Infant Choking While Breastfeeding

Seeing an infant choking while breastfeeding can be frightening, especially if she is coughing or sputtering. There are a few reasons why infants choke while breastfeeding, including problems with positioning and taking the nipple. Infants who are lying flat can choke but if you hold her in the right position breastfeeding can be a nice experience for the baby and you.

Why do Infants Choke While Breastfeeding?

If your baby chokes while breastfeeding, you let-down may be overactive or you may have an oversupply of breast milk.

1. Forceful let-down:

Observe if your baby experiences these: gagging, choking, strangling, gulping, coughing, or gasping while nursing pulling off your breast often clamping down on your nipple to slow down flow of breast milk at let-down making a clicking sound while nursing spitting up often being gassy sometimes refusing to nurse refusing comfort nursing

These are some of the signs that you may be having forceful-let-down, which is associated with having an oversupply or too much milk. Some moms notice that problem starts about three to six weeks after birth. This can be a minor or major problem, which can affect your nursing relationship.

What you can do about it:

There are two ways you can manage this problem: (1) help your baby deal with the fast flow of breast milk and (2) adjust your supply of milk to your baby's needs. Most moms do a combination of these and it may take a few weeks to see the results.

2. Milk Oversupply

Some mothers complain that they do not produce enough milk for their babies. Ironically, others have an oversupply of milk that their babies choke on it. To help your baby deal with this problem, position your baby's head above your nipple's level so that she is doing “uphill” nu...

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...ilk every time until more comfortable without pumping.

In extreme cases, mothers may need to try experimenting to breastfeed on one side over four hours to find out how much time per breast works best.

Other measures include using herbs and cabbage leaf compress.

Sometimes these measures may not completely eliminate the problem but many mothers find that this will subside when their abundant milk supply and let-down start declining. This happens usually by the twelfth week, when hormonal changes take place. By then your milk supply will be more stable and appropriate to your baby's needs.

Some babies also get used to the fast let-down and oversupply of milk by the third week or up to three months. Your baby might find that the let-down has slowed even when it has not really slowed down.

Works Cited

http://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/fast-letdown/