Noisy and silent are different
This is the one that kept us up. Ari made throat-clearing sounds constantly and both of us were braced for her to choke.
Gagging and coughing are noisy, and noise means air is moving past the vocal cords. It is unpleasant to watch and it is the airway doing exactly what it is built to do. A baby who coughs, splutters, goes red, and then carries on is a baby who has handled it.
When milk flow is the problem
A baby's gag reflex sits much further forward in the mouth than an adult's. It moves back over the first year.
That is why she gags on things that seem to be nowhere near her throat, and why the gag is so dramatic and so frequent. It is a protective reflex working early and often — which is the opposite of a warning sign.
This was ours. She would gulp, splutter, pull off the bottle and cough, and we read it as something wrong with her.
It was the bottle. Milk arriving faster than she could coordinate swallowing and breathing, so she had to choose, and chose air. Three things fixed it:
Do the first aid course
We did an infant first aid course and it is the single recommendation in this guide we would press hardest.
Not a video, not a page like this one. An in-person course with a doll, where somebody watches you do it and corrects your hands. The back blows and the chest thrusts for a baby are not the same as for an adult, the positions are specific, and a page of text does not transfer into your hands under pressure.
Do this before you need it
Call your doctor immediately if
Blue or grey, a pause or struggle to breathe, or a floppy baby you cannot wake — call your local emergency number now.
- She cannot breathe, cry or cough
- She goes pale, grey or blue, even briefly
- She stops breathing, or pauses in her breathing
- She's floppy, limp, or very hard to wake