New born doesn’t breathe for 6 mins

[mya968]

Hi, my baby sister has recently been born with some complications during the birth and I’d really like to know the likeliness of any brain damage. During delivery the baby’s shoulders were caught on some kind of pelvic bone when coming out, after this she did not breathe for 6 minutes... Which is obviously very worrying! I am told she was then taken to a baby ward and was put on a ventilator, however the ventilator was soon removed after a few hours as she can now breathe on her own. I am told that she has been opening and closing her eyes, can move her hands expect one arm which was stuck during birth. I believe she is able to move around etc. I was just wanting opinions on weather she’s likely to suffer from brain damage as I have very little answers because corona virus means I can’t see her...

I don't think this question can easily be answered except by people directly involved in the care of the baby. If she was on a ventilator then she will have been under the care of people who are experts in assessing newborns and whether they need other investigations to discover this. I think you will need to speak to her medical team if you need answers.

I know it is very stressful being in uncertainty about all these things and the limitations on hospital visits etc. due to coronavirus make everything worse.

That all sounds incredibly stressful for you all. I don't think anyone here can answer you though, only the medics involved in her care. There's so many variables.

My son didn’t breath for nearly 15 minutes. It was a different situation to yours because baby was born by a csection. Unfortunately my son does have developmental delay and a speech disorder. I have asked his specialists if it’s due to him not breathing at birth but they have said that there is no way to be sure. I have found his specialists very supportive so your sister should talk to the doctors. Hopefully they will reassure her.

There are so many different variables affecting outcomes for babies like your sister. There could be anything from no noticeable impact at all, a mild learning difficulty, or a significant disability. All you can do is wait and see!

I would think sadly 6 minutes on not breathing post deliver is likely to cause some damage. What level of damage is it unknown but in terms of time is brain. 6 minutes is a significance amount of time. Only time will tell but sadly I would be surprised if there wasn't any damage.

There are no guarantees and as others have said only the medics involved in her care will know but just to give you an anecdote where it worked out fine. The exact same thing happened in one of my births where the baby got stuck behind my pelvis (shoulder dystocia) and my son's birth notes, which I got hold off after the birth under FOI, indicate that he didn't breathe for 8 minutes. He was dark blue and floppy, had an apgar score of 1 and appeared to be dead. They resucitated him and he was also in special care for one night. They mentioned that his oxygen saturation levels returned to normal quite quickly and that was probably because the emergency happened quite soon before they eventually got him out and so that his cord may not have been compressed for too long. He is now a healthy, happy teenager with no medicalbissues. He does struggle a bit academically and GCSEs arent going that well, and I often wonder of there's a correlation, but of course there is no way of knowing. He certainly has no known medical issues. He had bad jaundice after the birth and didnt feed for a week or so but no known issues as a baby either. Hope she's ok x

Although the baby did not breathe spontaneously for 6 minutes, it is likely it was resuscitated by staff, and given oxygen via a bag and mask. It may not be as bleak as you are imaging.

Hi @mya968 how is your baby sister now if you don't mind me asking? X