SummaryTo explore the association between the severity of sleep‐disordered breathing, different types of respiratory events, peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2), age and sleep stage on cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2) in children. We enrolled children aged 4–14 years who were treated for snoring or mouth breathing at the Sleep Center of Beijing Children's Hospital, from February 2022 to July 2022. All children completed polysomnography, and SpO2, rSO2, and heart rate (HR) were recorded synchronously. A total of 70 children were included, including 16 (22.9%) with primary snoring, 38 (54.3%) with mild obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and 16 (22.9%) with moderate‐to‐severe OSA. There were no significant differences in the mean rSO2 or minimum rSO2 among the primary snoring, mild OSA, and moderate‐to‐severe OSA groups (all p > 0.05). A total of 1119 respiratory events were included in the analysis. Regardless of the type of respiratory event, rSO2 and HR changes occur prior to fluctuations in SpO2. A mixed‐effects model showed that ΔrSO2 was positively correlated with ΔSpO2, duration of respiratory event, mixed and obstructive apnea, central apnea, while negatively correlated with age and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stage (all p < 0.05). Larger rSO2 fluctuations were impacted by a greater ΔSpO2, longer duration of respiratory events, younger age, apnea‐related respiratory events and non‐REM sleep stage. Thus, sleep disordered breathing in younger children warrants more attention. More research is needed to determine whether REM sleep has special protective effects on rSO2.