Coughing during breastfeeding

[Wildflower2021]

Hi all,

First time mummy here, looking for a bit of advice.

Im breastfeeding my 9 day old daughter and I've noticed that on some feeds, usually towards the end that she coughs on the breastmilk - like it's gone down the wrong way(?) It's usually just one cough and hasn't gone on for more than a second but just wondered if this is normal?
I think I've frightened myself as in afraid she may choke and I've started feeling rather negative about breastfeeding. Not sure if im worrying myself unnecessarily though?

Any thoughts/ advice is appreciated xx

Hi,

Sounds normal to me. Used to happen to my baby a lot in the early days of breastfeeding and still does occasionally (now 6m). I think the health visitor said babies have a very strong gag reflex and would be very unlikely to choke on milk x

Normal. Don't worry.

Yes, don't worry. If it's towards the end of a feed, it's probably that she's starting to fall asleep and so loses concentration and doesn't keep up with the suck/swallow pattern. As a first time mum, it's normal to worry about everything. But even if the milk properly does go down the wrong way, your baby will be OK. The amount of times my babies have coughed and spluttered, going red, eyes watering etc, but they always sort themselves out. Just pat their back gently until they recover (the patting is more for your benefit then theirs, to give you something to do while they sort themselves out !)

As for making you feel negative about breastfeeding, they tend to cough and splutter more with bottles, as it's a much faster flow.