apnea monitor users

njkaren

Brandon came home from the NICU at the end of September on an apnea machine. Since December he has only needed to have it on at night. The pulminologist almost took him off of it a few weeks ago at our visit since he has not had any episodes the entire time on it but decided to keep him on it because of his reflux for another month. He is very active in his crib so probably will not be on it much longer. Last night the heartrate part of the monitor alarmed twice, a half hour apart. The heartrate is only set to alarm if his heartrate goes below 80. Both times it stopped alarming by the time I got to him to see if he was ok and his coloring was fine. He was just in a deep sleep. When I changed his diaper a little while later I did notice that the belt was a little loose so I tightened it and it did not alarm again. I also have put the monitor on him today during his naps which I have not been doing since I only need to use it at night and it has not alarmed and he has been in a deep sleep during his naps. I decided to call the pulminologist this morning since that is who put him on the monitor as well as his cardiologist. He goes to a cardiologist for a VSD. The nurse at the pulminologist office did not seem at all concerned, especially since it did not alarm at all after I fixed the belt. She said it was most likely because it had loosened a little but that we would know for sure when we go again in 1 1/2 weeks since they will upload the data and see for sure. She did say if it happens again to call. The cardiologist on the other hand said that the VSD can't cause the heartrate to lower but did want to know if it was real or a false alarm. She seemed a little more concerned. She did say that as a baby gets older the resting heartrate gets lower. She said his settings may need to be lowered. Now I am nervous. Has anyone else had a false alarm with the heartrate?

kcswifey

OH YES.  Right before Logan had his discontinued the heartrate would alarm all the time.  I think that it was probably just because it loosened.  I know it is hard not to worry about it but I am sure B. is okay...especially since it hasn't alarmed in so long!

KellyMichelle

Yes, it is VERY common to have false alarms.  DS was always making his monitor go off and when it was read they were always false alarms.

TriciaJoy

we actually had to have the lower limit on Robbies moved to 70 this week because his resting heartrate got so low. (it went off about 20x one nght.)

 

april062604

we did and it was always the belt. ?we only had 1 real alarm on 2 children for 6 weeks...and i knew by his color that it was real. ?always go by color first..if he was pink, it must have been false. you'll know at the download but i wouldn't get too nervous.

RubyRed7

We also had to lower the threshold to 60 bpm at her 4 month appt... But once she started moving around more we had false alarms all the time... I wouldn't worry if it was just one time!