Baby with sleep apnea breathes easy after surgery

She began facing severe difficulty in breathing. This condition became worse with every passing month. Unable to get peaceful sleep, she was constantly irritable. After many failed attempts, her parents finally took her to a city hospital, last month, where they saw hope.

“Her parents complained that she had an upper respiratory tract infection which lasted for nearly nine months. It was then followed by a complete block in the nasal area which resulted in the infant breathing heavily through her mouth.

As a result, she also suffered from severe snoring accompanied with sleep disturbances and she eventually started sleeping face down,” said Dr Krishna Kumar, Head, ENT, Gleneagles Global Health City, where she was treated.

With a complete nasal block, she was unable to swallow her food, said her parents. “She barely gained weight and had also not started walking”.

“We finally took her to meet Dr Kumar, mid-July, who diagnosed her with infant obstructive sleep apnea due to an enlargement in the lymphoid tissue behind the nose which completely blocked the upper airway of the baby,” said her father.

A rare condition, the risks for surgery were higher, but needed to be done immediately. “We planned for a surgical procedure called Endoscopic Coblation, which is rarely performed on infants less than two years of age. In spite of challenges, the procedure was done by the end of the month. Post-surgery, she is now on the road to recovery,” said the doctor. He also assures that all her problems are sure to come down one by one.