[EEG appearance during waking and falling asleep in children aged 1-4 years (without serious pathology)(author's transl)]. / Aspects EEG de l'endormissement et du réveil chez l'enfant de 1 à 4 ans (pathologie lourde exclue) (author's transl)]

The authors have studied the EEG characteristics of 188 children aged 1-4, without serious pathology, during waking and falling asleep spontaneously in the afternoon. The children were divided into 3 groups: aged 12-23 months, 24-35 months and 36-47 months. On falling asleep the EEG appearances varied, but hypersynchrony was most marked in the youngest children and in the older group theta activity was commonest. Only 3 of the 188 children had runs of paroxysmal activity on falling asleep. The waking study again showed appearances governed by the patients' age with respect to 7 c/sec activity on provoked waking, but the appearances were more diverse on spontaneous waking and anterior theta activity only occurred in the oldest children. In general, a relation appeared to exist between the EEG appearance on falling asleep and on waking, in the respect that children falling asleep without hypersynchrony never wake up with it.