Angelcare monitor false alarms or sleep apnea???

[Aprilsmum]

Hi Ladies,

I have an angelcare monitor for motion and sound. I absoloutely love it although after reading a recent thread, I have come to realise that I may be the only person whose alarm signals during the night whilst bub is sleeping. Lately it's been happening about 3 times a night. Usually April goes to sleep at 6.30pm and then will wake up at 6am. BUT...during the night, always after midnight, the alarm sounds because it can't detect any movement. This happens at about 2am, 3am and then sometimes 4am. I had thought that this was just because she was in a deep sleep, because we always go running into her room and she usually takes a deep breath.

I am waiting for my paediatrician to call me back, but I was just wondering if anyone has had similar experience. Could it be sleep apnea? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks
Bess :o

[TMJM]

Hi Bess,
I also have a movement monitor (Best invention ever).
I have never had that problem with my son.
I suggest u check it out as soon as possible to be on the safe side and for peace of mind.
Just be carefull if you put your baby to sleep in other places eg: the pram, because u can't monitor your child then.
Good luck
Tina

[Tannie]

Bess - I have one too and have never had a problem with false alarms going off. We have found it very reliable in this respect. (bub is 6 1/2 months)

the only time the alarm has gone off was a couple of times when bub went to sleep in the pram bassinette and we put the whole thing in the cot - so sensitivity was affected by this extra padding etc.

It's a scary thought isn't it? IF it IS sleep apnoea - then you are so very lucky to have the monitor.........one way you could check perhaps is to get up around the time it usually goes off and quietly (without disturbing her at all) check if the little flashing light is green when it flashes or orange and watch what happens before it goes off..........it should take a good 20secs to go off when no movement detected. If the light flashes orange (not green) then I believe it's a sensitivity problem (it's not able to detect the movement enough and you may need to adjust the sensitivity ratio button........) BUT - I wouldn't adjust ANYTHING until you are absolutely sure about the sleep apnoea or not.

I'm not sure what they suggest you do if it is sleep apnoea......however, in the interium, like Tina says - I wouldn't dare put her to sleep anywhere except in the cot with the Angelcare on. It's obviously detecting that something "odd" is going on and that's why you have it - so let it do it's job ;) Oh - you say that when you go in you notice she DOES seem to take a big breath? This makes me think that she has stopped breathing momentarily as any of us would take a big breath if we hadn't taken one in a while wouldn't we? All else I can suggest is that if it's possible, move her cot into your room as well - they say babies are less likely to suffer sids in co-sharing room environment..........as long as neither of you are smokers? In which case - don't do this.

You may also like to phone the SIDS foundation in your state - they may have some specific tips for you until you can get the doctor.

All the best to you and bub.
T

[Aprilsmum]

Thanks very much Tannie and Tina for your replies, its very much appreciated. Sorry its taken me so long to reply, but since this post I've had no further alarms. Its really strange, but my theory is that April was having a growth spurt at the time, and was therefore sleeping very deeply, which was hard for the machine to pick up her breathing. My Paed never returned my call :rolleyes: , so I hope that it was just because he didn't get the message.

Tannie, I did think about moving the sensitivity on the back as you suggested, but strangely, I haven't had any alarms since I made this post. Also, I did speak to SIDS about it and they assured me that this wasn't a case of SIDS, cos if it was, an alarm wouldn't wake her up. Sadly, in SIDS the baby stops breathing and doesn't ever start again.

During the "time of the alarms", I would stay in her room after an alarm had gone off for a few minutes to watch the lights on the monitor. The light did flash green a few times and then a few orange flashes and then sometimes the alarm would sound again or other times it would start flashing green again. This left me to question whether it was a 'sensitivity issue' or a 'stopped breathing' issue. :confused:

I'll keep you posted for any further developments, but hopefully all is back to normal. :) I'll be seeing the paed in a few weeks and will question him about it then, but right now I don't see any more urgency in it.

Thanks for you advice ladies

[Trix]

My sister has an angelcare monitor, last year it went off about four times within two weeks. Her son was about 18 months at the time.

The first couple of times it happened, she would rush in there and pick him up and he would take a deep breath. We thought perhaps it was just a very very deep sleep. The third time it happened, she picked him up and he was lifeless, she tried to wake him up and he was just floppy. It took her (what felt like minutes) a little while to eventually wake him up and he took a huge deep breath.

They took him to the doctor the next day who said if it ever happens again and he does not wake up on his own to rush him to emergency. And if it happened again they would send him to specialists.

Luckily it only happened once more and the alarm itself woke him up. They still use the monitor and it hasn't happened since.

Hopefully, like you said, it was just a faze where they are growing or something like that!