I have a son who was born at 28 weeks and is one month old today. In the last 1 1/2 weeks we've experienced many positive changes with Chase. He came off the ventilator and went to SiPAP. Then he went to CPAP. While Chase was on these different machines he did very well. He had very few bradycardia's and apnea episodes. Yesterday he was transitioned to Vapotherm. His oxygen requirements increased from 30% to 40% which is to be expected with the change. When I arrived to visit him today his oxygen requirement had jumped to 58% and he was retracting terribly. Chase was also having multiple bradycardia and apnea episodes. The decision was made to switch him back to CPAP. He was breathing more comfortably and his oxygen went down to 28% but he's still having quite a few brady's and he also spit up. The NP ran tests to check for infection and they came back fine. I'm curious to know if anyone else has similar experiences with transitioning from one machine to another. Thanks.
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Vapotherm Back to CPAP
- By oquinn27
- Posted October 30, 2009 at 9:52 pm · 3 replies
- In In the NICU/PICU
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- By alexacolbert
- Posted October 31, 2009 at 5:41 pm
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I have heard from the Np's and nurses its common.
- By SarahHartman
- Posted October 31, 2009 at 10:54 pm
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My daughter was having some hard retractions, she has a history of pulling hard due to her AV Canal defect, I was concerned and took her to the ER. They tried to avoid the vent and used vapotherm, it sent her into distress, they left her on it for five hours and she screamed the entire time. I did a bit of research here in our area and it seems it may be a bit too much of pressure on these infants lungs. She was on the vent for 3 weeks to follow and I know in my heart that the vapotherm sent her into the downward spiral. There has also been recalls with older vapotherm cartridges concerning infections, but in our area the new ones are being used I checked that. To me vapotherm is not very useful.
- By JessicaK
- Posted November 1, 2009 at 1:46 am
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Even if it seems like they are tolerating weaning it may take a few days for carbon dioxide levels to increase and for the baby to decompensate. If infection has been ruled out it may also have to do with your baby's fluid balance. My son was very sensitive to fluid overload and on the days he ate well he would soon after be burning those calories working that much harder to breath. Is your baby on chronic diuretics or a fluid restriction? If not this may be an option. The vapotherm is usually a lot more comfortable for them if they can tolerate it. Also the CPAP may be causing your baby to swallow air, which could be giving him gas, causing the spitting up or a vagal response causing the bradys. This is also an aspiration risk. If baby has an NG tube in the RN should be checking it frequently to empty the air from babys tummy (like every hour to 2 hours). "venting" it doesnt work, the tube is too small.
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