The Neuroscience of Infant Sleep and its Implication for Practice and Family Care

In a world marked by overwork, insufficient family support and the need to rest at night, one of the issues that most concern parents is if the baby or young child will allow the family to rest. Children’s sleep is not only a practical and family organization issue. On the contrary, the way of approaching it is one of the crucial points in upbringing and has a profound influence on the emotional development of children and on the affective bond with parents.

The training in childhood sleep that we offer is both theoretical and practical, combining in the most objective way possible the contribution of science through various disciplines, with practical knowledge derived from the experience of working with families. The objective is not only to know how the sleep of babies and children is and how it evolves, but also to acquire tools and strategies that make it possible to combine in the best possible way the satisfaction of the needs of babies and children with the needs and expectations of families.

Course Format

The course “The Neuroscience of Infant Sleep” provided by the “Centro de Estudios del Sueño Infantil (CESI)” is entirely online, and is structured around 17 modules, one per week, with a video-recorded class that can be seen starting on Monday of each week, sending written material and access to a forum for answering questions that come up during the week. The class can be viewed more than once.

The course is divided in 3 parts with several modules:

1. A theoretical Approach to Infant Sleep (11 theoretical modules)
2. Practical Applications (5 practical modules)
3. Final Course Project (1 module and 1 final project)

The training “The Neuroscience of Infant Sleep” is accredited with CERPs (14.25 for lactation and 39 for related subjects) by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBCLC) for the continuing education of certified lactation consultants. A certificate of accomplishment will be delivered to the students who complete and pass the course.

Course Audience

This course is aimed at all health and education professionals (doctors of all specialties, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists, IBCLCs, pedagogues, teachers, etc.) who want to delve into the theory and practice of infant sleep from a multidisciplinary approach that integrates disciplines traditionally excluded by paediatric sleep medicine. Research scientists from all disciplines addressing infant sleep (biologists, pharmacists, biochemists, anthropologists, ethologists, etc.) are also welcome. 

Since its inception in 2017, our course has trained 590 students in a total of 10 editions (about 50 students are admitted per edition).