Baby Gasps for Breath

Hi!
I have a one-year-old who did the same thing when she was your son's age. In fact, she STILL does it. At first it scared me so much- I thought she might have asthma or something worse. I talked to her pediatrician about it and he said she was perfectly healthy.

As she got older, we FINALLY figured out what it was- she stopped breathing, arched her back, and gasped when she was going to the bathroom while she had diaper rash! Babies have that reaction when something is hurting them. Her diaper rash wasn't even bad and she'd do that. Does your son have diaper rash? Even a little bit? Or maybe he has a Urinary Tract Infection? My daughter had that reaction when she'd get a diaper change, while I was nursing her, and what seemed to be at random times. Later on I figured out it was when she was wetting herself. She has really sensitive skin, more so than most little ones.

Keep in mind that babies usually urinate/have a bowel movement WHILE they are nursing. Mine did, anyways. It's supposed to be a natural reaction. My guess is that while your son is nursing, he may be wetting himself (or doing something else that hurts).

Hope this helps!

Hi L.,
I am not a doctor, but that does not sound like reflux to me. The medication has not resolved the breathing problems, so there must be another explanation for them. From what I have read, short pauses in breathing are normal for babies. However, what you describe happening to your infant would worry me, too. Talk to your doctor again. Good Luck.

Thanks for sharing the end result. My son is 7 weeks, and has the same symptoms. How did you end up with the Laryngomalacia diagnosis? What tests did they do. Any tips on how and what to communicate to my doctor?

babies tend to not be able to control how muchmilk they suck into their mouth and thenhave to cathc up. they have natural reflexes that rpevents them form aspirating into the lungs and this sounds like what you baby is doin. just pausing to cathc up and swallow the milk and then catch his breath. they are just being piggies and take in more than they can chew. you might try using the footbal hold so that he will be more upright when you breast feed and let gravity work better. hold under your arm with your hand on his head and the rest of your arm supporting his boddy and bringhim forward to the breast and that way you can almost adjust so that he is in an upright prostion when feeding. good luck. if he really stops breathing for a period of time longer than a few seconds, he may have apnea and needs to get tested for that but it usualy occurs when he is sleeping so monitor his sleeping and let your doctor know or request a referral by your doctor to a specialist, ( pediatric gatroenterologist)

I have four kids and two have been on meds for reflux and they really do make a huge difference for them! I was hesitant at first to put the first one on a prescription med at 6 weeks old, but the thought of having constant heartburn outweighed the thought of him taking a med for it!

Is he mainly not breathing when you are nursing or is it when he is off the breast? I know with mine, especially when they are so young still, they would often "stop" breathing when there was a letdown of milk, they needed to pause and get caught up type thing. When they are still so young, nursing is still a challenge and the flow varies more than it does from a bottle. Can you try holding him more at an angle rather than flat while nursing, to help gravity help him get things down and stay down? When my baby was that small (she is now 3 months) the lactation consultant told me to nurse her so she was practically standing up it seemed, I only had to do it for a bit until she matured and got better at nursing. I would just sit "indian style" and put the nuring pillow down into my lap rather than across it, so she would still restful but not flat.

You poor thing- you must be so scared. The only thing I could think of there is a monitoring device you could put on him and if he stops breathing in his sleep it will alarm and typically startle him enough to take a breath and alert you to check on him. I had a cousin that had one..its used hen there is a fear of SIDS. I hope he gets better soon- I know I wouldn't be getting any sleep in your shoes- hang in there.

L.,
I can imagine that this is pretty scary. My first thought would be to rethink the Previcid. It scares me to think of a child so young on such a prescription med. But, perhaps this all started before that med. Then my suggestion would be to try taking him to a pediatric chiropractor. This may sound strange, especially if you are not big on alternative medicine but this really helped one of my friends infant sons who had reflux too. Even if the thought of a chiro worries you, maybe just go and talk to them first and see what ideas they might have. I wish you the best of luck and will keep you and your son in my thoughts. M.

My baby used to gasp for breath also and I thought it was the wind getting into her face. I never talked to the doctor about it. She never arched her back, just shook her little hands. She was born one week early but she was a normal healthy baby. I did not act scared. Her face or lips wouldn't change color either. Now she is 5 years old and sometimes she still does it just to scare me. There was nothing wrong with her after all but I always followed my mommy's intuition and it told me that she was just being silly.