Those of us with children of our own will agree that having a baby was something that brought great joy to us and our family. It becomes part of you to worry when your baby seems to be suffering or is sick. A big concern for the parents of a newborn baby is infant sleep apnea. This happens when your baby stops breathing when he sleeps. It is a sleep disorder that usually occurs to newborns who are born early or those that may have other illnesses. This is a serious condition that causes breathing to be absent for several seconds at a time while your baby is sleeping.

Apnea is divided into three types. They are central sleep apnea (CSA), obstructive sleep apnea and mixed sleep apnea. CSA is the most common among babies. The message to breathe doesn’t make it from the brain to the muscles. Obstructive apnea is caused by an obstruction in the upper airway and mixed apnea is a combination of both obstructive and central apnea.

If a newborn does not have full development of their central nervous system they will be prone to CSA. This condition can cause a baby to turn blue from lack of oxygen.

The condition of CSA is very serious and should not be ignored by parents. CSA can ultimately result in death.

Create a safe home environment for your child. Avoid any baby carriers or seats that are bouncy. Keep your baby’s room and your entire house clean and wash the bedding regularly. Make sure he wears clean clothes. These preventive measures can keep away any respiratory sicknesses that might contribute to CSA.

As always, it is a good idea to be trained in CPR for the safety of any child. Consult you pediatrician for more information on infant sleep apnea.

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 11:11 am and is filed under Sleep Apnea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.