baby choking

[Phantom]

This is my second child but my first time breast feeding. My daughter chokes a lot when she nurses. We also bottle feed but she doesn't choke on the bottle. Yet she will gasp for air 2 or 3 times in a short nursing session. (I only nurse her a few times a day, rest is bottle). What can I do to help her?

 

[Ladybuggz]

I have this problem with my LO. It may be due to a strong letdown, especially if you're not feeding (from breast) too often. I found that milking myself a little before a feed tends to help. I tend to wait until the milk simply drips as opposed to squirting out. Also found that when I lay down and feed so that baby is on my chest it tends to lessen choking too. Hope this helps!

 

[Dory85]

This happens with my son and I thought it was forceful let down but I saw a lactation consultant yesterday for a number of reasons and he actually has a tongue tie. When we let down milk the baby will normally flatten the nipple against the top of their mouth to control the flow but a tongue tie means he can't and he chokes. He struggi with a bottle too. Might be worth getting it checked to rule it out?

 

[luna_19]

I had an overactive letdown on one side which caused this, I always tried to sit him up more so he could let the extra dribble out of needed. Side lying nursing helped a lot too. It got better around 4 months

 

[armywife11]

I have this problem with my LO. It may be due to a strong letdown, especially if you're not feeding (from breast) too often. I found that milking myself a little before a feed tends to help. I tend to wait until the milk simply drips as opposed to squirting out. Also found that when I lay down and feed so that baby is on my chest it tends to lessen choking too. Hope this helps!

This is what I did. My daughter also had undiagnosed lip tie but we never had it clipped. Once she got a little older she was bale to nurse without laying down at first or expressing a bit before hand. I also noticed my letdown calmed down a bit when we had an established supply.

 

[Maxy1]

I have an overactive let down too and DD chokes for the first few minutes and then unlatches looking half drowned with milk spraying all over her face (and the couch and me and the floor - its insane). I have a towel handy and when she unlatches I use the towel to catch the streams and wait for it to finish spurting while I burp her from all her gulping. When the milk flow has calmed down (and DD has got angry that I am not feeding her) I pop her back on and the rest of the feed goes well.

I also had this with DS and it seemed to get better about 3-4 months, which seemed to be a combo of him being better able to cope with it and my supply settling so the let down wasn't so ferocious!!. The LC also mentioned magnesium supplements to me.

 

[impatient1]

I had a fast letdown with both girls in the beginning and found that leaning my body back helped to ease the rush of milk coming.