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Original poster

Periodic breathing in 10 month old?

27 replies

NetVolume · 18/08/2018 11:49

My son still has episodes where he stops breathing for about 5 seconds at time while sleeping , before taking a deep breath and continuing in a more regular pattern. He had an episode last night and instead of waiting for him to regulate I jiggled his tummy to get him back on track as I was so freaked out by it.

I'm in a panic this morning as I'm not sure that this is normal for a baby of his age. I don't know if I should get him checked out or even buy a sleep monitor , which I've avoided as I don't want to increase my anxiety.

He has no existing conditions and I have two older children.

Also , I'm having a difficult month as it was two years ago to the day that dh and I lost a tiny baby girl shortly after bad news at the anomaly scan. I wanted to say as I'm aware that this makes the worrying about my son more prominent.

OP posts:
SeaToSki · 18/08/2018 11:59

I know its common in newborns to have pauses of up to 15 seconds, but they are meant to grow out of it. I just dont know by what age. If you are concerned, call the GP and ask - or take him in.

The things to definitely be concerned about are grunting noises, flaring nostrils, chest sucking in, and blue tinges. If he has any of those then take him straight in today

Original poster
NetVolume · 18/08/2018 12:02

Thanks for your reply , none of those other things are happening.

I'm having to check myself this month as I'm extra alert to anything involving ds.

OP posts:
SeaToSki · 18/08/2018 12:55

I know how you feel. Its good to be aware of it, but dont be hard on yourself, and dont go too far the other way. The GP is there for a reason and reassurance is one of those things.

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vivariumvivariumsvivaria · 18/08/2018 13:00

Film it and take that to your GP.

You could ring your health visitor for advice too.

Nothing wrong with being alert with your kids when they are wee, no one will turn you away.

Original poster
NetVolume · 18/08/2018 17:04

Thank you both for responding. Dh and I have decided to buy a breathing/movement monitor , it's tricky because I was so conflicted over using one but I'm not sleeping. I've had 10 months of not sleeping (even when my son is asleep) and I'm back at work in a month so something has to be done short term to deal with this anxiety I'm carrying. I obviously need longer term help too as it's exhausting.

I will film him if it happens again too , that's a really good idea. And I'll also get him checked over by my gp.

OP posts:
Original poster
NetVolume · 19/08/2018 15:03

The baby movement monitor seems to work well , actually he slept better last night as I wasn't constantly checking on him!

Dh and I are booked on a local nct baby first aid course next month and I have an appointment with our gp (specialist in paediatrics) next week to get ds checked over. We're both trained in basic first aid through work but realised that if we're going to use a movement monitor we need to have more practical knowledge than we do now incase it does go off.

OP posts:
vivariumvivariumsvivaria · 20/08/2018 09:25

Good for you.

Anxiety about babies is a biological thing to protect them - some element of vigilance is normal. If it's disturbing your sleep or life, then, yes, have a chat with your GP.

Glad the monitor helped, and enjoy the first aid course.

ipswichwitch · 20/08/2018 09:39

Get him checked by the gp. DS1 had obstructive sleep apnoea due to enlarged tonsils. He started with odd episodes of pauses in breathing that would re-start with a gasp at about 8mo. They got more and more frequent, along with frequent night waking whenever his breathing restarted, and he wound up needing tonsils and adenoids out at 2.5yo.

ipswichwitch · 20/08/2018 09:42

Forgot to add he always snored but that also got worse as the apnoea got worse.

FranticallyPeaceful · 20/08/2018 11:03

My middle child did this, I was told it’s normal and not to worry and that they grow out of it (he did quite quickly), but wow it’s unnerving. I remember nudging him when he would do it also Grin

SinkGirl · 20/08/2018 11:09

My son had enlarged adenoids and had all sorts of issues including pauses in breathing. He’s 2 next month and it’s all resolved itself fortunately without the need for surgery, but I would definitely get him checked out.

Original poster
NetVolume · 20/08/2018 13:03

Thank you for posting your experiences , I really appreciate it. Lots of articles I've read have only mentioned issues with pauses in breathing up to six months old , so reading these posts is both reassuring and invaluable.

OP posts:
Naziha · 20/10/2020 21:44

Hi, how did it go with your babys breathing? My 11 month old is doing the same as u wrote above with no breathing for 5sec when sleeping. Plz reply when u have time!

doireallyneedaname · 20/10/2020 22:23

My 8 month old does this occasionally but I only notice it at night. I don’t think it lasts long though. A few seconds maybe. I didn’t think anything of it!

Naziha · 20/10/2020 23:03

Hi doireallyneedaname. Does it start with some heavy breathing first and then a pause in your child?

doireallyneedaname · 21/10/2020 00:26

No, there’s no heavy breathing

LittleL20 · 12/11/2020 14:36

Hi,

My 9 month old does this when he is flat on his back at night, starts off heavy breathing..pauses, double breaths and then could go back to normal any ideas?

Martina2020 · 14/06/2021 20:28

I just came across this discussion. My 7 month old has had periodic breathing issues since birth. She would stop breathing for 10-12s at a time and then take a few fast breaths, and stay in this cycle for quite some time.
I finally managed to get a specialist to check her and so far we've gone through 6 sleep tests, she is admitted overnight and her breathing, pulse, saturation etc are checked while she sleeps.
They haven't found anything wrong so the Dr thinks its developmental, she has central apneas, not obstructive, in her case it's the brain not sending the proper signal to breathe. She's improved a lot, not pauses are much shorter and cycles too, but still should have resolved by now :(
Poor thing she is getting and MRI to make sure there is nothing wrong and meanwhile just started having oxygen at night, which improves her breathing (almost no pauses) but is a pain, she hates it.
Still with no pauses, she does have quite irregular breathing when she falls asleep, don't know is that is normal.
If anyone has gone through a similar situation I'd love to be able to share insight and support, I'm really struggling with the thought of my baby having something wrong.

PurpleRayne89 · 14/06/2022 16:23

@Martina2020 has this issue resolved now?

Martina2020 · 14/06/2022 19:44

Mostly yes, she sleeps fine most of the time with no oxygen. Seems that she's outgrown the thing, but from time to time if her sleep is worse, the apneas come back.

PurpleRayne89 · 14/06/2022 22:32

@Martina2020 oh lovely! I’m happy for you both. It’s such a worry. What she did fhe periodic breathing stop? He’s 9 months and adult doing it several times a night. Doctor on the phone said it shouldn’t be an issue. However, he was googling things, he didn’t even know what periodic breathing was. Not confident at all. X

00kitty · 14/06/2022 22:39

We bought the owlet (recon from eBay) as had the same fears …though wasn’t noticing any breathing gaps and I must say I am sleeping 100% better since…knowing an alarm will sound if there’s a problem is a huge relief before we bought it I’d lay awake with a hand on her tummy and was exhausted daily

Martina2020 · 15/06/2022 12:09

So sorry to hear that... Dr should be reassuring or at least try to make sure there is no underlying causes.
For us her sleeping on her tummy was a game changer. Doctors could not give us an explanation as to why, but I guess she sleeps better, hence, breathes better. I definitely see a correlation there. So I sleep better too, I feel more confident she's fine and just guess she'll do it from time to time but no big drops on oxygen or anything.

PurpleRayne89 · 15/06/2022 19:58

@00kitty thanks for your input. Does your baby still do this? Online it says babies should stop doing it by 6 months of age. Not sure whether it just takes some babies a little longer than others.

@Martina2020 im glad you baby stopped this. I’ve so stressful honestly. There isn’t a great deal if information available regarding periodic breathing, the reasons and why it could continue passed 6 months.

00kitty · 15/06/2022 20:04

PurpleRayne89 · 15/06/2022 19:58

@00kitty thanks for your input. Does your baby still do this? Online it says babies should stop doing it by 6 months of age. Not sure whether it just takes some babies a little longer than others.

@Martina2020 im glad you baby stopped this. I’ve so stressful honestly. There isn’t a great deal if information available regarding periodic breathing, the reasons and why it could continue passed 6 months.

I’ve not noticed any no, she’s a really bad sleeper at mo only goes to sleep when I do 😬

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