# Will I smother my infant if I fall asleep while breastfeeding?



## Alvenchrst (Feb 3, 2003)

I know this seams like an ignorant newbe question, but I am really concerned. I only breastfeed my toddler for 4 months and all future children I want to breastfeed for 2 years. So I'm just trying to get a comfortable with al lthings breastffeding as I can. In the hospital I nursed my son 30 min. after birth. I was sooooo exusted after labor that I was fallign asleep while talking! I litterally have never been so tired in my life. As I was breastfeeding him while laying down, I drifted off in a matter of seconds, or maybe minutes, i can't tell for sure. I have no idea how long it was, but i open my eys at one point (DH, my mom, and MIL were all in the room still standing right there.) and I loked down and noticed that he had stopped sucking and he was starting to turn blue. His nose was pushed into my breast so he couldn't breath. I grabbed him and he wasn't breathing. I frantically told my family who was there, they ran and got a nurse. The nurse flipped him on to his back and slammed her hand on his back. He started breathing again and was fine. They took him to the nursery just to make sure, and it was only maybe 1 min. at the most that he wasn't breathing.

Anyway, I felt very gulty like icould have killed my baby, blah, blah. For then on I never really nursed him laying down again. I even put him in the other room so that when he woke I could get up and go to the other room and nurse him inthe rocking chair. That way I would be awake enough to be sure I didn't have a repeat.

So now you cansee why I didn't last very long nursing and why I asked that question. I've read sooooooo much stuff that says how nice it is to co-sleep and breastfeed and how you don't even have to be awake to breast feed. I desperately want to cosleep and breastfeed next time around but I'm afraid that if the little one is right next to me and I start breastfeeding, that I'll fall alseep and the same thing will happen again.

Is this really an issue, or was I latched poorly (It was my first time breastfeeding after all. Should I have latched idfferntly as to not have cover his nose? Till waht age is this an issue? Seams like I had the most trouble withmy breast covering his nose when we were laying down.

I'd love some input! Thanks.


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## bendmom (Sep 4, 2003)

Hmmm...
It is exhausting to push out a baby, and I'm guessing alot of mom's fall asleep right after. I wouldn't let that stop you, IMO. With both boys I have been very aware at night with both of them in bed. Moms have hyped senses during this time and you can be completely passed out and still wake at the slightest movement. Besides, babies are a pretty solid object to sleep next to, I mean, your body can sense the edge of a bed so you don't fall off, so it will sense the baby too. does all this make sense?(writing while holding babe!)


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## txgal (Jul 16, 2003)

I was concerned about the same thing at the beginning. For the first few weeks I would wake up to nurse in chair. When Ds started to get better control of his head and could turn away easier I was more comfortable. I found it helped if I didn't lay right up next to DS. My boobs are large enough that I can get pretty far away and he can still nurse. I also kind of lay partly on my back. I think the main thing is not to cosleep on nights that you are extremely tired and may not respond if he is struggling to breath. It sounds like just pure exhaustion is what caused yur trouble before. good luck with the next one, it certainly makes life easier when they finally get the hang of it.


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## Bellaluna (Feb 14, 2004)

I think with an experience like that, I would have similar concerns. You will probably never be as exhausted while co-sleeping as you were immediately after giving birth. That is an exhaustion like non other! Anyway, I'm somewhat of a newbie myself, but wanted to share my breastfeeding and co-sleeping experience with you. For the first 2 and 1/2 mo of dd's life she slept in our bed, swaddled, and in a foam wedge, and I would sit up in bed with her to nurse. After 2 and 1/2 mo., I was finally able to side lye and nurse her comfortably. Now, my sister could nurse her newborn lying down very early on, but I just couldn't get the hang of it, and it seemed like my boob was disproportionately larger that her head at that point, and covered her nostrels. Like you, I was concerned about her being able to breathe. Once she had more head control and was a little bigger and stronger, it became very easy and comfortable.
You might try posting your question in the Family Bed forum too, and get some good advice there.


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## thismama (Mar 3, 2004)

Oh wow, that's scary!

I had a very long labour and was so tired afterward that I didn't even hear my baby crying during the night. I was in this dead dreamless sleep. The nurse heard her from the nursing station, came in and got her and took her for a walk... and I never woke up until she brought her back! I was paranoid about sleeping with babe after that, but found that I never slept so heavily again and was always aware of her.

When she was newborn I used to sleep on my side with dd on a firm pillow next to me, and would nurse with my top breast. In that arrangement it was never really possible for my breast to squish her so that she would be unable to move away from it, kwim? As she grew bigger we got rid of the pillow.


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## bendmom (Sep 4, 2003)

FWIW-
Babies are born with flat noses so that they can get air through the sides when eating.


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## auntieM (Apr 14, 2004)

Hope this helps--it seems to me that you woke up right when you needed to. Even in your exhausted, drousy state, you woke when you needed to. Trust your instincts & do what you need to do to feel comfortable/safe.

When dd was brand new, we kept her in the center of our bed in one of those anti-roll wedgie things. It made us feel a little more secure.


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## MonTana Mama (Jan 13, 2005)

When ds was brand new we kept him swaddled and propped up on the pillow bt us. He was just so tiny then. Now he is so big that I am not concerned about rolling over him. Don't forget that babe is supposed to sleep next to mama, bc she is more sensitive to his presence than dad. You can do it!


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## momsmyjob (Oct 7, 2003)

You could have been more tired than normal. I've co-slept with all of my babies right next to me and slept and let them nurse during the night. So far after 8 babies I've never had a problem.

I'm sure you'll be fine


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## darwinphish (Feb 13, 2005)

I don't have much to add - all the above advice is good - but I just wanted to send you a







for what must have been a terrifying experience. So glad you and DS are OK!


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## our veggie baby (Jan 31, 2005)

"The nurse flipped him on to his back and slammed her hand on his back"

That stuck out to me...ew...what a way to aid a newborn in breathing, gross...

I hear that you are worried, and given your experience, I can see why. However, I wouldn't stress....take the precautions mentioned above, try to get the rest you need when not breastfeeding and you should be fine...

I NEVER have heard or read of a story that said: baby smothered while breastfeeding mother fell asleep
not saying it has never happened, but you know how they love putting down breastfeeding and co-sleeping etc in the media and I am sure EVERY story would be all over the place...so my point is, it is SO rare...

Take care and good luck, congratulations on making the decision to try to BF longer than before!!


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## Alvenchrst (Feb 3, 2003)

Thanks for the great responses everyone. Just to clarify, I'm not at all worried about smoothering my baby while co-sleeping, just breastfeeding while laying down if that makes sense. We plan to use an arms reach co-sleeper and use a combo of that and acutally in the bed depending on how exhausted I am, what the baby needs/likes, and jsut kind of go with the flow. I think it was more the part about my breast covering the baby's nose if I fall asleep. That is such a smaller, less easily pick-up upon movement then actaully rolling over your baby in bed. KWIM?

I think if maybe I just made sure that my latch was good enough that it wouldn't be a problem if I knew i couldn't stay awake. I've heard else where too that lots of mama's have trouble breastfeeding while laying down in the early months before head control. I really do want to give it my best shot to learn, because it seams like such a benifical nursing position to learn and untilize in the early months, and beyond.

I think you all have a great point that I was just so exhausted after labor that it made that more of an issue. If I think about it that was the most tired I ever was and the smallest and most vonerable he ever was, and even I still woke up on time. I most have sensed him not suckling anymore.

The part about the nurse slamming her hand on his back. It seamed really stange to me at the time too, but honestly that was what was medically need to get my son breathing again at the time. She knew what she was doing and I'm glad she had the experince and courage needed to save his life. It probably seamed much more like a slamming to me in my very protective, overly gentle mama delirious memory,







I also was unnecessarily induced and the hospital wasn't the most restful place to be, so next time we're going for the stay at home in labor as long as we can, then natural water birth route. I belive the more naturally you begin your child's journey out into the world, the less risky other things become, like not being aware of our first breastfeeding sesion. Not that some mamas we do natural birth aren't soemtimes as exhasusted as I was, but i think it would have made a big differnce in how I experinced labor.

Thanks for all the great, varied postions to try while nursing and co-sleeping. i'm sure we will find something that will work for us.

Now if only I could get pregnant already . . . . .


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## Jadzia (Jun 7, 2004)

I had the same concerns nursing my son (now 7 months). I have always been a dead to the world, heavy sleeper. Plus I had a traumatic birth experience (unplanned c-section, hospitalized for complications afterwards) so needless to say the first few months I was exhausted.

Thank goodness for breastfeeding, as that was literally the only sleep I got at first!







What worked for me was laying either on the couch or bed, propped slightly up on some pillows, with the baby laying across me on the Boppy pillow. Once I got him latched on, I would lean my head back on the pillows and get some sleep that way. The baby would also fall asleep, all nestled on the Boppy which kept him up high across my chest and propped up. Having him lay across me like that also prevented me from flipping over while sleeping. We both took so many great naps like that. (In fact, my baby still naps like that after nursing, although now I am more rested at night so I don't need the naptime. But more laptop computer/tv time for mama!)


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## calicokatt (Mar 14, 2005)

I just wanted to say, too, that for the first month or so I would use a finger to press down on the breast just above the nipple to keep it away from ds's nose. I would fall asleep and wake back up a half hour or so later with him still latched on and finger still in place keeping the airway clear. (Did get a sore arm from this, though) But now that he's three months, I just latch him on then tilt his head a little bit so he's looking slightly upward toward my face. It keeps his nose completely clear and if he's well latched, he won't scoot into me.

Kathy


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