Nearly lost my little man - choking

[jojo-b]

Hi
I'm new to this forum, but as lots of other people have said, don't feel that there is anyone around who understands the impact of having a premature baby. Our lo was 6 weeks early and is now 9 weeks (3 weeks corrected). He came home from SCBU after 2 weeks, always healthy but just taking a breastfeeding. I managed to wean him off nipple shields 4 weeks later which felt like a massive achievement, but still had a weekly battle with HV about his weight gain (even though he was gaining between 5-10oz a week).

We finally started to feel like he was a 'normal baby' a couple of weeks ago and felt more confident about enjoying him. Then, in the middle of the night at the weekend I woke to him gasping for air. He has done this before, when he has brought up a little bit of milk so I didn't get him up straight away, but watched and realised something was wrong. When I did get him up, he went floppy and lifeless, stopped breathing and turned completely blue. Through extreme panic, my husband managed to call 999 and I resuscitated him just before paramedics arrived. He was rushed to hospital coughing up blood. After 4 days in hospital and every test going, we think that he choked on his own phlegm and vomit - something which we are told could happen to any baby, no matter what their size. He has always breathed on his own so has no underlying problems - it was just a freak one off accident that we nearly lost him through.

I'm finding it really hard to move on. I'm racked with guilt about why I didn't get him straight up, why hadn't I taken him to the GP (he was a bit bunged up that week), why I had swaddled him which meant he was sleeping with his head straight up instead of turned to the side as he usually does. I feel sad that the excitement of having our little boy is being overshadowed with worry, firstly with the premature birth and now this. I'm finding it hard to believe I'll ever relax with him again.

I suppose the other reason for me posting this is because I have thanked my lucky stars every day that 1) he was in our room and 2) we knew CPR. If he hadn't been next to my bed, there is no way whatsoever that I would have woken to such a tiny gasp, certainly not over a monitor. We would have been in a very different situation now. We were taught CPR when leaving special care, thinking that we would never ever need it as he had always been so healthy. I hope that everyone who has the chance to learn it takes it up as again, it made the difference between life and death for my little man.

Has anyone had a similar experience? I'm feeling pretty isolated in this at the moment, as its something most people never go through.
xx

 

[Agiboma]

well althought our situation is not the same we definetly had a similar expereince my lo was born @ 25 weeks @ 38 weeks in the hospital nursery he coded umm i was not their thank G-d but they had to do cpr on him to get his heartbeat up, this happened because of reflux. has your doctor looked into reflux? congrats on your lo

 

[AP]

alex has reflux and she was often throwning up milk in her cot.
we raised the cot up a bit (this did help) and gave her a dummy, (swallowing helps keep anythng down ) and if you are still concerned you could look into a respiration monitor (angelcare have a few versions)

being a mummy is scary

 

[toothfairyx]

You poor thing what a shock that must have been.
I'm not surprised it is playing on your mind - you have to stop the what if I'd got him up sooner though........you did the right thing, and you resuscitated him so well done, be glad that you had the knowledge to know what to do when it was needed.

We've had a couple of choking incidents that thankfully have not progressed to anything more serious. The worst one was when the reflux started and he was asleep in him pram in the lounge with us thank god. I heard him stirring and went over to get him up to find him gurgling, flailing his arms around distressed and bright red in the face. I grabbed him and tipped him down and gave him a good whack on the back and he started coughing, and I've had to do it since when he's started coughing and puking when he had bronchiolitis followed by norovirus. It was after these incidents though I got the angelcare monitor and it has helped me to relax about sleeping him in his own room, and on the times he does sleep with us when we need his room for guests I still have it on.

You've had a massive shock, but don't beat yourself up what happened. You will move on and relax but in time, 1 week is too soon I reckon. Well done though xx

 

[jojo-b]

Thanks for the replies. He has come home from hospital with an MR10 monitor, which we can borrow for as long as we like (it's more for our reassurance than him needing it I think). That helps. He was also diagnosed with bronchiolitis whilst in hospital, and has had a bit of reflux - think all those things together led to the event, which was just very very unlucky. It's hard not to look back with guilt, but I guess time will help. Thanks again x

 

[Srrme]

Oh, dear, I am so sorry. That must have been horribly scary! I have not been in your situation, but it's something I'm terrified of, which is one of the reasons I co-sleep with my baby -- he has mild reflux too.

I agree about the CPR, every parent should learn CPR. It was a requirement for us to take a CPR class through the hospital before we were allowed to bring Elias home.

 

[cat81]

I am so sorry that you had such a terrible experience and that it is stopping you from enjoying your little one as much as you want to.

I just wanted to say, please don't beat yourself up over what happened. You did nothing wrong and it is thanks to your ability to keep calm in the most terrifying situation and apply your cpr knowledge that your LO is thankfully ok. You should be very proud of yourself and I just hope that if any of the rest of us are unfortunate enough to be in a similar situation, that we are able to react as well as you did. x

 

[Lynzeigh]

It is very frightening and I hope things are better now. I got a fright today , my 6 month old baby was laying on the floor playing, he was making strange sound , I was just in the next room, the kitchen, when I checked him he was choking on his own spit up. And this is a bigger baby who can roll and lift head when on his tummy. But when they choke they are helpless to move.

I dare not to imagine what would have happened if he were alone, I honestly think he would have choked to death, very scary and a very big reminder about how important it is to always supervise your baby, even when they seem stronger.

I literally just walked out of the room and seconds later this happened, thats how fast the unexpected can happen. Thank God I was alerted to what was happening and that I live in a small house x