I came up with a theory on why the baby is desatting so bad on mom's menstrual cycle.  For menstruation to occur, progesterone levels have to fall.  And progesterone is used as a tx for sleep apnea, especially in menopausal women.  There is apparently a tie between lowered sex hormones and frequency of sleep apnea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_cycle 

http://www.appneurology.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=175400219  "Progesterone has a powerful protective effect before menopause. For a premenopausal [woman] to have sleep apnea, she has to be really overweight, with a BMI of 55. The protection mechanism may reflect the fact that progesterone increases sensitivity to oxygen and CO2 levels in the blood".

Anyhow, maybe baby is being protected from apnea by passage of progesterone through the milk and has trouble compensating when the blood levels drop.  Maybe after a couple days, baby can readjust and then compensate.


Marie Zahorick, BA, B.Mus, LLLL, IBCLC

Lactation Consultant 
Silver Cross Hospital 
1200 Maple Road 
Joliet, IL 60432 
[log in to unmask] 
(815)740-1234 ext. 7321 



Date:    Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:00:21 -0400
From:    Silver Cross <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Baby with low heart rate and O2 sat with menses

Hi all,
A mom called me today (permission to post) with a 4 month old baby on an=20=

apnea monitor for previous apnea who is breastfeeding.  Mom gets her mens=
es=20
early with each baby although she is exclusively breastfeeding.  She has=20=

noticed that the baby has had several episodes the first 1-2 days of each=
=20
menses where the baby's heart rate dips to the 30s and the O2 sat dips to=
 the=20
60s 1-1 1/2 hours after nursing when he's lying in the cradle.  She picks=
 him=20
up and his heart rate and O2 sat recover quickly.  She has had to call 91=
1 in=20
the past for these episodes.  Could there be any correlation with her men=
ses=20
or is this just a coincidence?  Any ideas?  Her last baby had transpositi=
on of=20
the great vessels as well as many other anomalies diagnosed later includi=
ng a=20
brain malformation--can't remember exactly what type.  First child is hea=
lthy.
Linda Anderegg, RNC, IBCLC in Chicago

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]