preemieparent

Rachel&Joe

when you have a second, can you explain the process of how the Dr. determines your child no longer needs O2, apnea monitor, sat monitor,  & nebulizer treatments?  Our first pulmanology appointment is at the beginning of November (the pedis around here do not deal with her equipment, etc.--the pulmanologist is in charge of all that stuff I guess.  Are there certain tests they do?  just trying to figure out what to expect--thanks!

preemieparent

A lot of it depends on the doctor and their approach.

Initially they look at how well a baby is breathing, how she sounds,etc.  Some doctors like to wean oxygen based on the flow (1/2 to 1/4 to 1/8) and others sometimes like to see how a baby does without any oxygen.  Our pulminologist tested Olivia in the office to see how she did and then decided from there.

If you have a pulse ox monitor and an apnea monitor I personally would ditch the apnea monitor and just use the pulse ox.  Not as annoying and far fewer false alarms.  You can ask your doc about it.

Nebulizer treatments can take longer.    Most doctors hesitate to make changes during winter.   From there it's usually based again on how well a baby is doing (and personal doctor choice).

Dominic wasn't on home oxygen but he still gets treatments when he is sick.  

Olivia will prob. continue to be on pulmicort through winter and then I don't know.  

I hope that helps!

Rachel&Joe

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all of that. 

The pulsox would pick up any apnea/bradys anyways, right? 

We usually just have the pulsox on during the night time in case she pulls off her canula (I don't want her to go into distress).  I feel like it gives such better information though (our Dr. said we only need to check her sats 3 times a week, so we are already using it a ton more than expected).  I will talk to her about it at her next appointment...  Though I am not sure that she will make any adjustments to her equipment since she wants us to go through the pulmanologist for all that stuff.