What is transient tachypnea?

The amniotic fluid contained in the amniotic sac is very important for your developing baby. This fluid surrounds your unborn baby in the womb and acts every bit a cushion to protect the baby from injury.

Information technology also keeps the temperature stable and is needed for the development of healthy bones and lungs. In the womb, the infant's lungs are filled with fluid. This is normal and salubrious.

During labor, your babe's body releases chemicals to help their lungs push out the fluid. The pressure of the birth canal on your baby'due south chest also releases fluid from their lungs. After birth, your baby's cough, also as air filling their lungs, should miscarry the remaining amniotic fluid.

However, sometimes the fluid doesn't leave the lungs every bit rapidly and completely as it should. This backlog fluid in the lungs can arrive hard for the baby's lungs to function properly. This status is known as transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN).

This status typically causes a fast breathing charge per unit (tachypnea) for the infant. While the symptoms may exist distressing, they're typically not life-threatening. They normally disappear within ane to three days after birth.

Other names for transient tachypnea include:

  • wet lung in newborns
  • retained fetal lung fluid
  • prolonged transition

What are the symptoms of transient tachypnea?

The symptoms of transient tachypnea are different for each newborn. Common symptoms of this condition include:

  • rapid animate, which means over 60 breaths per minute
  • labored animate, including grunting and moaning
  • nostril flaring
  • bluish skin (cyanosis)
  • the advent of the chest sinking under the ribcage with each breath (also called retractions)

What causes transient tachypnea?

The exact cause of transient tachypnea in newborns isn't always known. The status may be caused past the inability of the newborn's lungs to miscarry or blot amniotic fluid during and following delivery.

Babies born by cesarean delivery are more than probable to develop this condition. A cesarean delivery doesn't permit the fluid to be squeezed out of the baby's lungs, which commonly occurs in the birth canal during vaginal delivery.

Other factors that may contribute to the development of transient tachypnea include:

  • being born to a female parent who has diabetes
  • rapid vaginal delivery
  • delayed cord clamping

Male person babies and those born at a larger nascence weight are also more likely to develop this condition.

How is transient tachypnea diagnosed?

The symptoms of transient tachypnea can exist associated with other medical conditions newborns can have. This may brand information technology difficult for your doctor to diagnose this condition. Your doctor will review your pregnancy, labor, and complications to make a diagnosis. Your doctor also examines your babe.

Tests may also be needed to confirm the diagnosis. These tests might include:

  • complete blood count (CBC) and blood civilization to see if your infant has an infection, such equally pneumonia
  • blood gas test to check your baby's blood oxygen and carbon dioxide levels
  • breast X-rays to study the lungs for causes of respiratory distress
  • pulse oximetry monitoring, in which an oxygen sensor is attached to your infant's foot, allowing the doctor to monitor the infant'south oxygen levels

If there are no other causes for your baby's symptoms, your md may brand a diagnosis of transient tachypnea.

How is transient tachypnea treated?

If your baby has the symptoms of transient tachypnea, they'll be given supplemental oxygen (if needed) to keep blood oxygen levels stable. This oxygen is typically delivered through a tube that'southward placed around your baby'due south caput and in their olfactory organ (via a nasal cannula).

Almost babies reply to treatment inside 12 to 24 hours. During this menses, the amount of supplemental oxygen needed by your babe should decrease.

Newborns with animate difficulties may not feed properly. If this occurs, your dr. will besides provide fluids and nutrients to your baby intravenously (through a vein) or via a tube through their nose into their tum.

Considering transient tachypnea can be difficult to distinguish from an infection, your doctor may also prescribe antibiotics. If examination results show in that location's no infection, these antibiotics will be stopped.

In rare cases, unremarkably when other conditions are nowadays as well TTN, breathing difficulties may brand it necessary to use a ventilator. A ventilator is a motorcar that can aid your infant breathe until they're able to breathe independently.

What's the outlook for a newborn with transient tachypnea?

The symptoms of transient tachypnea typically resolve within one to three days post-obit birth. In some cases, the symptoms may last upwards to a week. Once the symptoms resolve, newborns don't usually have any additional health problems or need special follow-upwardly care.

How tin transient tachypnea be prevented?

At that place's no way to definitively prevent transient tachypnea. However, you can increase your chances of giving birth to a healthy baby by:

  • eating a healthy diet during pregnancy, which includes lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
  • seeing your doc regularly for prenatal checkups
  • quitting smoking
  • not consuming alcohol or drugs that aren't prescribed by your physician