My baby is on home oxygen as her oxygen levels drop during sleep for an undiagnosed reason. She is approaching the ‘arms out’ stage and I am becoming very nervous about her rolling safely with the oxygen cord, especially that she will get tangled at her neck. Is there any guidelines I could follow that will help keep her safe? She will remain sleeping in a cot in my bedroom however I am not always going to wake when she rolls. There isn’t much information for parents of oxygen supported babies. Please help!

Dear Megan,

We can certianly understand your HUGE concern here as having a little baby with additional support particualry with breathing is very, very stressful.

Our suggestions would be to reach out to your local children’s hospital, health practioner, maternal and child health nurse, GP or Paediatrician for guidance here as do not have any evidenced based information that we can provide here.

Continue to place her on her back for sleep with her feet at the bottom on the cot. You could use a safe sleep bag and investigate the possibility of tucking excess O2 tubing within the bag and potentially secure the O2 tubing to the face with gentle skin tapes or tegaderm dressings?

As you may know, it is very important to ensure a clear cot for when baby can roll, so you will need to make sure she is not sharing her space with pillows, lambswool, bumpers or soft toys that could potentially obstruct her breathing.

I do hope that this has been helpful. Please call our Safe Sleep Line on 1300 998 698 if you feel you need to chat further.

Best Wishes,
Jane x