Upper airway obstruction during sleep in infants with laryngomalacia is frequently sleep-position-dependent

Laryngomalacia is the most common congenital airway anomaly causing breathing difficulties in infants. Obstructive breathing events and obstructive sleep apnea are common in severe laryngomalacia even though the stridor often diminishes or resolves during sleep. We observed that in young infants with laryngomalacia, the appearance of upper airway obstruction is both sleep position and sleep-stage dependent. Compared to the supine sleeping position, the side sleeping position reduced the frequency of obstructive events and breathing effort, and lowered end-tidal carbon dioxide 99th percentile levels.