Oxygen Therapy
Support for a child who needs extra oxygen — overnight, during certain activities or throughout the day.
Overview
Understanding Oxygen Therapy at Home
Oxygen therapy means a child breathes air with more oxygen in it than ordinary room air, usually through small soft prongs at the nose or through a mask.
It is used when a child's body is not taking in quite as much oxygen as it needs — sometimes only during sleep, feeding or illness, and sometimes throughout the day.
How much oxygen a child receives and when is prescribed and reviewed by their doctor as part of a care plan; it is not something adjusted at home based on how a day is going.
Needing oxygen is a form of support, not a diagnosis, and for many children the amount they need changes as they grow.
- Care follows your child's physician-ordered plan
- A care need, not a diagnosis
- Support for the whole family, not only the child
- Care that fits around ordinary family life
Support at home
What Families May Need Support With
What support at home may look like, where it is ordered by your child's physician.
A nurse watches the things that are hard to judge on your own — breathing, color, energy, comfort, how feeding goes — and reports changes to the child's doctors.
The care plan set by the child's medical team is followed consistently, including during the parts of the day when families are most stretched.
Families are helped to fit concentrators, tubing and portable tanks into the house so the home still feels like a home, along with the general safety guidance that comes with home oxygen.
Nursing hours give parents a genuine break, which matters when a child needs oxygen overnight and sleep is broken for everyone.
Safety and Monitoring
Care that follows the plan
Nursing care is carried out as your child's physician has ordered it.
Changes noticed early
What the nurse sees day to day is passed on to your child's medical team.
Families prepared, not left alone
Parents learn the routine alongside the team, at their own pace.
Related Services
Respiratory & Airway Care
Support at home for children who depend on a tracheostomy, ventilator, oxygen or airway clearance.
Pediatric Skilled Nursing
Nursing care for medically complex children, delivered at home instead of in a hospital room.
Complex Pediatric Care
Coordinated home care for children whose needs cross breathing, feeding, neurology and daily living.
Related conditions
Related Conditions in Children
Diagnoses where this care need often comes up. Having one does not mean a child needs this care.
Helpful Resources
Related guides and resources
- A Parent's Guide to Epilepsy & Seizure Disorders in Children
A tendency toward recurring seizures, which changes how a family plans sleep, safety and every ordinary outing.
- A Parent's Guide to Neuromuscular Disorders in Children
Conditions affecting nerves, muscles or the connection between them, causing weakness that varies widely by diagnosis.
- Your Guide to the Georgia Pediatric Program
What GAPP is, who it serves, how requests are reviewed, and how to start a conversation.
- The Parent Caregiver Pathway
What the parent caregiver route involves, and why it is not available to every family.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can our child still move around the house and go out?
Usually yes. Portable equipment exists so that children on oxygen can go to school, visit family and take trips, and families work out routines for it surprisingly quickly. Your child's doctor and equipment provider can tell you what applies to your child specifically.
Will our child need oxygen forever?
For many children the need changes over time, and for some it eases as their lungs grow. It depends entirely on why the oxygen was prescribed, so it is a question for the child's pulmonary or primary team rather than one with a general answer.
What should we do if something looks different?
Contact your child's medical team, and use the plan they gave you for when to call and whom. Home nursing does not replace that plan; nurses work within it, and one of the useful things they add is a second pair of eyes that knows your child's usual and can flag a change early.
About this information
This page is general information for families, written in plain language by the WeLIVE Healthcare team. It is not medical advice and does not replace the judgment of your child’s physician, who knows your child. Always talk with your child’s care team about their specific needs.
We're Here to Support Your Family.
Tell us a little about your child and our team will follow up to talk through care options at home.
Requesting a screening is not an application for Medicaid and does not determine eligibility.