gags in sleep

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I’m new to this site. My son is 3 1/2 months old, diagnosed with reflux at 5 weeks. He is currently on Zantac and doing great with only one big problem…

Every night around 2 am he starts gagging. He has his last bottle around eight and is in bed asleep around 9:30. He usually doesn’t spit up with the gagging, just a little foamy spit and most of the time he doesn’t even wake up. Needless to say it scares me, as I am afraid he is going to choke. I hold his head higher than his chest until it is over and then he sleeps till about 4am. I do have the head of his bed elevated. He used to do this gaging thing very randomly, but now it is every night.

Does anyone else have this problem? Is there anything that works?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

My daughter gagged/choked in her sleep, (which included naps) for about three months. I think at this time she learned to cough to help clear her throat when she silent refluxed. Her gagging is what helped me diagnose that she had acid reflux. I don’t think I slept at all during that period. My only advice is to keep him elevated when he sleeps. I know how scary it can be. My thoughts are with you.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry that you also had to deal with this, but it is kind of a relief to hear that this happens to other infants. I can’t wait for him to outgrow this. He is almost 5 months old now and still does it a couple times a week. At what age did your daughter outgrow it? Does she sleep flat now?

[Anonymous]

She stopped gagging around 3-4 months old. I still try to keep her elevated at night. I had the mattress elevated for a long time (till 9 or 10 months) but then it just made it easier for her to sit up, which she would do all night long. She is 13 months and still sleeps with me, because she cries off and on all night. I have her sleeping most of the time on a firm pillow that helps to keep her elevated. No one understands how terrifying the gagging can be or what it is like to go over a year with no sleep unless they have been through it themselves. I think the gagging is because they don’t know how to clear their throat. I don’t think it is a symptom many babies had. She gagged so long once when she was a few weeks old that I called 911. Lucikly she came out of it, but it still scared me.

[Anonymous]

My daughter does the same thing. It is SO scary! I have her on an incline positioner in a bassinet next to our bed. The scariest part is the when she gags, it is almost silent. We wish we could put her in her crib but I’m so afraid that we wouldnt be able to get to her quickly enough.

Can you turn her head to the side while she is sleeping? That might help?

I am in the same boat as you in trying to figure out what what will work and what doesnt!

Good luck,
Deanna

[Anonymous]

fortunately, most babies have a wonderful gag reflex which helps to keep them from aspirating. i think i would be inclined to want to put my baby to sleep on their stomach if they were gagging alot like that.kevieb2009-08-28 11:36:46

[Anonymous]

We still have our son in his crib in our room, because we are also afraid of not getting to him in time, however I’m keeping my fingers crossed…he is 5 months old now and hasn’t gagged in almost two weeks. I have noticed his cough effort has gotten a lot stronger, and he seems to be able to clear his throat better. He is also eating solids which I think are helping. So hopefully he is finally outgrowing this, and I can finally get some sleep =).

It is a very scary thing to deal with, and for other parents dealing with this I hope your child outgrows it soon.

[Anonymous]

hi,
my dd did this for about 2 months until we started prevacid. Now she barely gags, but prevacid stopped working. Im hoping i wont come back. I know its scary and that’s one of the reason why I co-sleep. I know this doesn’t work for everyone, but during this time the only time I slept was to let her sleep on her tummy ontop of me.

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