TY  - JOUR
AB  - Background During the last few years, technology support for various health-related areas is becoming increasingly common. Not only are nutrition apps or sports apps available, but apps regarding sleep are also available. As the prevalence of sleep disturbances in infancy and childhood is quite high, supportive strategies are necessary to help families to sleep healthy. Thus, this study addresses the topic of sleep apps for babies and children. Methods Sleep apps were searched using different strings. Age-oriented apps were scored using different criteria which were theoretically based (e.g., description, costs, downloads). Results We found 573 sleep apps using the Apple App Store and Google Play Store with the search strings "sleep" and "app" and "baby" or "children". Of these, 15.4% were not declared for children or babies. Content of most apps was lullabies or music and songs. Sleep-related aspects as sleep information or sleep education was very rare. Conclusions There is a new field of sleep help-with sleep apps used by families. Because of the high prevalence concerning sleep problems, the market concerning sleep helping apps is well used. However, most of the sleep apps did not have declarations concerning age and other factors. Parents should be careful using sleep apps for their offspring.
DA  - 2021
DO  - 10.1007/s11818-021-00297-6
KW  - Sleep apps
KW  - Sleep hygiene
KW  - Infant sleep problems
KW  - Sleep help
KW  - Sleepiness
KW  - Software
LA  - eng
IS  - 1
M2  - 4
PY  - 2021
SN  - 1432-9123
SP  - 4-10
T2  - Somnologie
TI  - Sleep apps for children-a critical view
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0070-pub-29527200
Y2  - 2024-11-22T04:02:30
ER  -