Blanket over baby’s face!

[Ns19]

My son is 3 weeks old. I have been swaddling him with receiving blankets from the hospital. The other night I woke up to see the swaddle had come undone and was resting over his face. I quickly grabbed him and seen he was red. I didn’t check for breathing at that exact moment because I was so anxious to wake him up. It took a little bit but he woke up, drank his bottle, and has been fine ever since. I feel like a terrible mom and I can’t help but think he wasn’t breathing or has suffered some kind of brain damage? His doctor said if he did I would have known and I would of been in the hospital or performing cpr. My family thinks I’m crazy. Please help me move on from this. Am I crazy to think he has brain damage now that this has happened?

If you've had the doctor check him, then you've done exactly the right thing. If the doctor is not concerned then there is almost certainly nothing to worry about whatsoever.

What would reassure you, do you think?

Sometimes feelings of guilt can be overwhelming, but they do fade with time.

The guilt is killing me. I’m obsessing over it. I don’t know if I’m reacting normally or if I really shouldn’t worry like everyone is telling me to. I’m a first time mom. I don’t know if a experienced mom would be this worried or think there child has brain damage over something like this. This is exhausting and I just need to know if I’m overreacting or not...

He was pink right? Not blue. If he had stopped breathing he would have needed CPR. Babies don't just start breathing again after they have stopped. You sound like you have had a terrible fright. But your baby is fine. He fed right after and is fine now. Please be kind to yourself. Xxxxxxx

Yes I did. I’m petrified of what happened. Do you know if rebreathing CO2 can cause brain damage like this?

Your baby is fine. He does not have brain damage. Babies get blankets over their faces for a while all the time.

It's natural to worry as a FTM but if you find yourself really unable to let this go you need to seek help.

Have you ever looked up CBT techniques for anxiety? You might find some of them helpful.

Some features of clinical anxiety include catastrophising, not accepting evidence unless it's negative, and black and white thinking (everything is great or terrible).

One really helpful technique I find is thinking in terms of evidence. So what's the evidence on each side, and which evidence is actually better?

Evidence you have not harmed your child:

• He wasn't blue
• He woke up
• He fed afterwards
• The doctor says there is nothing wrong
• He is behaving normally wrong
• Other people, including parents, say it's fine

Evidence that you have:

• The guilt you feel

There is literally no other evidence on that side! I think you need to try to remember that, in this case, the evidence is very strong that everything is fine.

You might want to contact the perinatal mental health team if you continue to struggle.

You breathe out more unused O2 the CO2 so that's not an issue. Have you spoke your midwife/ health visitor?. Your seem really anxious. I can assure you that baby is fine. This happens to babies all the time. Xxxx

Topofthehills - excellently worded. Xx

Was it just resting on his face? If it wasn't clamped down tightly then he would still have been able to breathe but may have got a little warmer which was why his face would be redder than usual. He will not have brain damage and you are overthinking things due to irrational guilt.

Your right. Thank you for taking the time to tell me this. I have all of those symptoms. I know I’m anxious. He has been fussy but he has reflux and gas so I guess that’s normal. Some days he cry’s all day, doesn’t want to take his bottle but I just have to believe that’s his reflux and gas or else I’ll really lose my mind.

New baby and sleep will settle down once he gets bigger and you get more sleep. He wasn't blue and he is fine. Fear newborns are going to die on you is totally normal and you will start to feel more rational in the coming months . Big hugs

Meant to say' newborn and sleep deprivation creates terrible anxiety , this will settle once he gets bigger'

It was resting over his face. He was sleeping with his head to the side and it was resting over it covering it. But his entire face was under it. Google doesn’t help.

Thanks I sure do hope so.

Things happen OP and you learn from them, he is fine but please use it as a lesson not to swaddle him.

The guidelines are to place him on his back in his cot or Moses basket, with his feet at the bottom of the cot/moses basket. Then cover him with blankets tucked in underneath his arms, this is so that is he moves around the covers don’t cover his head. You can also buy baby sleeping bags which are good as they are zipped into them, your DS might prefer to a sleeping bag as he’s been swaddled.

www.lullabytrust.org.uk/safer-sleep-advice/sleeping-position/

Newborns tend to be swaddled in hospital and placed in a hat as it’s a way of keeping the baby warm in hospital, once at home the safer sleeping advice should be followed to reduce the risk of SIDS.
www.lullabytrust.org.uk/safer-sleep-advice/what-is-sids/

I was also irrationally anxious about swaddle blankets. After a few weeks, we bought some sleep sacks and ditched the blankets, and I felt muuuuch better. That might help you too! If you’re feeling more generalized anxiety and find that you’re catastrophizing about more than this issue, though, I agree with PPs that you should keep an eye on that and maybe look into CBT. New mum nerves are real, and often settle after a few weeks when you’re more in the swing of things and getting a bit of sleep, but if you’re not noticing improvements week by week then you should definitely speak to your GP. This is such a big life transition! Huge congratulations, and I hope you get to relax a bit soon. :-)

I haven’t swaddled him since and he’s been in a sleep sack.

If it helps, I briefly lost DS in the laundry basket at the same age and he's fine and has just turned three. So I'm absolutely a worse mother, and they're pretty tough creatures, really. I'm sure your baby will be fine

Info on reflux

www.nct.org.uk/baby-toddler/feeding/common-concerns/what-baby-reflux-symptoms-and-support

Thank you.

I haven’t swaddled him since and he’s been in a sleep sack.

I had anxiety and found them really good, hope they’ve made you feel less anxious about putting him to sleep.

That made me laugh glad your LO is ok

Yes they have helped I love them thank you

Yes they have helped I love them thank you That’s good to hear 😊

Also have you thought about getting a baby monitor that sits underneath the mattress? That might relieve some of your anxieties too.

Sleeping bags are brilliant. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep with dd under blankets.

Your baby will be fine btw, he was red because he was hot!