Page 62 - What to Expect

Going home

• tip If you get some of the iron supplement on some of the baby’s
clothes, try getting rid of it by squeezing fresh lemon juice and a
sprinkling of table salt on the stained piece of clothing, then wash
as usual.

Why does my baby need an apnoea monitor?

Some babies will go home from the Unit with an apnoea monitor because
they have not become expert at remembering to breath. An apnoea
monitor is a small box which is attached to the baby’s tummy by a lead.
This monitors the rate of the baby’s breathing. When the baby’s breathing
drops below a certain rate (number of breaths per minute), or stops
altogether, the baby has had an apnoea and an alarm goes off. This alarm
tells you, or the caregiver, to hurry up and lift baby out of his bed, pram
or car seat and have a look at him. Lifting the baby up is often enough to
restart or stimulate breathing.

You and your family will soon learn to live with the apnoea monitor. The
apnoea monitor picks up the movement of baby’s breathing, so make
sure that you can hear it at all times. It is important that you know how to
perform CPR. See previous information about CPR classes.
Some people buy or borrow an intercom system. This can make going out
to the clothes line less stressful, as you will still be able to hear the alarm
clicking away. There is a large range of intercoms available. Some run on 9
volt batteries and others run on mains power. You can purchase intercoms
from electronic equipment shops or baby equipment shops. It seems that
intercoms that are in the higher price range have a better signal receiving
range than the cheaper models.
You must be able to hear the apnoea alarm if it goes off. This may mean
that you won’t be able to be in another room with the TV up loud. Some
household tasks like hanging out the washing, using a sewing machine
and vacuuming are almost impossible to accomplish while still being able
to hear an apnoea monitor alarm. Fortunately, those tasks can all wait until
your partner or a friend is around to help or listen!
The neonatal homecare nurse or paediatric district nurse is available to
answer any questions about the monitor and to revise your resuscitation
procedures.

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