Hi,

I am not sure what ALSTE's are either.
Do you mind me asking how you know that your child has central apnoea and why is it not diagnosed? Where do you live?
The way we found out was through a sleep study, before that we had never heard of central apnoea. My daughters alarm was going off from 8 weeks and it wasn't til she was 5 months that they found out.
As part of the testing process she had to have an MRI, she had that last week, from that we are off to see a neurologist as that her scan did not come back normal.
I understand that with obstructive apnoea there is snoring. Does your child snore? Have you seen a doc yet? If so what have they said?
I am very new to all this, but here is you need a chat.

mum of liily-rose

I believe that the reference should be to ALTE's (Apparent Life-Threatening Events) A very brief description of ALTE's is:

"Apparent life-threatening event syndrome predominantly affects children younger than one year. This syndrome is characterized by a frightening constellation of symptoms in which the child exhibits some combination of apnea, change in color, change in muscle tone, coughing, or gagging. Approximately 50 percent of these children are diagnosed with an underlying condition that explains the apparent life-threatening event. Commonly, the problems are digestive (up to 50 percent), neurologic (30 percent), respiratory (20 percent), cardiac (5 percent), and endocrine or metabolic (less than 5 percent). Fifty percent of these events are idiopathic, which causes great concern to parents and physicians."

Source: http://www.aafp.org/afp/20050615/2301.html (this article is for physicians in general or family practice and involves measures to help valuate and address ALTE's).

Hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bill