ABSTRACT
Breathing and its modulation by sleep have unique characteristics in preterm
infants. Our knowledge in this area is recent, having been developed over the
past 40 years. There are two reasons for this late emergence: First, preterm
infants rarely survived prior to 1950. Only during the second part of the century
did survival improve to a point where studies on breathing were feasible. We
must not forget that the first rudimentary neonatal intensive care unit was
established only as recently as 1964 (1). Second, only after mid-century did the
technology become adequate to measure breathing and sleep in these infants. In
recent years, we have experienced tremendous advances in the field of respi-
ratory control, and we are now witnessing the initial discovery of several of the
genes that control the development and maturation of multiple neurally con-
trolled respiratory functions.
