Oxygen levels and heart rate

[Noahedward12]

After some advice, my son has had ongoing issues with dropping sats levels as low as 74/75 but normally self resolves. He often suffers with chest infections and we think he is aspirating. He was in hospital for monitoring and his sats would drop to 91/92 and heart rate ok even at 85 oxygen level but when sats were good I would notice heart rate to 140+ is this normal for a 13 month old? Also does anyone know of any good mobile sat monitors that are reliable?

If his sats are dropping regularly below 90 he should be under hospital care/monitoring. It can be really hard though with a baby that has ongoing breathing issues to know which nights they are ok and which nights they are desaturating too much or too often.
I think you should push for respiratory consultant to review him. You may find your hospital will lend you a sats monitor for home. The ones you can buy for home yourself aren't that good.
What's causing his desats? Is it illness or apnea?
Hr of 140 is ok for a 13 month old but a little on the high side so might indicate an infection or temp. Get to know your own baby's norm so you can tell if it's raised for him or not.

He is seeing a cardiologist and resp consultant and been under a paeds consultant since 4 weeks old. They don't know what's really wrong with him, sleep study showed some breath holding but not apnea. His sats drop but visually you can't tell and that's the challenge. Crew have had a sats monitor at home but they only tend to allow you to have d it for short periods. What would you say a worrying heart rate would be?

OP notice what is happening when his sats go up. often when little ones cry or are giggling they are more active take in deeper breaths which improves the sats and gets the heart rate up as well.

They only can tell by monitor, he was in HDU for a long time due to this. He does get wheezy and hard of breathing. Most monitoring has been whilst asleep

Work out what or when his Sats drop - is it when he's asleep only? Is is when he's crying? Is it just when he's got a cold/chest infection or all the time? This is the first step for you - to truly pin point when it's happening and this will help with the diagnosis

Is he struggling to breathe when the sats drop or does he look like he's breathing normally?

There's only so much you can do - you need to push push push for his consultants to find answers and solutions - this is the only way really out of where you are ATM

Does inhalers help? That would sound like asthma/viral wheeze?

Has he had a procedure to look at his airways/ lungs? They can see if there's any structural problems this way

I wouldn't worry about the hr until it is above 160/170 - they should be able to tell if his heart is structurally normal and if it is then I wouldn't worry about the hr at all tbh - just the desats

They drop sporadically, easier to trace at night but he is very breathless often. Has inhaler but makes little difference, his lung has a bit of shadowing and on antibiotics for 12 weeks. But even before this he was desaturating. I was unsure if his heart was working harder to make up for the lack of oxygen?

In your position I would be pushing his resp consultant very hard for answers - it's so hard but you have to keep taking him back to a and e and pushing for appointments

Basically don't accept being sent home with a baby that doesn't breath properly and you are worried about and they cant tell you what's wrong with him. Also if you have no way of knowing whether he's managing or desaturating - that's no way to live and must be really stressful. Demand answers - I know it's easier said than done but you shouldn't be left in this position

Hi OP I was wondering whether you ever got to the bottom of this? Thanks x

@scrabbledabbl hello, I was wondering if you had a similar situation and got to the bottom of it as my son is going through the same as above😣