My 10 day old spit up so hard he was choking through nose and mouth! Advice???

[jd83]

this morning I drove over to my sister in laws to pick up my older son, and when I got there, my baby spit up really hard as I was taking him out of his car seat. It was coming out his nose and mouth, and he was choking pretty badly. His face turned beat red, his body went rigid, and I could tell he was struggling to not choke. I hurried and got a burp cloth, wiped him off, and leaned him over it while patting his back. That wasn't helping, so I got a nasal aspirator and tried to suck out what I could from his mouth and nose. There was a lot of mucus, so made sense he was struggling to breathe. Even after I sucked out what I could get, he still sounded like he had mucus in his throat, kind of how a baby sounds when he has a cold, for about half an hour.

I am worried he may have aspirated it in his lungs with choking like he was, so icalled the pediatricians office, but I still haven't gotten a call back from them. has anyone had this happen with their baby before, and how did you handle it? did I do the right thing, or is there anything else that might help if it happens again?

 

[MummytoSummer]

Hey hun, sorry I don't have any advice as such but just wanted to send hugs. It's very scary when things like that happen.

My lo never choked or anything but I know up until she was about 5 or 6 weeks she was very mucousy and when she led down she sounded like she was struggling sometimes. Kind of like we do if we have a really heavy cold. It was all the mucous left over from birth and my hv said it would clear in its own time. We did try a nasal aspirator but it didn't shift any of it. We did tilt her mattress at night to help her or what helped her even more was laying her on her side.

I would think your lo will be just fine, just keep a close eye on him. How long ago did you call your dr? If its been quite a long time I'd perhaps give them another call.

X

 

[Bfireprincess]

Hey,

This happens to my little girl. It started when she was 2 weeks old and she still has it now at 10 weeks. We have been to the hospital about it and they said that it is reflux, and that she is too young to know whether to bring the sick all the way up or swallow it back down. So she chokes. She is now on gaviscon to help and it does seem to be helping. Also we always keep her upright as laying flat can cause it too.

I know how terrifying it is! Had me in tears a few times

 

[MummytoSummer]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention about reflux. Keep an eye on it and see if he spits up frequently after feeds etc. my lo also has reflux although the mucousy thing was nothing to do with that. Her reflux is litterally just spitting up after feeds. But she has gaviscon and ranitidine for that.

Some spit up is normal for babies obviously but if they seem to be bringing up the majority of feeds and/or not gaining weight well then it could be down to reflux.

If its just the mucousy stuff that you think caused him to spit up then I'd say it's unlikely to be reflux and more just the left over mucous that hasn't shifted. Usually when a baby is pushed through the birth canal it pushes out all the mucous build up, sometimes not allof it gets pushed out and in my lo's case she was born by c section so none of it got to be pushed out. They did suction some of it out but not all of it hence why it took awhile for it to clear.

X

 

[jd83]

Hey,

This happens to my little girl. It started when she was 2 weeks old and she still has it now at 10 weeks. We have been to the hospital about it and they said that it is reflux, and that she is too young to know whether to bring the sick all the way up or swallow it back down. So she chokes. She is now on gaviscon to help and it does seem to be helping. Also we always keep her upright as laying flat can cause it too.

I know how terrifying it is! Had me in tears a few times

Just got a call back from the pediatrician, she said the same thing. Might be reflux, and to keep him upright after he feeds. He was upright when it happened, since he was in the car seat, but I will have to keep an eye on it. Scared me to death!

 

[bamboo10]

Exact same thing happened to my LO when he was around 10 days old. We did the same thing - used a bulb syringe to get all the mucous out but we got so freaked out we called an ambulance to take us to the ER.

The drs checked him out and did a lung X-ray to make sure there was no fluid as they said aspiration pneumonia is the concern here but he was fine. They sent us home saying to monitor him for fever over the next 24 hrs and if he didn't develop one he would be fine. And he was.

To this day, he is pretty refluxy, but not enough for medication. He gains weight normally and is never in pain when he spits up. We just always make sure he burps a couple times and keep him upright for at least 15 mins after feeding. GL!

 

[ty12wes06]

My little guy has done this since birth! He actually spit up blood from birth for the first 3 days of life! Talk about scary! He still has spit up come out his nose every now and then. It is very scary! Is your LO EBF or EFF? I was told it could be an allergy if it continues.

 

[jd83]

My little guy has done this since birth! He actually spit up blood from birth for the first 3 days of life! Talk about scary! He still has spit up come out his nose every now and then. It is very scary! Is your LO EBF or EFF? I was told it could be an allergy if it continues.

Wow that is def scary!

He is EBF. he hasn't done it again today, but I am like walking on eggshells waiting for it to happen again.

 

[jacs]

My DD did this a few times until she was about 4 weeks old I think. It is absolutely terrifying, and each time I quickly wiped her nose and leaned her right over my arm and patted her back. This was just instinct, I didn't know if it was right, but each time she cleared her airways and was back to normal.
Thankfully it seemed to stop as she matured a little with feeding/burping, but I am still very careful to check she has burped and had time to be upright after a feed (she's 3 months now).