Is there a good infant mask available?

[Babycpap]

My son is 4 weeks old and is on a CPAP machine to help with his oxygen saturation levels. The mask he is currently using is causing pressure sores and does not fit that well.

Are there better infant masks available that you know of?

Your assistance here would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Caroline

cazp@hotmail.com

[jules]

pm or post for - preemiern

she might have ideas for you

BTW: to pm someone you need to register for the forum

[NightWorkDaySleep]

The NICU that I work for no longer uses CPAP masks on neonates for that exact reason we use posterior nasal pharynx prongs...essentially flexible silicone prongs that go in the nose and are routed through the sinuses to the back of the throat. They are taped externally like a gastric tube or a endotracheal tube to the nose or upper lip and occasionally that causes a little skin breakdown but it reduces pressure sores because the device never touches skin. These prongs do have risk of internal nasal trauma but those risks are pretty low if you lubricate with each insertion. Never something that I could imagine an adult using but I've only cared for a baby or two that needed an alternative and we don't stock anything else in our unit anymore because it is so well tolerated. The image on the left on this site is an example of the prongs but not the brand that we use.

http://www.niceneotech.com/images/nasal-cpap.jpg

Nights

[preemiern]

Caroline...sent you an email from grammaknits02.

[preemiern]

The NICU that I work for no longer uses CPAP masks on neonates for that exact reason we use posterior nasal pharynx prongs...essentially flexible silicone prongs that go in the nose and are routed through the sinuses to the back of the throat. They are taped externally like a gastric tube or a endotracheal tube to the nose or upper lip and occasionally that causes a little skin breakdown but it reduces pressure sores because the device never touches skin. These prongs do have risk of internal nasal trauma but those risks are pretty low if you lubricate with each insertion. Never something that I could imagine an adult using but I've only cared for a baby or two that needed an alternative and we don't stock anything else in our unit anymore because it is so well tolerated. The image on the left on this site is an example of the prongs but not the brand that we use.

http://www.niceneotech.com/images/nasal-cpap.jpg

Nights

wow Nights...that is an interesting looking device...I have never seen that set up before. Will it work with any cpap set up/tubing? any chance you could grab me a set of those prongs? Maybe a used set that is going to be thrown out? Let me know...thanks...PreemieRN

[NightWorkDaySleep]

PreemieRN sent you a PM with more info on the airways...wouldn't want to send a used one...they get pretty nasty being all the way back into the posterior pharynx!

[Pekoepup]

Hi Caroline,

Congratulations on your new little son. I am so sorry that he has to wear CPAP at such a young age. There are very few infant masks available in the US but I am not sure where you are located. The US companies do not want to put the money into the testing required to obtain FDA approval for infant masks when they know that there is such a small market/profit. At our facility, we have little success with the available US masks for the newborn population. Once the babies are a few months old, it gets much easier to find a mask that works. We do have some success with the Mini Me nasal mask. It is actually an adult mask but has a small profile that fits some infants quite well. You have to get a little creative with the headgear though to make it fit a baby's head. We use sutures and sew the headgear smaller and then thread the straps through in creative ways and it does work.

On our really small babies, that are around 4 kg- 8 kg, there is a wonderful infant bubble mask that is only available in Canada and is not FDA approved. It fits babies faces well and has custom headgear included (basically a triangular piece of cute stretchy fabric with velcro attachments). I can't recall the name offhand but I will try to get the information for you before the end of the day. We have one family who have a baby afflicted with SMA(Spinal Muscular Atrophy) that was able to use the Swift II with very good success. This poor little baby is on BiPAP round the clock and she was getting horrible breakdown. The family ordered the Swift II themselves and it actually fit her with the small pillows in place. We are actually excited about the new "Swift LT for Her" because it comes with extra small pillows which will increase the patient population that we can us this mask with. We find that it is best to try to find two masks that work and alternate them so that the pressure points fit in different areas. We switch the masks out every 4 hours if we have two options.

Respironics, Resmed and Fisher Paykel all have pediatric masks but they really are for pediatric patients and not infants. Is there a sleep lab associated with the hospital that your son is being treated at? Our sleep lab physicians have access to more masks than we do and they even had some prototype infant masks available.

I wish I had better information but I will get back to you on the Canadian mask. All the best.

[Pekoepup]

Caroline, I sent you a personal E-mail about the masks.

In case anyone else is interested in this information, the mask is called the Resmed Infant Mask System without Sensor. The only place I could find it for sale was on an Australian CPAP supply company. Maybe the mask is actually Australian and not Canadian. It is pricey. The list price is $177. I imagine this is Australian dollars. The product code is 16018. Here is the link for the CPAP supply company:

http://www.cpapdownunder.com.au/baccessories.htm

Another alternative is the Child Size Profile Lite from Sullivan. It is a bigger mask though but less expensive and it is available in the US. I think the IQ Mini Me is still a better way to go and a smaller mask than the Sullivan. It is a gel mask too.


Here is a link for the Sullivan mask:

http://www.cpapusa.com/item.php?productcode=1047339

Here is a link for the IQ Mini Me on a child/baby head model:

http://www.cpapusa.com/item.php?product ... t+Headgear

[jana.kylesmom]

My son has spinal muscular atrophy type 1 as well, is 4 yrs old now, but started using the bipap (now on LTV 950 non invasively) at 6 months old. He used the Respironics Simplicity and the Respironics small child contour. For four months old, they do make some Hudson RCI nasal prongs that can be rigged up. Thank you for the mask tips, I'm looking for small ones all of the time!

[preemiern]

Hi Caroline,



We are actually excited about the new "Swift LT for Her" because it comes with extra small pillows which will increase the patient population that we can us this mask with.

Hi Pekoepup--

Did this family get that Swift LT for her yet? If you want to pm me your address, I have a set of the X-small pillows to donate.
Cindy