Baby choking on saliva over night

[NotMyDayJob]

At least two times a night my nearly five month old wakes up choking which obviously gives me the fright of my life every time it happens. I'm as certain as I can be that it's excess saliva as she is pretty slobbery and has been since about two months. The health visitor didn't seem bothered, but is there anything I can do? She is waking 4/5 times a night and I think without this we'd be dow to 1/2 night wakings and I desperately need more than two hours sleep in one go.

I am breastfeeding but I don't want to co-sleep (I just don't sleep so it doesn't help me). I'm getting to the point where I'm considering putting her to sleep on her front but she's not rolling yet and I know that's a complete SIDs no go.

Just want to reassure you that I think it's really rare for babies to die by choking on just fluid (certain solids like grapes, olives and coins are a different story). Their gagging and coughing reflex is good. They're not well practised at swallowing yet so they gag loudly sometimes.

Has your baby got a cold?

Sleeping on their front is slightly (but only slightly) riskier in terms of sids than on the back. As long as you have: a hard baby mattress, a fitted bedsheet, no soft toys or blankets, then the sids risk is small. If you want to put your baby on her front until this cold goes away, or teething episode ends, that wouldn't be a huge risk. Our parents' generation were told to put us on our front routinely and we didn't die en masse!

Could you try giving a dummy (if you don't already) just wondering if the sucking reflex might help baby to swallow or stop liquid from pooling in the mouth?

Thank you for your reply. Rationally, I'm not worried she's going to choke to death or anything, it just gives me a scare in the middle of the night. It's possible she has a cold (she's not snotty at all but could be congested). I will think on putting her on her front. We've actually just put her in a cot bed as she's quite big and we wanted to make sure she wasn't being disturbed by being in too small a crib, so all the boxes are ticked for mattress etc (no cot bumpers or anything). I'm just nervous because she was in NICU for five days when she was born due to breathing issues (she wasn't premature) which did completely resolve. She has no breathing issues (I'm not worried about sleep apnea) it's just this frequent choking cough

She won't take a dummy (we tried) but she does suck her thumb and I've been encouraging her to do that more to help her self settle, I'll look to see if that makes a difference at all

Is it perhaps sleep apnoea? Quite common in babies, most grow out of it but those that don't often end up having adenoids/tonsils out at some point.

Possibly, but I thought that had other signs, like stopping breathing etc. This is literally just the choking sounding cough

My baby has been the same when teething or ill. I've propped her bed up to try and help, also I've tried baby vicks which seemed to help (but it depends what's causing the saliva).

Is it reflux?

If she’s got a cold or is vomiting she is far safer on her back than her front

In response to @M08my, millions of babies died across the USA and Europe during our parents generation, following the advice to put babies to sleep on their front. That figure is in fact just from the point of the first study revealing the significant increase in risk to when babies sleeping on their backs was actually promoted by health care professionals (10 years😫).

There has also been a 68% reduction in infant mortality since 1984. Just because we didn't die 'en masse' doesn't mean that lives weren't lost through practices we know more about now. Any baby loss is too much. Think about the advice you give, particularly when it isn't your child and the consequences of your words will have no impact on you at all x

Sounds like silent reflux OP

Please don’t put her on her front OP. Babies may not have died ‘en masse’ but enough babies died that they investigated the cause and concluded front sleeping was a significant portion of the risk. The data actually shows that even once the can roll themselves and sleep on their front it is still safer to still place them on their back at the beginning of the night as it still reduces the risk compared to putting them down on their front. Statistically the chances on SIDS is small but front sleeping is the biggest risk factor.

I agree with pps that it sounds like silent reflux. DD1 had it until she was about 7 months. She would make a sort of gulping sound in the night, and usually cry out after. Excess saliva is also common with silent reflux. We tilted DDs cot on one end slightly (a book under the legs) and then she had gaviscon sachets from the GP until she was further into weaning and eating more solid foods.

Both of my babies slept on their front before they could roll over.

DD had such bad wind and reflux, she was actually in pain laying on her back. Put her on her front at 8 weeks and she never suffered from the pain again. She slept so much better too. She’s currently 14 months and never had any issues. She now sleeps on her front, side, back, wherever.

DS is 3 months old and he’s started sleeping on his front within the last few days to settle him a bit more. Hey gone from sleeping 6hrs to 8hrs which is good for him as he doesn’t sleep much in the day. Both my kids had amazing head control and I’d literally watch them turn their heads in the night themselves.

I’d say try her on her front and see how she get’s on but of course inform yourselves of the risks just so you’re aware. It sounds like she has a bit of reflux so I’m sure laying on her front will be less painful

I'm not going to put her on her front, I'm just kind of slightly desperate if that makes sense.

We're on holiday next week for two weeks so I expect her sleep to go to pot anyway, but if we're still having problems when we get back I'll go to the GP to explore the reflux possibility