Apnea Monitor
Monitors Sleeping Babies For Breathing Irregularities
What is an Apnea Monitor?
The SmartMonitor 2 is an apnea monitor for babies, manufactured by Circadiance. The Smart Monitor 2 is designed to monitor sleeping babies for breathing irregularities. Suitable for home or hospital use, SmartMonitor 2 is portable and easy to use. The front panel incorporates universal symbol vocabulary to eliminate language barriers and simplify parent training. The 2.0 MB of internal memory records continuously for any cardio-respiratory events. The units have an internal battery that last about 6 hours. RX with proper settings is required for the rental of this item.
HOME MONITORING FOR THE SMALLEST OF INFANTS
How to Use
Watch this short video to see how to use the Circadiance Smart Monitor 2
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON SLEEP APNEA IN BABIES
How to tell if your baby has Sleep Apnea
There are several signs a parent can look for when their child is sleeping to determine if they might have sleep apnea. The first thing they’ll want to do is listen to the infant’s breathing. If your child routinely pauses for breaths, gasps for air, chokes, has noisy breathing or snorts you should let your health care provider know. You should also be concerned if you hear what sounds like snoring and you hear it persistently night after night. It’s not uncommon for little ones to cry and to squirm in their bed, but infants don’t snore.
Another important thing to note is that if a child has sleep apnea, they’ll also have difficulty breathing while taking naps during the day too. Sleep apnea isn’t exclusive to night time sleeping only.
The treatment ultimately depends on the nature of the medical problem, but the sooner the problem is diagnosed, the sooner it can be treated.
How to treat Sleep Apnea in infants
The treatment depends on the severity and type of sleep apnea (Central Sleep Apnea or Obstructive Sleep Apnea). For OSA, some infants will need surgery, but most will outgrow it as they get bigger and their upper airway gets larger. Others may need to be treated with oxygen to provide breathing support until they can outgrow it. If the infant is four months of age or less and their sleep pattern is less-predictive, we recommend they wear a nasal cannula at all times. If the infant is older and has established a sleep pattern, then parents can take off the nasal cannula when they're awake. Other options for treatment include wearing continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or in rare and extreme cases, a tracheostomy.
The treatment ultimately depends on the nature of the medical problem, but the sooner the problem is diagnosed, the sooner it can be treated.