We resently learned that a friend of ours has a little boy with some breathing problems. I don't know all the details but from what I understand, he breathes fine as long as he is awake but when he is asleep, sometimes he stops breathing. As you can imagine, this makes it really hard for his parents to get the sleep that they need. I was wondering if any of you have used the SIDS monitors and if you can recommend what to get or what not to get.
I guess I should indicate that the babies condition is not sleep apnea. From what I understand, he has a small trachea or something like that so he has to sleep sitting up, he cannot lay down. He was on a prescribed monitor until he was 6 months old but after that, the dr said he didn't need it anymore. However, the parents are still very concerned. He doesn't sleep with his parents but he is in a crib in the same room so that they can keep a close eye on him. The doctors have said that as he grows, it will get better but there are still risks until he is 2. I was just looking for something that might help them have a little peace of mind and let them sleep more. Thanks for the advice!
Carrie,
I would hope that they wouldn't take the baby to bed with them. There's a number of reasons that's not a good idea. Including seperating mom and dad. The monitor should work fine.
I have a child with sleep apnea and is on a machine nightly. It is one that the insurance covers and it is a belt that he wears around his chest with two leads that come off of it and connects to the monitor...it is wonderful, I had many sleepless nights prior to this worrying about him. Prior to the insurance providing this I did by an angle monitor and you can get them at BabiesRUs and they can range from over $100 to like $80 and it is a flat mat that goes under the sheet and when there is no movement for 20 seconds it sounds an alarm. I know...20 seconds seems like a very long time, however that must be pretty standard because that is the same time frame that the one from the insurance.
Any other questions feel free to email me.
First of all, I guess my first question would be is: How old is he, then, do they notice this mostly when he is lying on his back. The reason for the questions is because I also went through a scary time when I would watch my son sleep and he would act like he was trying to take a breath but no air would go in. You could actually see his eyes moving behind the lids and they moved alot. Luckily he would almost wake up before he would take a breath. At other times when he was asleep, he would continue to breath, but it was VERY labored. It sounded like someone with asma having an attack. I would even call the emergency room and let them listen to him. It was horrible! They would tell me to bring him out to the emergency room, but they couldn't find anything wrong. They made sure that the oxygen level was normal and it was. I finally changed docs (cause the one that I had been taking him to said that he was just suffering from allergies and gave in Zertex for it. He didn't even run any tests to determine that.) The new doctor took one look at the back of my sons mouth and said that he had abnormally large tonsils and adnoids. And when he got sick, they got even bigger which caused them to almost swell this throat closed. Then when lying on his back, his (and pardon what I call it, don't really know the name of it) hangy down thing at the back of his throat would lay over what small opening there was and cause it to make it hard to breath. Well, we scheduled a surgery. Got those tonsils and adnoids out, and it was like night and day for him! Before the surgery, he had been sick with something or another all the time. Afterwards, he was hardly ever sick. That was when he was 3. He is now 13 and still hardly ever gets sick. So have your friend talk to their doc about that possiblity. That could be the case.
Hope that helps!
M.
http://www.StayingAtHomeWithMyKids.com
Hi C.,
I would definitely have your friends speak to her pediatrician about getting an apnea monitor through insurance. They are worth the effort. My daughter was a preemie and we had a commercial grade apnea monitor on her for 6 months. After she came home from the hospital, she still had terrible apnea and would stop breathing once and a while when she slept. To get them to breathe again, you just need to gently wake them up and pat them on the back. Apnea happens when the child goes into a deep sleep and the body forgets to breathe. The monitor sometimes made it difficult for us to sleep because it was going off a lot, but when we did sleep, we sleep with the reassurance that our baby was OK. Your friend will need to talk to her pediatrician to get the apnea monitor-- if she wants the one that is a little more reassuring than the pad. My daughter was also on a prescription of caffeine so that she would not fall into a very deep sleep. Tough for us to do, but it saved her life. Best of luck to your friend.
Babies with sleep apnea tend to breath better through the night when sleeping in the parental bed. According to what I have read, SIDS almost never occurs when infants sleep with at least one parent. In many cultures around the world children sleep with at least one parent the first year or two. It appears that the breathing patterns of the parents remind the baby's body to breath. This way the baby breaths better, allowing more oxygen to the brain throughout the night, and the parents can sleep better when they don't have to listen for a monitor to alarm them while they try to sleep. I have always found that the best monitor is nearness. It costs less, too!
From what I have read, sleep apnea is far more common in babies after they are vaccinated. Although a world renowned doctor conducted the research that proved this, the CDC has not accumulated much data in this regard because MDs do not report the condition as an adverse vaccine reaction. In fact, it is the responsibility of the parents to report adverse vaccine reactions to the CDC. You will find the phone number in the blue pages of the phone book. Unless parents begin noticing that this condition develops following a vaccine and report it, the CDC will remain ignorant of the facts. Although vaccines may not be the only cause of sleep apnea in infants, it has been found to be extremely rare in unvaccinated children.
I bet it is an apnea monitor and not a SIDS monitor. A lot of times premature babies will have problems breathing and even when they are on "room air" and not on oxygen they will put them on a monitor like this just as a precaution
If the baby has a medical condition his doctor can perscribe an apnea monitor. My son was a preemie & he came home with one. Ours had a sticky pad with a lead attached to it & it just stuck to his skin. It goes off if a baby stops breathing for 20 seconds (I think) & records the number of episodes that the baby has.
God Bless!
The AngelCare monitor .... The only one I will recommend ..... I got LOTS more sleep after getting it !!!
We have one, I didn't get one until I had my last child. Mainly because I didn't know they existed. Thank God we did though because it went off one night when he was 5 months old because he had stopped breathing. He's fine now and haven't had that happen since but it is terrifying to say the least. Anyway we got ours from Walmart it's a BebeSounds Angelcare monitor with one receiver. They also have this type with two receivers but we only needed the one. For nap time I'm never far away and you can hear the alarm even without the receiver on. We use it for naps and at night. We've only ever had two false alarms because he moved into the corner in his sleep and it didn't register him on the crib but those were the only two times. He's 8 months old now and we still use it and we absolutely love it!! I truly believe it saved my son's life. Here's the link to the product at Walmart....
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2620238
Bebe sounds angelcare it has a flat pad that goes under baby to my understanding it'll go off during a period of seconds if no movement or breathing detected.I only use a monitor in the room and now on my 3rd baby the crib is set up in our room as well as our 2nd my son we had a cradle for a few months then his crib where I slept on the floor numerous times afraid of SIDS.
