nursing, Woosuk University, Korea. 3Wonkwang University Hospital, Korea.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare the sleep characteristics between the prone and the supine position in healthy newborns. The 48 newborns were observed in the prone position and the supine position respectively on the 2nd day after birth. The data were collected from January to May, 1999. The state of a newborn was classified and categorized to 6 states (deep sleep, light sleep, drowsy, quiet alert, active alert, crying) by Barnard. The movements of eyes, face and extremities, pulse and arterial oxygen were observed and recorded continuously from the start of sleep after feeding until the time of being woken for the next feeding by a trained nurse. The data was analyzed by using paired t-test. The results of this study were as follows; 1.
There was no significant difference in the length of sleeping time between the prone and the supine position. 2.
There was no significant difference in the length and frequencies of each states(deep sleep, light sleep, drowsy, quiet alert, active alert, crying) between the prone and the supine position. But the frequency of light sleep in the supine position was significantly higher than that of the prone position. 3. There was no significant difference in the numbers of eyes movements between the prone and the supine sleep position. But the amount of facial and extremity movement in the supine position was significantly higher than those in the prone position 4. There was no significant difference in the arterial oxygen content between the prone and the supine sleep position. 5. There was no significant difference in the heart rates between the prone and the supine sleep position. The above results indicated that the newborns in the prone position moved less and slept deeper than those in the supine position, though there was no difference in the length of sleep or arterial oxygen content between the prone and the supine sleep position. But, Nurses and mothers should consider the relationship between the sleep position and SIDS suggested by previous researches. The infant's 'awakening' during sleep is a normal process and rather valuable because it can provide an opportunity to promote a stronger relationship between mother and baby. So, It is suggested that the supine sleep position is better than the prone sleep position for infants.
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