Rescuing my son: Testing for Sleep Apnea

On August 2011, I started my journey to find answers to what happened to my son while he was hospitalized on January 2011. So I began to talk with Tommy's ENT. She suggested to do a sleep study to find if he had sleep apnea. Sleep apnea causes sensory issues and kids with Trisomy 21 are at a higher risk for sleep apnea. So I contacted the Down Syndrome Center and they order the sleep study. The sleep study was schedule on November 13, 2011.


Understanding what is Obstructive Sleep Apnea
According to the organization Sleep for kids, "when snoring is loud and the child is having difficulty breathing, it may be a sign of a more serious disorder, obstructive sleep apnea.  Sleep apnea is characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep caused by blocked airway passages, resulting in repeated arousals from sleep.  Sleep apnea has been associated with daytime sleepiness, academic problems, and hyperactivity.  Treatment for sleep apnea is available."


The date arrive
We got admited to the hospital at 7:30 pm. I was a little concerned that it would bring bad memories to Tommy and he wouldn't cooperate. I did everything it was recommended by the Neurologist division to make our experience more placent. So I brought Tommy's favorite blanket,  favorite pajamas, his best friend "Elmo" and so on. The same day, Tommy had his first cold for the fall/winter season; therefore, I had to bring his *asthma treatment, too.


Getting ready to the sleep study
It took a little while because the wiring it had to be placed on Tommy's head, chest and back. Tommy was playful and cooperative with the technicians, completely opposite of what I was expecting.  We were ready to go to bed at 8:30 pm and the lights went off! The sleep study began:

Sleep Study 
Time in bed: 9.1 hours
Total Sleep: time 7.8  hours
Sleep Efficiency 85.6 %
REM Sleep: 19.2 % TST
Average Oxigen Saturation: 94%


Waking up
Tommy fell asleep at the same time than usual, but he didn't sleep the amount of time he usually sleep at home. He began waking up when the technicians had to come to the room to check on the wires. He couldn't sleep after 4 am, when he usually sleeps until 6:30 am.

He is lucky for having a beautiful hair.

After the wires were removed, a quick bath

was enough for his hair being shinny again.

Sleep Study results
"Slept restlessly but hand only a very slight increase in the frequency of obstructive events. Normal sleep quality with much (RMEM3) and REM sleep... Snoring was rare and mild..."


We are very happy with the results of Tommy's sleep study, considering he had a cold and was congested that day. His results also reaffirm to me what The National Association for Child Development has in their website about sleep apnea in kids with T21: "It has been said by some experts that 100% of children with DS have sleep apnea. But studies have shown that this is not the case. While the numbers are fairly high at 45%, not all children with DS suffer from OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea)." I can say, according to my son's sleep study results, "Not all kids wit Trisomy 21 has sleep apnea. Their percentages for having sleep apnea is higher than for their typical peers, which means monitoring sleep apnea should be recommended, but it doesn't mean your kid will have it."


Sleep apnea has been ruled out as a possible cause of our son's sensory processing issues.


Resource for parents:
The organization Sleep for kids is a service of the National Sleep Foundation. Their website has good information that  explain everything, we as parents can do, to help our kids having good sleep habits. 




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*Because Tommy has viral asthma, a simple cold can trigger his asthma. But the whole fall/winter season Tommy hasn't have any asthma episode. Just running nose and sporadic cough when he has had a cold, no wheezing. So he may be growing out of the asthma. We will know for sure in his next appointment in May.