ds to have abr test...

[Ilovemyboy]

DS failed his newborn hearing screening and we are still waiting to hear from the ENT clinic when his appt is and he is 5mths old. Called Guy's this morning and they confirmed he is on their waiting list and said he is to have an abr test with sedation.

Has anyone else's baby had this? Please talk me through it and what will they do to sedate him?

Hi ilovemyboy, my dd2 had an abr when she was 18 months old (but she had had about 7 surgeries by then so was quite a seasoned hospital attendee) and also as a tiny baby (but without any sedation, she was just asleep). She was given a general anaesthetic because she was also due to have some other procedures done.
She's had sedation for other things though - usually this was given orally, although with your ds being so little they might decide it is easier to give it intravenously.
TBH, I found the normal general anaesthetics usually easier on her than the sedation - sedatives seemed to give her a fiendish hangover and the after-effects would last for days, so you might want to ask the doctor specifically about this. With any luck they will give him something that's going to be easy on him.

Anyway, what they will probably do is give him the drug, wait for him to fall asleep and then attach a few sticky pads to his head, insert headphones and start testing. It won't take long - maybe 10 minutes - and hopefully they will give you the results immediately. Hopefully you will be able to stay with him throughout.

Thanks for replying.

Sorry to hear that your DD has been in the hospital lots. Hope she is okay.

The sedation bit is the bit that is scaring me (and also the results obv). So when they sedate them orally, do they wake up easily after the procedure? Was your dd cranky and did she have problems feeding afterwards?

they do wake up easily after having a good sleep - unfortunately dd2 ended up being sleepy and cranky for 2 or 3 days afterwards. Having said that though - she was 2 years when she had the sedation and the stuff she was given wouldn't be given to a little baby.
Ds had sedation as a baby (he was an atrocious sleeper) with a different drug and it didn't affect him at all (other than making him sleep through!) - he used to wake up in the morning happy as larry, with no side-effects at all.

Sorry you're having to go through this btw - at least the ABR gives you a definitive result and then you can move on one way or another...

Well that's reassuring.

Did you have to stay in hospital until they had woken up properly? Will we be admitted to a ward and have to stay?

Sorry for all these questions. You know what it is like...once you know what is what you tend to stop panicking a bit.

yes, you will be admitted to a ward (probably just a day ward if it's a big hospital) and will have to wait until your ds is awake and they may well wait until he's had a feed, too.

Hopefully you'll get an early slot and be out there by lunchtime - the younger the children the earlier they are seen (usually, anyway!).

AM- he does sleep through the day. I will speak to the doc about how viable it would be to do it this way.

Thanks for your advice guys.