[12-hour pattern of the waking state in the normal infant and in the infant who has survived the 'syndrome of sudden infant death' (author's transl)].

The authors report the results of 16 sleep EEGs carried out on 5 infants said to have survived the syndrome of sudden infant death (near-miss group) and 5 controls. The recordings were performed at 1.5 months, 3 months and 4.5 months, times when the risk of sudden death is maximum. The EEG appearance and the organization of sleep patterns have been studied in both groups. The various states of wakefulness, and the modalities of sleep and waking were subjected to statistical analysis with respect to age. The study showed no significant difference between the percentages of different states of wakefulness in the control and 'near-miss' group, but there were more sleep onsets in active sleep (REM) in this group compared with the controls and there were fewer waking periods, although when they occurred these were more prolonged.