Apnea monitor question

eskamo · July 2012

I'm not a preemie mom, my baby was actually late but I have a couple questions about living with an apnea monitor.

This weekend DD was hospitalized because she kept choking and would stop breathing. They are sending us home on Tuesday with a monitor so we can keep a closer eye on her.

When it's hooked up, do you just keep the LO in one spot? Is it possible to walk around with the monitor? How do you bathe the, sponge baths? Any other tips on dealing and living with one?

Thanks ladies

Mrs. Alice · July 2012

We had apnea monitors for about 2.5 months at home due to apneas/bradycardias of prematurity. Our orders were to keep them on 24/7 and they could only come off for bath time and hygiene care. Mine had a foam strap that went across the chest with 2 electrodes which we took off, cleaned, and did a skin check at least once a day. The monitor has a battery so it will last for a while not being plugged in, so you can walk around the house with or just go short distances since the wires on the monitor are pretty long. At first my boys just slept in their RnPs in our living room because it is in the center of our house next to our bedroom. I could move them from their to our couch for feedings without messing with the monitor. Good luck!

Jones3265 · July 2012

The apnea monitor isnt too bad. Mine is in a case, long cord, with a shoulder strap, reminds me of a purse. You can walk around and play with baby. make sure you plug the battery in before you leave so the low battery alarm doesnt go off. We only take the straps off for bath time-I turn the monitor off and take the plugs out so I dont have to take everything into the bathroom. It may be a little annoying at first but after awhile it turns into a habit. My son has the monitor and oxygen and when we go on walks I just put everything in the basket under the stroller. Oh, the alarms will go off, dont worry. Most of them are when the baby is moving around and the band isnt tight. My son has the same problems when eating. If your monitor has numbers on it, watch them when your LO eats to prevent choking/not breathing from happening. Good luck!

Pips09 · July 2012

We had similar experiences as the posters above. The monitor has a battery and shoulder strap, so you can swing it on your shoulder and carry it around. It can be a pain to plug it in and out a lot, so we generally stayed in the living room most of the day (we could move between the bassinet, couch and swing without having to move the monitor), and moved the set up to the bed room at night. Then moved everything back down in the morning and spent the day there. You can turn off the monitor and remove the sensors for baths. The monitor will go off, and we experienced a lot of false alarms. Our doctor had us write down what was happeneing each time the monitor went off, so he would assess what the situation was when doing our monthly evaluation.

You wil get used to it, and it won't be such a big deal to have to deal with. Also, it will give you peace of mind, which is priceless!

urbanflowerpot · July 2012

I felt pretty tethered with ours, to be honest. Yeah, there's a strap and can travel but if you're home it should be plugged in. Sometimes when I went out I'd forget to plug it back in and my oh my you don't want to do that! It's so loud I'd become physically dizzy and nauseated

If I went into small shops I'd let them know he was on a monitor just in case and in big stores I just prayed it wouldn't go off because I had nightmares of people thinking it was a fire alarm...which nearly came true at the pedi of all places! I didn't like the strap - we were sticky fans. We got less false alarms that way, but it'll be a personal thing. I hope you aren't on it for long! We were on it for four months and my son had a severe brady problem - like, lots. That's why I was extra stressed and wanted to be home. I played the song "I Got No Strings" from Pinocchio after he came off

mrsemily08 · July 2012

We went everyplace with ours. It was annoying but not a huge deal. We also preferred the stickies - our DD was so small the band never fit her right.

DrRx · July 2012

It will depend on how often your LO has to wear it. My daughter had to have it on (except for baths) all the time for about a month. Then, once we had our first post-NICU appt with the pulmonologist a month later, he said that we just had to put it on her while she slept overnight.

The monitor is about the size of a wifi router or a portable external harddrive (or a little bigger) and it came with a case with a strap. It is fairly portable. We had the band with the electrodes that you place on the skin. One trick is to wet the electrode before you put it on the skin and it will make much better contact. However, I don't think this is the case with the sticky ones.

GL!

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