7 week old DD is gagging & not breathing :(

[DoulaMama1]

Has anyone else gone through this? My little one is exclusively breastfed and sleeps in our bed and last night she did this twice. She gagged and her eyes went wide and her arms flailed and she wouldnt breathe until I sat her up. It was quite terrifying. I am taking her into our family doctor's walk-in clinic today, but I stayed up with her all night last night because I didn't want to risk her getting an illness in the ER. These gagging events dont seem to have any co-relation with feeding, but she was laying on her back both times it happened. I'm not sure if I hadn't of sat her up, if she would of ever taken a breath, and I obviously don't want to test that theory out. She didn't turn blue either time.

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks!

[DaisyO]

I had this happen too, it was reflux.  She cleared it on her own and was fine...I had to "test it out" by letting her cough a little.  Baby did stop breathing for several seconds, but when she coughed she was fine.  The first couple of times it happened I just sat her up and shook her gently, but later I "tested" it while watching her closely and was happy when she cleared it on her own. 

I don't want to guess what your own situation might be because maybe it's something quite different (and more dangerous), but for me it was pretty much a non-issue, although frightening.  It was scary because I woke up in the night when she was doing the weird thing, and it horrified me to think I might not wake up the next time.  But, as it was, it was nothing to worry about in the end.

good luck!

ps. I did mention it to a pediatrician who told me it was just normal reflux combined with "periodic breathing of newborns"...interested to hear what your pediatrician will say

[1stTimeMama4-4-10]

We had something similar - when DD was 4 weeks old, over the course of 3-4 days she had about a dozen incidents where she would start gasping for air when she was on her back. Each time was fairly quickly after feeding.  We called our ped, who recommended that we bring her to the ER because it was a Saturday and DD was so little. We have a great children's hospital nearby so we went there and they whisked us away from all the other children into our own room immediately.  It turned out to be reflux, and it stopped only a couple days after it started.  It was sooooo scary when it was happening though.  Obviously we can't diagnose it over the internet, so you may want to consider bringing your babe to the hospital just in case.  It's mostly likely nothing, but for my peace of mind I really needed to have a doctor tell me that. 

[LittleBirdy]

Yes, definitely get it checked out by a doctor, for sure.

When DS was 2 days old he had one of these episodes.  We freaked and called 911 (first time parents with a 2 day old, I don't blame us!) and went to the hospital.  He was admitted overnight for observation but it never happened again.

Our wonderful, wonderful midwives explained that (and I know I'm not going to say this right but I'll try) little babies have a really strong reflex to close off their windpipe if they get any liquid "going down the wrong tube" because getting fluid in the lungs could be so very dangerous for an infant.  So the fact that they stop breathing for a few seconds, while TERRIFYING for parents to watch, is actually a good thing - it's a protective mechanism.

So what I'm saying is definitely get it checked out but in the meantime, don't fret too much because it's probably nothing :)

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by DaisyO 

I had this happen too, it was reflux. 

Me too, but it was ongoing and DS needed reflux meds.

it's scary!

[DoulaMama1]

Thanks so much for your responses mamas! 

I took her to our walk-in today, but unfortunately the attending doctor was not our family doctor. He appeared to have very little education about what could cause a baby to breathe and gag and suggested sleep apnea. While that would be a good guess, I know it is not that. She was wide awake, sleeps with her mouth closed, doesn't snore, and this rarely happens. I also happen to know a few young babies with apnea and she certainly doesn't sound like an infant with sleep apnea does. Either way, he told me to return tomorrow and speak with my family doctor, so I am going to bring up AR with him.

I did some research, and I found a specific type of AR called Silent Reflux. It is acid reflux sans the constant spitting up and vomiting. The symptoms match her perfectly, and in my gut I know this is it. While I am thankful to have a diagnosis, I don't know entirely what all I can do to help her. I'll of course be bringing it up with my doctor tomorrow, but my preference is to keep her off of any and all medication if possible. The other symptoms of AR have been going on for several weeks now, so I think it's safe to assume this isn't just a passing thing. I intend to start the Elimination Diet, but as a vegan, I can't follow the diet on Dr. Sear's website. Does anybody know another elimination diet out there? 

Any suggestions on how to treat reflux naturally would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks again :)

[DaisyO]

Quit eating chocolate right away!  That caused a bad reflux problem with my little girl, and I did try Zantac at one point...

Who knows, maybe it will help...it fixed my girl's problem almost entirely.

[DoulaMama1]

Originally Posted by DaisyO 

Quit eating chocolate right away!  That caused a bad reflux problem with my little girl, and I did try Zantac at one point...

Who knows, maybe it will help...it fixed my girl's problem almost entirely.

I do have quite a love for chocolate, and have eaten quite a lot of it over the past week (we made chocolate chip cookies so I've been eating a few a day), so I will definitely be sure to cut that out! 

Thank you!
 

[Plummeting]

Before doing a total elimination diet, try just cutting out soy, wheat, corn and nuts, since you aren't eating dairy or eggs anyway. I don't see any reason to jump right to the TE. You really have to try cutting out soy, though. There's no getting around that. Aside from dairy, it's the biggest offender wrt reflux in a breastfed baby. If it were me, I'd probably just do soy and corn for a couple weeks. If no improvement, then the others. That's what I would do and I've had 2 babies with this problem now, both cured by elimination of a few things, but soy and milk was necessary for both of them.

[Knitting Mama]

We treated my daughter's silent reflux in non-medical ways. In our case, an elimination diet would be useless because I was making less than half of her breastmilk, and the rest was donated breastmilk-- no way to tell what those mamas ate when they were pumping! So what I did was ensured that she was literally never flat on her back. Sleeping and nursing especially were the times when we had to be vigilant at that. I would prop up one side of the Boppy with a pillow stuffed between it and my leg. At night, I would put her head on my pillow, then tuck my arm under the pillow so I was still holding her but she was propped up at an angle. We also wore her upright as often as possible after feedings. All of those combined worked very well and she outrgrew her silent reflux by 3 or 4 months old.

[PatioGardener]

Well, my little guy's reflux is so severe that he needs medication, but we did work through many non-medication techniques first.

1) breastfed upright (I reclined a little) and kept upright for 30 min post feed, even at night, until about 6 months old\

2) eliminated dairy and soy for my diet (until about 6 months old - he had sensitivities, but I think it also made his reflux worse). Also avoided caffeine.

3) pediatric chiropractor (we continue this now - seems to help)

4) really worked to decrease my over supply and over active letdown (this helped a lot too)

5) slept him at an angle (he slept flat with the head of bed elevated to about 35 degrees) until he was to squirmy to stay put (~4 months?)

6) clipped lip-tie

7) probiotics (dairy free)

That's all I can think of for now.

[elluin]

I second the recommendation to see a chiropractor, that helped our daughter's reflux immensely. She would also gag like that (sometimes an hour or more after she ate) if she was not upright for at least half an hour after she ate.

I sympathize with cutting foods from a vegan diet. I am vegan also, and had to cut wheat (for my daughter's reflux) and later all gluten and soy (it was making me sick)... for a while I felt like I couldn't eat anything, but then my husband got creative in the kitchen. We have to make all our meals now; healthier I know, but not always convenient!