Weird "gasping" sound

[Lyndzies]

I'm not looking for "best to call your pediatrician," as I'm already planning to speak with her.  Just wondering if anyone has a baby who makes a similarly weird noise.

DD (nearly 5 months old) has been doing this "gasping" thing lately.  I'm hesitant to call it a "whoop," but that's sort of what it sounds like... or like when someone has heartburn or reflux and you do that half hiccup/half gasp thing... or when someone gets really upset and crying hard and tries to catch their breath.  Sometimes she'll do it just once, sometimes a couple times in a row.

She's not crying, coughing, having trouble breathing, or showing any appearance of having any sort of respiratory illness whatsoever.  She does sneeze a bit, but I mostly chalk that up to "normal baby reaction to allergens in the air" and such (my pediatrician has agreed in the past).  But this noise she makes just freaks me out a bit!

Thoughts on what it could be?  I'm also wondering if it's just her figuring out all the different noises she's able to make... she sure does like to make noise!

Thanks (in advance) for sharing your experiences!

ETA: she used to make this sound most often when she was nursing, but now I'm unable to find any correlation with the noise and something else she's trying to do...

[NikonMama]

She may just like to make the noise.  *shrug*  I've worked in childcare with infants for over 16 years, and I've run across a couple babies that just make a noise like that b/c they find it fun.  They have also learned that it gets a reaction, so that is another reason to make it.  She could have something medically wrong, but I just wanted to throw another option out there for you.  :)  Good luck!!

[Jewels*]

My DD does this too!!!

I'm very very sure it's not related to anything medical, it seems to me that she just does it to hear herself.  She did it A LOT around 5 mths, would do it over and over and then smile and giggle.  She has slowly started doing it less now that she has discovered other noises too, (she's 6 mths). 

I mentioned to my DH the other day "Gosh, people must think I'm a terrible mother when they hear this gasping / choking noise and see me go about my business as if nothing happened or I don't care"

[sere234]

Eeeeeek!!! DS does that!!!! He started about 3 weeks ago and it freaked us out;) He does it for fun, almost like clenching his throat and gasping is exciting!! We took him to his doc JIC and she said as long as he is acting normal otherwise, he's fine. We had a nice long chat about this:)

So, DS is still gasping away though not as much and we just cringe and laugh!

BTW, Caden is 6.5 months now and still discovering all sorts of crazy sounds but just the one scary one:)

[mamadiamond]

my dd did this from about 6wks till 6months when she learned how to growl and decided she liked that better. she just did it for fun, and sometimes for attention. i wouldn't worry about it if it doesn't seem like there are breathing problems going on. babies just make weird noises.

[Lyndzies]

Thanks, mamas.  I think I just needed a couple "my kid did that" stories.  :-)

Which is why MDC is pure awesomesauce.

[expat-mama]

Haha, yep DS makes this noise! He has for a few months now. He does it when he's pretty excited about something. He also growls, just started that recently. And he used to make this "zombie" noise that really drove us crazy! Now he only makes the zombie noise when he's just about to go to sleep or just about to wake up.

I didn't know babies make such weird noises either! When DS started making the zombie noise I really thought something was wrong with him for a while...