my son stopped breathing in my arms - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

polbilly · 03-22-2006, 09:49 AM

I have had the scariest week that a mother could possibly face. my son was born march 8th and last Monday night i was holding jackson when all of a sudden white stuff came running from his nose and he quite breathing it seemed as a million hours before the squad got to my house and he was breathing again. the idiots that they are tryed to tell me that i had not burped him well enough and thats why it happened and they didnt want to take him to the hospital well that didnt sound right to me and we took him needless to say he was transferred by squad to akron childrens hospital which is rated top 10 in the usa. he stopped breathing again on the way there. to make a long story short we spent the entire last week in the hospital as it turns out he has apnea and periodic breathing which means that he actually forgets to breath for more than 20 seconds at a time. they did a sleep study on him and he stopped breathing 49 times in a 4 hour period. (and they said i just didnt burp him) so now my little man is on medication to mature his brain to remember to breath and on an apnea machine 24 hours a day to alert us if he stops breathing and doesnt remember to start again. he will be on this for at least 8 weeks. through all of this we are lucky first that i was holding him monday night when it happened and that we know whats going on now because the doctors said that we would have certantly woken up with a sids baby one morning.

keep an eye on all of those beautiful babies!

melissa

weepyone · 03-22-2006, 10:36 AM

hi polbilly
firstly congratulations on the arrival of your son, my ds was born the 7th march i guess the hospitals were busy over these few days. i am sorry ds has been having problems it sounds so frightening. regarding the burping issue i know my ds makes some scary sounds with trapped wind that worry me regarding his breathing and i have to tell myself i am sure it is normal to sound like this. you were right though to get your little one properly checked out good for you in being such a pro active mom. i hope all is well for your little boy now you know what is wrong it can be treated. i hope you have no more scary moments, wishing you and your ds the very best wishes

can i ask was your ds born early? did you have any worries about his breathing before this incident?

angie22 · 03-22-2006, 12:50 PM

Polbilly ~ that is a bad story that ended up good. I'm so glad that you where such a good mom and didn't pannic and followed your instinct. I can't imagine how anyone could handle carrying a baby for nine months and go thru all the pain to have that precious baby and then losing that baby because somebody says : just burp the baby better next time. I will definitly look over to see how she is breathing thru her sleep.

baby#2 · 03-22-2006, 02:05 PM

I don't know about the availability in the United States but I keep saying...get the angel care monitor!!! I've heard quite a few people on these boards say they aren't too worried about SIDS but it can happen to anyone and at time. Small or big baby, sick or healthy as an ox. Please, take my word on this one (sister died of SIDS), it will notify you if baby stops breathing for more than 15 seconds. It at least gives you a chance to be proactive and call 911 as oppose to sleeping through it and missing your only chance to STOP it from happening.
I am soooo sorry you had to go through this. I can only imagine how horribly frightened you must have been. Maybe you should try notifying the person who said you didn't burp him well enough so he doesn't do this to another family. They may not be as proactive as you were and lose their baby.

mamatbg · 03-22-2006, 07:42 PM

That was so scary. I am glad that you were holding him when it happened too. I am also glad you know what to look for now. After reading your post. I immediately held my son in my arms and just had to take several deep breaths at even the thought of going through what you went through. My son was born on March 5th. so there is only 2 days difference in their ages. I wish you and yours all the best, and Congratulations!