5 wo baby girl turned blue - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

kimtt · 07-25-2007, 11:16 PM

Hi:

Last night an incident happened to me and my wife and it really freak us, my 5 wo baby girl finished her bottle of milk (about 4 oz) and we put her laying on bed to let her rest. about 10 mins later she was acting like very uncomfortable and her face turned blue which is a sign of respiration difficulty, we rushed her to the nearest hospital, while on the way to the hospital she spill up milk thru her mouth and hose and started to cry, after reaching the hospital her colour was turning back to normal.

With the advise of the doctor, we took x-ray on her chest to examinate her lung and respiration system and it turns out everything is normal. The doctor said maybe it is due to feeding problem, she was admitted and will be monitor for 24 hours. Today she is ok, and doctor will discharged her in next hours or so.

The doctor told me that the muscle which control the intake of air into the lung was closed which causes the incident, it might be due to excessive milk stayed in the throat causing the closure of the muscle on the respiration path to avoid milk from entering the lung. He told me that what we need to do is to help the baby spill out the excessive milk, and once the baby turned blue, the muscle will be triggered and the open the path of the respiration again.

The doctor suggested that the root cause most probably due to over feeding, wrong feeding technic, or not enough blurping, and when the baby grown up, this problem will go away.

Anyone on this board having this kind of experience before? And how do you overcome it?

youneeak · 07-26-2007, 07:08 AM

Hi there,

Whoa!! Scary stuff!! I have not have anything similar happen, so I have no advice. I'm sure it's so incredibly scary and I can imagine that it will take a long time for you and your wife to be comfortable putting your baby down. I just wanted to wish you luck and thank you for sharing your story. Did the doctor give you any advice as to how to help her spit out the excess milk?

srivera · 07-26-2007, 08:08 AM

Kimtt- We had a similar experience with our 9 d/o baby. She spit up and aspirated it into her lungs and was having issues breathing and began changing colors. She never quite got to blue as she was passing some air. By the time we got to the doctor she had coughed it up for the most part and her oxygen level was back up to normal. Our doctor said that Acid reflux is fairly common in little ones and gave us a prescription for Axid which is similar to Zantac. Seems to be working so far for the past 3 days. She hasn't had a projectile type vomit since, and she had had 3 or 4 in the 2 days prior to the episode. Hopefully it was just an outside occurence for you and your little one does just fine.

gel2005 · 07-27-2007, 07:43 AM

When my son was a newborn he would spit up through his nose especially when I would lay him down immediately after feeding. He gagged and choked a few times, but never turned blue. I know that had to be scary. Babies are still forming even after they are born. Sometimes the flap on the top of the esophagus is not fully formed, it is common, DS Ped said to keep him upright about 15 minutes after each feeding. It really helped DS, he is now 6 months old and doesn't have the problem any more. Good luck!

LisaFaith · 07-27-2007, 10:27 AM

This exact thing just happened to a friend's newborn. It turns out that the baby has reflux, and is being treated with Reglan. Holding baby more upright during feedings can help, as well as keeping baby propped up for 15-20 minutes after feeding.