Your baby is gasping? What to do now

The baby is gasping or breathing irregularly. This frightens many parents. However, you need not worry at first if your baby gasps. In fact, it is not unusual for a baby to gasp or to breathe heavily during sleep.

Sometimes it seems as if fluid from the nose or throat is in the wrong place. This rattling certainly seems unusual, and in most cases it is absolutely harmless.

Is your baby making strange noises?

For many mums and dads, there is nothing better than watching their offspring sleep and dream. If you then occasionally hear a soft grunting or snoring noise, that’s extremely cute. Once in a while. Because there are also situations in which it sounds strange when the baby wheezes.

It could be because you have a cold , so there is some mucus in your throat — or your baby is hiccupping . This is also harmless and usually disappears after a few moments.

When observing their child, many parents notice that babies in particular go through different breathing cycles during the night. Similar to the “big ones”, individual sleep phases are very deep and almost silent. After that, it turns out that the baby is wheezing.

Sometimes there is a soft grunt or swallowing sound, sometimes followed by small pauses in breathing. These usually last about three to five seconds, so they are by no means a cause for concern.

What causes it can have when the baby wheezes and what signs indicate that you should see a doctor immediately – you will find out that and more in this article.

What can I do if my baby is wheezing?

In the professional world, it is called “Karcheln” when a baby wheezes. The sound is caused when there is mucus in the throat and covering the small larynx. Infants and young children are not yet able to clear their throats to get rid of mucus in their throats in this way.

If the baby wheezes and the conspicuous breathing noises are heard, this is not “earth-shattering”. Usually, the mucus in the throat usually appears right after birth and goes away on its own over time.

By the time your baby is 5 months old, the phlegm problem will have settled. Then the little ones can also clear their throats and usually get rid of the mucus in their throats. Mucus in the throat can also be an indication of a long-term cold.

If the baby’s cold lasts too long, another illness could be the cause. It is therefore very important that you always keep a close eye on your little treasure in order to identify any unusual abnormalities in good time.

When should you see a doctor if you have a cold?

If the cold persists and the breath sounds don’t go away, it’s time to see the pediatrician. If you have these symptoms, it is advisable to consult a doctor:

If the cold persists and the symptoms of the cold in the baby do not noticeably subside even after five to seven days, action is required. If your little darling breathes more than 50 to 55 times a minute, this can also be an indication that something is wrong.

A long-term cold is not necessarily life-threatening. But if your baby has severe breathing problems and often coughs loudly “barking”, you shouldn’t wait any longer to visit the pediatrician’s office.

If your baby wheezes, makes rasping noises and flares up the nostrils, this may indicate a lung disease. The same applies if the chest muscles are visibly tense at the same time.

A baby cold is sometimes accompanied by a respiratory infection. This means that the baby not only wheezes, but a whistling noise can also be heard when breathing in and out. This is usually harmless, but it can also be a signal that bronchitis is present.

If the baby suffers from a cold or if the baby hiccups, there is certainly no reason to panic. The situation is different for a baby with a cold but frequent breathing pauses.

A so-called apnea is when the breathing pauses last longer than about ten seconds. If a baby occasionally doesn’t breathe for between three to five seconds during sleep, that’s perfectly normal. Prolonged pauses in breathing, on the other hand, are life-threatening.

If your baby wheezes and a bluish discoloration of the face or fingers becomes noticeable, this indicates a lack of oxygen. In such a situation, contact the emergency doctor immediately.

So that the cold does not last

Does your little darling have a running nose or is there mucus in his throat? The baby is wheezing and visibly uncomfortable? Then these are often the typical symptoms of a baby cold. So that the cold does not last long, you should heed a few tricks and tips:

Experience has shown that babies who are initially breastfed are far less likely to suffer from a lasting cold. Valuable breast milk is rich in precious ingredients that, among other things, strengthen the immune system .

With such a good supply of nutrients, the child’s organism can deal more easily with bacteria, germs and other pathogens.

Will a breast pump help me breastfeed?

Some mothers do not want to breastfeed for fear of possible breast infection or breast pain. However, these are not really reasons to stop breastfeeding in advance.

The use of a breast pump is a very helpful alternative in this respect because the suction mechanism is very smooth and the risk of breast infection can be reduced to a minimum as a result.

When the child gets the pumped breast milk from the bottle, it will also benefit from the valuable ingredients contained in the breast milk. If you have a cold yourself, it is advisable that you wear a face mask and disinfect your hands.

This reduces the risk of infection. Because even the tiny droplets when coughing could infect your little bundle of joy and give a baby a cold.

Can my baby get infected?

It is certainly in the nature of things that many mothers fear that they could infect their child with the cold virus through breast milk. Even if they have a fever or other symptoms, breastfeeding women often shy away from breastfeeding their child because they want to protect it from infection.

The fact is, however, that breast milk contains extremely valuable antibodies that can protect your baby from a possible infection. You should therefore by no means do without breastfeeding, even if you have a cold.

If your baby wheezes because his nose is blocked, it is often just an infection. Babies’ mucous membranes are highly sensitive, so it’s not just a baby who has a cold that can cause the baby to wheeze.

An air-conditioned environment or dry heating air can also dry out the mucous membranes in small children and contribute to the baby wheezing.

tip

Use a saline nasal spray to treat the swollen mucous membranes. Hold your baby on its back and drip a maximum of two small drops into each nostril. Even if such a moment is unpleasant for the little one – the spray will certainly help the baby and clear his nose again.

In addition, you would do well to keep a bowl of water in the bedroom and in any other room where you and your sweetheart are at home. A room air humidifier is certainly the best alternative in this respect – but also the more expensive one.

Conclusion: Is it bad if my baby wheezes?

When the baby wheezes, it is harmless in most cases. It is certainly obvious that inexperienced mothers and fathers, when in doubt, take their baby to the emergency room to get help when the baby is wheezing.

On the other hand, parents should also consider that in this way a “real” emergency may be treated with a time delay in an emergency room. It is therefore important to consider in advance whether home remedies might be sufficient or whether you actually go to the hospital if your baby is wheezing.