Sleep Apnea Monitor
My baby is about 8 months of age. He was born at 32 weeks, that was his main problem while in the hospital, his heart lowering, or he stops breathing, so he had to come home on a monitor that alarms us if he stops breathing or his heart lowers in rate. I was wondering if anyone else's baby had to be on the monitor and how long were they on it? I was told he should be off when he would have been full term. Wellllll he is 8 months and still on it and still having episodes, more frustrating than anything. Wow, thank you so much for all this information. He has an appt. To have his monitor downloading to notice how many episodes are true and what is happening and how often they are really happening. I will def. Call ahead and ask about the nCPAP. Thanks again so very much. From what I can tell… First, I hope your son is on an nCPAP and if he's not he should be put on one immediately. That's a nasal Continous Positive Airway Pressure which keeps the upper airway open so your baby can breathe all night without apnea episodes. Do it as soon as possible. I can't begin to tell you how important this is. I highly recommend it. BTW, a lot of doctors just often say stuff like "aw shucks, he'll grow out of it", etc. Don't believe them. If your doctor won't prescribe an nCPAP then demand that he does. And if he still won't then get another doctor. He may also be old enough to get a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy now which often cures sleep apnea. Since he's 8 months old you may also want to consider putting him to sleep on his stomach since that alleviates sleep apnea and because the SIDS statistics regarding back sleep are more and more being called into question. For adults the cure for sleep apnea is a tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy or nCPAP. Best of luck. I highly suggest getting this treated right away as it can cause a lot of negative problems in the long run. And when he's old enough I would highly recommend a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy but if not then defintely a CPAP. Best of Luck. Sorry for writing so much. The following article is a bit technical but it it really shows how helpful nCPAP's are Here's a quote from the article above: "After treatment with nCPAP, the parents commented that there was an improvement in their infant's daytime behavior. They described their infants as being more alert during wakefulness, and feeding was completed more easily without rests. The parents also reported that treatment with nCPAP required checking the infant during the night to ensure that the mask had not moved and that CPAP was being delivered correctly. However, the parents stated that the improvement in their infant's sleep and daytime behavior was worth this necessary effort. In addition, in three infants whoever had been treated previously with nasopharyngeal intubation, their parents mentioned that nCPAP therapy was easier to manage and that they preferred nCPAP treatment to the nasopharyngeal tube. Additionally, nCPAP therapy was followed by an accelerated growth in three infants whoever had failure to thrive at the time OSA was diagnosed. Within 3 months of CPAP therapy, there were rapid increases in both their length and weight; however, owing to the small number of infants, no statistical analysis was performed. " Here's another article: Stomach sleep articles: