This project aims to understand growth during and after a pregnancy in which the placenta is faulty and less able to nourish the fetus, and its impact on the key developmental brain function of sleep, via mathematical modelling.

Growth is a crucial part of healthy development. So, it is important to understand what happens when growth is impaired. In some pregnancies, the placenta cannot transfer as much oxygen and sugar to the fetus as required. To deal with this, the fetus prioritises its most important organ - the brain - and directs most oxygen and sugar there. This results in the size of the brain relative to the body being larger than usual.

Sleep is a key developmental brain function, supporting the formation of memories. This is why babies spend up to 97% of their time asleep. Because sleep occurs to help our brain but also the rest of our body, the size of the brain relative to the body explains for how long we need to sleep. We believe that the brain growing too large relative to the body may disorganise sleep, and make it less good at helping to form memories. This could explain why infants who grow like this sometimes have later learning difficulties.

In this project, we are going to collate and collect data which will allow us to mathematically test our theory that faulty growth impairs sleep. The results will help to understand this condition better, and could suggest new ideas for personalised therapies, e.g. that strengthen sleep.