Transient respiratory depression of the newborn. Its occurrence after succinylcholine administration to the mother.

A baby born after a cesarean section experienced transient respiratory depression. The mother had a postsuccinylcholine apnea caused by homozygosity for the atypical allele for serum pseudocholinesterase; the baby was heterozygous for this allele and the usual allele for serum pseudocholinesterase. The possible relationship between the genotype of the baby and the respiratory difficulty at birth is raised.