To help with Phillippa Thomson's post on Death at the Breast, I thought my
experience with my son might be relevent.  My son had apnea and it either
emerged after we developed Pertussis at 4 months or was only recognized at 6
months.  He was on a monitor until 14 months.

When he quit breathing, it was usually at the end of a feeding as he was
falling asleep.  He never struggled.  I only recognized that he had quit
breathing because when he restarted breathing, he would jerk and gasp and
then choke on milk.

When his monitor went off when he wasn't in my arms, I would rush to him, and
even then, he never struggled, he just laid there not breathing.  The sound
of the monitor usually stimulated him, or his own internal mechinisms for
breathing.  His longest lapse was 24 seconds.  At 14 months, even though he
occas. still had alarms, we took him off the monitor, because I didn't need
to stimulate him to restart his breathing and they figured if he'd made to
one year with this, it should be OK.  (Not too reasuring for the Mother
though!)

This experience has helped with a Mother who'd lost a child to SIDS at her
breast in bed at night due to a missed infection, and I hope it helps
anywhere you may experience the lost of a baby.

Dayna Williams
LLL Leader
Reno, NV