Delta, theta, alpha and beta power spectrum of sleep electroencephalogram in infants aged two to eleven months.

Automatic sleep EEG analysis was performed on infants from 2 to 11 months of age. Partial power spectra of delta, theta, alpha, and beta 1 bands were studied as function of sleep stages, age, and time of the night. beta 1, alpha, and delta power spectra are significantly lower in paradoxical sleep (PS) than in quiet sleep (QS) whatever the age; but theta is lower in PS than in QS only after 5 months of age. delta, theta, and alpha power increase with age in QS. Only delta and theta are greater in the first half of the night than in the second half. beta 1 power does not differ significantly in stages 2 and 3 of QS, during the course of the night or as a function of age. Thus delta, theta, alpha may be the best spectral parameters for the maturation of quiet sleep EEGs during the first year of life.