Help! Baby keeps choking on milk - bottle fed

Re: Help! Baby keeps choking on milk - bottle fed

• swizzlemalarkey member

  September 2021

  geo55 said:

  Hello!
  My newborn coughs and chokes at least once during every feeding. It scares the life out of me and makes feeding stressful. I'm worried about it getting in her lungs. Is this a common thing, or am I doing something wrong? Anything I can do to help prevent this? 
  TIA!

  What size nipple are you using? It should be the slowest flow for a newborn (either newborn or stage/size 1) other than that it sounds like you should check in with the pediatrician. Best of luck! 

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• tnt05a Just Joined

  February 2022

  I bottle fed my newborn for the first two weeks, and they showed me in the hospital that I should lay him on his side in front of me and feed him sideways to better control the flow of milk. I hope that helps! They also told me to keep one of this blue bulb suckers handy during feedings to help if baby does start to choke.

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• kslker member

  February 2022

  My newborn was pooling milk in his mouth and my pediatrician recommended we switch to preemie slow flow nipples. We haven’t had an issue since. Just some minor spit ups if the little piggy eats too much or too fast lol

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• shperry87 member

  April 2022 edited April 2022

  Agree with nipple size. Also try to sit her up as much as possible and burp often. 

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• boneystu member

  April 2022

  My daughter coughs too and it is stressful! It doesn’t happen every feeding. My pediatrician explained that her coughing is helping her to regulate. I’ve done paced feeding has had mixed results especially if I take the bottle out of her mouth she tends to cough but lowering it and keeping it in her mouth is better. I’ve switched her nipples to slow flow. She still tends to do cough despite my efforts. If anyone else has suggestions or if you have tried something different, I’d love to know.

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• malannah337 member

  April 2022

  Hi. I'm so sorry and can relate all too well. Acid reflux. It's horrible. And absolutely terrifying to put her down during night feedings bc I can hear her when it comes up out her nose and mouth the same time therefore can't breathe. Sometimes I'll use the aspirator to clear her mouth. She's in pepcid twice a day n I added a thickener to her formula which has helped a lot. Also, holding her upright during feedings n 20 mins after.

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• kjayel member

  May 2022

  Hi I'm Kala, new here so please forgive me if I break a rule or misuse the abbreviations !
  This was happening (is happening ) to my son throughout every feeding. We tried every nipple flow, bottle,
  formula we could get. Hundreds on just nipples and still choked on preemies. He would then sound like he was severely congested out of nowhere. He'd start wheezing, turn red/purple, his whole body would go so stiff, especially his neck, or jack-knife in on himself. He honestly looked like he was choking on spit up - but he NEVER spit up ever. . I was convinced he was aspirating, i work in urgent care, formally telemetry/ stroke unit so i am familiar with the sound. . It was terrifying, every feeding spending the good following thinking he was going to die. This happened EVERY bottle w/o fail..
  .. except when we were at peds office, hospital ( we made several ER runs ),or in front of my in-Laws or family-OF COURSE. After being sent home from 5+ ER's with an almost insulting diagnosis (ex: your over feeding him, hes clearly not spitting up- get some sleep) everyone including myself and SO were starting to think I was losing it. Seriously hated feedings because I knew the hour following would be awful. I was starting to hate being alone with him because I would fixate on every movement every breath. Thank God I did because one day he started wheezing, then apnea, holding his mouth wide open but no breath coming, eyes would bulge out, go rigid, mind you this was all "normal" feedings for us, but on this day. HE didn't eventually take in a huge go of air then stay screaming like normal, he stopped breathing for several minutes. We began cpr, ambulance came, er.... only to be sent home with a couple papers about feeding babies. 😒 🤬 Weeks later, more tears than I've ever cried, and research I did we got a diagnosis of Silent GERD. We are on medication, formula with rice cereal, no lasting flat after feedings and it's so much better. Still Hard As Hell (are we allowed to cuss here?) but better. I pray your little one is doing better? Sorry for the long post- I just wish someone had helped me in the beginning.

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