Baby sleep apnea

Baby sleep apnea occurs when the child momentarily stops breathing while sleeping, leading to a decrease in the amount of oxygen in the blood and brain. It is more frequent in the first month of life and affects especially premature or low birth weight babies.

Its cause cannot always be identified, but in any case, whenever this happens, the pediatrician must be advised so that tests can be carried out that can identify the cause and initiate appropriate treatment.

What are the signs and symptoms

Some of the signs and symptoms of sleep apnea in babies, also known by the acronym ALTE, can be identified when:

• The baby stops breathing during sleep; The heartbeat is very slow; The tips of the fingers and the baby's lips are purple; The baby can become very soft and listless.

Generally, short stops of breathing do no harm to the baby's health and can be considered normal. However, if the child does not breathe for more than 20 seconds and / or if this is frequent, the child should be taken to the pediatrician.

What causes

The causes are not always identified, but sleep apnea can be related to some situations such as asthma, bronchiolitis or pneumonia, size of tonsils and adenoids, overweight, malformations of the skull and face or due to neuromuscular diseases.

Apnea can also be caused by gastroesophageal reflux, seizures, cardiac arrhythmias or a failure at the brain level, which is when the brain stops sending the stimulus to the body to breathe and the latter cause cannot always be identified but the pediatrician reaches this point diagnosis when the baby has symptoms and no changes are found in the tests performed.

What to do when the baby stops breathing

If there is a suspicion that the baby is not breathing, it should be checked that the chest does not rise and fall, that there is no sound or that it is not possible to feel the air coming out by placing the index finger under the baby's nostrils. You should also check that the baby is of normal color and that the heart is beating.

If the baby is not really breathing, an ambulance should be called immediately, calling 192, and an attempt should be made to wake the baby by holding and calling him.

After a sleep apnea, the baby must return to breathing alone with only these stimuli, because usually the breathing stops quickly. However, if the baby takes too long to breathe on its own, mouth-to-mouth breathing can be done.

How to do mouth-to-mouth breathing on the baby

To give mouth-to-mouth breathing to the baby, the person who is going to help him must place his mouth over the baby's entire mouth and nose at the same time. Since the baby's face is small, the open mouth must be able to cover both the baby's nose and mouth. It is also not necessary to take a deep breath to offer the baby a lot of air because the baby's lungs are very small, so the air inside the mouth of the person who is going to help is enough.

Also learn how to do cardiac massage on the baby, if the heart is also not beating.

How the treatment is done

Treatment depends on what is causing the breath to stop, but it can be done with medications such as theophylline, which stimulates breathing or surgery such as the removal of tonsils and adenoids, which generally improves and cures apnea, increasing the quality of life of child, but this is only indicated when apnea is caused due to the increase of these structures, which is not always the case.

Infantile sleep apnea, when left untreated, can bring numerous problems for the child, such as brain damage, developmental delay and pulmonary hypertension, for example.

In addition, there may also be a change in the growth of children, due to decreased production of growth hormone, as it is during sleep that it is produced and, in this case, its production is decreased.

How to care for the baby with sleep apnea

After performing all the exams and it is not possible to identify a cause for the breathing to stop during sleep, the parents can be more rested because the baby is not at risk of life. However, it is necessary to pay attention to the baby's breathing while he is sleeping and take all necessary precautions so that everyone at home has a peaceful sleep.

Some important measures are to put the baby to sleep in his crib, without a pillow, stuffed animals or blankets. If it is cold, you should choose to dress your baby in warm pajamas and use only a sheet to cover it, taking care to secure the entire side of the sheet under the mattress.

The baby should always be put to sleep on his back or slightly on his side and never on his stomach.

Necessary exams

The baby may have to be hospitalized so that doctors can observe in which situations he stops breathing and to perform some tests such as blood count, to rule out anemia or infections, in addition to serum bicarbonate, to rule out metabolic acidosis and other tests that the doctor can find it necessary.