Unveiling the Science of Sleep in Neonatal Care with Eline de Groot and Christy Gliniak

In this episode, host Mary welcomes Eline de Groot, a passionate sleep researcher from the Netherlands, and Christy Gliniak, a key figure at the National Association of Neonatal Therapists. The guests discuss their journeys, trauma-informed care, and their latest focus on sleep in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Eline shares her groundbreaking research on sleep patterns in preterm infants and its impact on brain development, while Christy underscores the importance of integrating this research into clinical practice to improve patient outcomes. The conversation highlights the critical role of sleep as 'free medicine' and the importance of co-regulation and attunement in neonatal care.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Introductions

00:45 Journey to Trauma-Informed Care

02:00 Challenges and Growth in Neonatal Therapy

03:49 Leadership and Education in Healthcare

05:59 The Importance of Sleep in Neonatal Care

12:05 Elena's Research Journey

28:18 Developing the BeSSPI Tool

34:07 Global Impact and Future Directions

42:03 Final Thoughts and Reflections

Cool Links to check out:

• Sleep Discovery Lab of UMC Utrecht: https://www.umcutrecht.nl/nl/sleep-discovery-lab?lang=en
• Eline's profile page of Utrecht University: https://www.uu.nl/staff/ERdeGroot
• Christy's LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christy-gliniak-9a679699/

• de Groot et al. (2022). Creating an optimal observational sleep stage classification system for very and extremely preterm infants

• Wang, de Groot, Tataranno et al. (2024): Machine Learning-Derived Active Sleep as an Early Predictor of White Matter Development in Preterm Infants