Summary
Hypersomnolence is the leading symptom of non-restorative sleep. Complaints of the child’s restless, irritative or aggressive behaviour may be prominent, masking the problem of sleepiness. Assessing the significance of daytime sleepiness in pediatric patients may be difficult with respect to the child’s age, ranging from the 1-day-old newborn infant to the 18-years-old adolescent. Physiological developmental changes of the individual degree of wakefulness have to be distinguished from pathological sleepiness in patients with hypersomnic and insomnic states. Thus, the Pediatric Group of the German Sleep Society (DGSM) has elaborated an algorithm providing a rational pathway with respect to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD) as well as an economic use of resources.