A Letter to the Editor in Defense of Sleep Recommendations

Abstract

As an international group of pediatric sleep specialists and health care professionals deeply committed to the health and welfare of children and adolescents, we the undersigned feel compelled to respond to the conclusions outlined in the article “Never Enough Sleep: A Brief History of Sleep Recommendations for Children,” published in Pediatrics , Volume 129, Issue 3, March 2012.1 In particular, we strenuously challenge the validity of the statement that there is a “universally acknowledged” lack of “meaningful evidence” for sleep recommendations. While we acknowledge there is still much we need to learn and we fully support and encourage additional research on optimal sleep in children, there have been a significant number of rigorous pediatric sleep research studies, many of which were not included in the article, that have done much to help address the issue of optimal sleep duration and healthy sleep practices in children and adolescents.2–5 The publication of this article and the unfortunate subsequent sensationalistic media coverage (ie, “100 Years of Sleep Recommendations…ALL WRONG”) have not only misrepresented an entire body of scientific …