Possible sleep apnea in 15 month old

Need some advice/help.

Please read the whole thing if you’re going to comment and please no fearmongering. Other than this we’re a happy healthy 15 month old who’s doing great and this is already pretty scary without all the other crazy stuff.

So we went in for my sons 15 month check up today, and I bring a cough to his drs attention. She’s not sure what it could be and wants me to try and record it to see what it sounds like and to see if he stops breathing before he does it.

It lasts for about 5-8 seconds and starts off as a regular cough but when he goes to inhale it sounds like when you come up from being underwater too long and you’re gasping for breath once, before coughing again. Each cough is followed by the same gaspy inhale.

Sometimes it’s nightly, 3x a night, and sometimes it’s one time every few days. It’s very inconsistent. It’s worse if we don’t run his humidifier.

He doesn’t have a coughing fit when he gets hot from playing too hard.

Thing is, I have no way to find out if it’s weird drainage or him not breathing in his sleep. His room is dark and we have worked sooooo hard on getting him sleep trained and in his own crib and I don’t want to mess that up by sitting in his room for 5 hours a night with my phone on record (which he sleeps with no nightlight so you couldn’t see anyways), for him to maybe cough.

I asked about trying an owlet, but she said that just because he stops breathing for 3 seconds doesn’t mean his oxygen level would necessarily deplete. We don’t have one and she doesn’t think it would be wise to spend all the money on one.

She said if it’s apnea we need to see an ENT, which I’m fine with, I just don’t know if I just need to go ahead and call them for a second opinion or what?

I hate waiting and doing nothing if he’s not breathing at night.