Mom’s Question:
My baby has episodes of gasping for air when laid down. We have tried to find the reasons for this as it has happened a few times and we can not find out what it is.
On rare occasions when she is laid down for a diaper change, she will gasp as though she can’t breathe well. When picked up she recovers, episode lasting around 20 seconds.
She had the first episode at 10 pm when she was about three months old and we took her to the emergency room. They tested her oxygen level and said it was near perfect. The second time it happened was at 6 pm at about 5 and a half months old, but she was only making the noise and was able to breathe through the whole episode.
And this last time she had an episode at 10 pm that lasted over a minute and really had more trouble breathing, turned red in the face and was in pain.
We are worried and can’t find a doctor who will provide much help, especially since she seems fine after they occur, and the doctors can only go by our description. My baby is 6 and a half month old and otherwise very healthy and active.
Does anyone recognize this and know what it is if a baby gasps when laid down? Or what to do about it?
Baby Helpline:
Baby Gasps When Laid Down – Possible Reasons
Baby Gasping for Air – Acid Reflux
How frustrating to not being able to find out what is wrong. One possibility comes to my mind: Have you considered if her gasping when laid down may be due to some mild form of acid reflux (or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), as it is really called)?
As you may know, acid reflux in various degrees is common among infants and some of the symptoms are a lot of spitting up, poor sleep, poor weight gain, episodes with trouble breathing, arching back when feeding, frequent hiccups and more.
Babies that have acid reflux have a condition that allows food and stomach acid to flow back up (reflux) into the esophagus. When the food is flowing up into the mouth, the baby can have trouble breathing, may choke, it may be painful etc.
Since the gasping and trouble breathing comes when you lay your daughter down, and then it goes away when you pick her up, it does sound to me as if it could have to do with stomach content disturbing her.
Do you see any connection between feeding her and the problems occurring? If this makes any sense, contact a pediatrician to discuss acid reflux as a possible cause.
Filming the behavior to demonstrate it to your pediatrician may be helpful, but even if you do not film it, there are tests and studies available to confirm the acid reflux disease even when your daughter is not showing any symptoms.
Trying to feed her more frequently and in smaller amounts, as well as elevating the head end of her crib to create some incline might be helpful in preventing the reflux from happening, but if it is, in fact, reflux, and these simple strategies do not help, there is a medication a doctor can prescribe to help her.
It might be good for you to know that most babies outgrow the condition at around 12 months old.
Tracheomalacia
Another condition that can make a baby gasp is Tracheomalacia. This involves a collapse of airways while the baby is breathing. In addition to gasping, noisy breathing and coughing can be symptoms. Some children grow out of Tracheomalacia, while in other cases, surgery is needed.
Laryngomalacia
Laryngomalacia is a softening of the tissues of the larynx (voice box) above the vocal cords. This can occur in babies, and one of the most common symptoms is noisy breathing. Most babies grow out of this without intervention.
However, difficulties breathing can also be a symptom, and gasping for air can certainly be such a difficulty.
The breathing often gets noisier when the baby is laid down on their back or when crying.
Bronchemalacia
Finally, Bronchomalacia is yet another possibility. In this case, the baby has weak cartilage in the walls of the bronchial tubes. This most often happens in babies under six months of age. Symptoms again are noisy breathing and/or wheezing. Gasping may not in itself be a symptom, but apnea is.
I hope this helps. Make sure you discuss these conditions with your baby’s doctor, to rule them out or diagnose them and get appropriate help!
Please let me know about your daughter’s progress.
Paula
(Answer approved by our Medical Reference Team)
More Forum Discussion With Babies Gasping For Air
Find comments below.
Answered some of my questions, now i know am not alone in this problem
I commented here when my son was younger. He is now almost two. The doctor swears it is reflux and he is on reflux medicine. Is it helping…don’t know. The gasping only happens when he is in pain while I am changing his diaper and he has a diaper rash. The doctor says stomach fluid will come up his pipes and hit the opening to his lungs making him gasp.
I think there is more to it, but I have had him check out by an ENT, a gastrologist specialist. He does get the hiccups ALL the time..pretty intense hiccups every time he laughs. Other than that he is healthy and a very happy little boy. I am don’t think I will figure it out until he is old enough to tell me what is going on. So it is just a day at a time.
My 6 mo daughter does this a lot, I think she is just exasperated. It sounds like a cross between a wheeze and a gasp. she does it when she is frustrated.
I had posted earlier about my son and have seen a couple of doctors since. I noticed my son has these episodes whenever he has a diaper rash (My son never really spits up at all, not the only sign of reflux I learned). A diaper rash appears when introduced to new foods, so maybe the new food is also causing acid reflux.
He is now 15 months old. Things have progressed since he is now on table food, he is uncomfortable at night and is in pain. A burp helps and he falls right to sleep, but a burp will not always come out.
What I found out – I was referred to an Ears-Nose-Throat doctor. When I described the symptoms, she said it was acid reflux for sure. She told me that even adults will wake up in the middle of the night having one of these episodes. The acid reflux is very painful, and if it comes in contact with the vocal cords they will close up causing a baby to gasp for air (just like in some adults).
She said he should outgrow it in a year or so. She prescribed a child’s “Prilosec” (not sure on spelling). I give it once a day. He has only been on it for a week, and they say it could take up to 6 weeks to be effective. She also told me that dairy is the number one culprit of acid reflux. So we changed his milk to soy, but I have not seen any difference as far as sleeping through the night.
My pediatrician said there is no proof if milk causes it or not. He said it is just trial and error of what works, stay away from acidic food.
I will post again to keep you all updated on if the medicine works. She said he would only be on it for a year. Honestly I am uncomfortable with giving medicine to him every day, but he is so uncomfortable and the episodes are very scary.
Please someone HELP!!!!
My son who is 5 months old gasp for air for several times for ex: he gasp when being upset, or just watching television in his glider.
I have taken him to the doctor, she listened to his chest and found it to be clear she requested i take him to the hospital for Xrays to which they found nothing wrong.
I have noticed he does not gasp while sleeping on his belly, I know they say they it is bad for a baby to sleep on their belly, but I find that he sleeps through the night most comfortable that way… While I lay awake watching him… I will never leave him unattended. Please Someone HELP me understand why this is happening!!!!!!
I can’t say why this is happening. My daughter does the same thing occasionally with the breathing, she is 6 weeks, and I also put her on her belly to sleep, she sleeps longer and deeper and has no problems breathing, but I bought one of those angel monitors and it works awesome! Hope that helps!
This breathing thing has happened with my daughter too.
My husband and I first noticed it when she was about 3 months old she made a gasping noise and then it was over, she then started gasping every now and again with dirty diapers, I don’t know if that is just a coincidence or not, but only one time has it happened with a wet diaper.
One time she did it several times in a row and got a look of panic on her face and was wiggling around like she couldn’t breath, she never turned blue and started breathing normal when I picked her up, but then proceeded to cry really hard.
The next day I brought her to our MD and he said infants have immature vocal cords and they can collaps when the baby sucks in, he said it is congenital and that she should outgrow it by the time she is 6-18 months.
He called it stridor, so I looked it up on the internet and I found what he had already told me and they just need to outgrow it, but I also found some articles that said it could be caused from reflux. My daughter rarely spits up, but I did find an article that stated infants with GERD do not necessarily spit up. I talked to our MD regarding the reflux theory, but he still felt it to be congenital…whatever it is it scares us so if anyone finds a way to make it stop will you please let me know??
I can’t imagine dealing with this for another 2 months to a year!
My 10 week old just started this gasping thing when I go to change her. As soon as I lie her down and lift her legs to change the diaper she makes this little gasp sound, like someone gasping for air when drawing in their breath.
She got so scared herself she started crying really hard and didn’t want to be put down. It is really frightening as her tummy sucks in and gets tense. She didn’t turn blue or anything, just the noise.
I am going to the doctor tomorrow for her 2 month check up & shots and I’ll hopefully find out what is going on.
I will not be getting much sleep tonight!
It is amazing reading your story. It is exactly what is happening to my son, it only happens during diaper changes and the episodes last about 20 seconds. He does seem to be in pain.
The first episode was at 3months, then at 6 months, then once a month, and now every other week to once a week. He is one year old.
My doctor suggested it could be acid reflux, but my son barely ever spits up. He has referred me to see an ENT doctor to see if there is a blockage in his throat, if that does not find anything then a GI doctor.
Have you learned any more about your daughters condition? The episodes are scary and I don’t want to worry anymore.
This has happened to my son too. It is terrifying. He gasps/squeals and seems like he can’t catch his breath. It’s only happened three times in his life(thank god) but all during changing a diaper. I think it is due to diaper rash as he has had a rash each time he’s had an “episode.” My theory (and it’s just a theory!) is that he gasps due to the pain of the rash and he either a) sucks some saliva into his windpipe and starts to panic or b) gasps quickly in pain causing some sort of reflux reaction causing more pain and gasping. You can see how scared he is when it happens…he hasn’t been diagnosed with GERD but the doc did feel he had a little reflux when younger. He has frequent hiccups and still spits up at 9 months. I don’t know if this helps anyone but you are not alone if this happens to you and I completely feel your fear and anxiety related to this.
If I get any more answers I’ll add to this discussion.
I have been reading this column since it started. They are all the same…so this is reassurring…I think.
Your connection to the diaper rash is exactly it with my son. At least that is what the specialist said. the diaper rash hurts causing some acid reflux…which hits the opening to the lungs (not sure of name)….that clinches shut to prevent fluid from entering and hence the gasping. still scary. My son is almost two.. and I just cannot wait until he can just tell me what is wrong.
I get worried about the constant hiccups. If my son is giggling or laughing a lot he gets them. I always stop making him laugh then….which I don’t want to stop making him laugh.
this happens to my daughter. she’s 3 months old .. for 5 days now many times a day. it happens only when she’s lying down on her back gasping its like when u blow in babies face. It’s a really scary thing. I went to the ER I show the doctor the video I record she said she’s fine I explained to her everything but she didn’t give me the answer I need I just want to know what is that???? and what to do ?? she didn’t know what happened to my daughter..thank you sooo much I finally find the comfort I was really sad I had all the crazy thoughts.. I will go to her doctor next week i hope she can help.. again thanks a lot
my daughter is 2 years old in a few days and she has been having this whole gasping thing since she was only 1 week old. it sounds like she cant breath for about 10-15 seconds and there is absolute terror in her eyes as it is happening. it scares the hell outta me every time it happens. we have been to the doctors a million and one times it seems and they always tell us the same thing.. that its normal for most babies to have this happen to them.
I guess most babies/toddlers have this problem. it is really common. since it doesn’t last too long it doesn’t worry me all that much any more cause i know it’ll just go away. although i am worried that next time could be worse. i hope not but its always in the back of my mind. her doctors appointment is coming up in about a week so i am going to talk to the doctor about getting some GERD testing done to make sure that’s what it is.. anyways, thank all of you for all your comments. it really does help to know there is other people out there with the same problems as us! thanks again…
My 9 week old daughter just started this, she is in hospital with her mother now while i do some research on it. She woke up gasping for breath, or like something was squeezing her wind pipe. and it lasted about 10 mins. we phoned 999 to be on the safe side.. I hope it’s nothing too serious.
I have a 2-month-old and she has done the gasping noise since she was 2 weeks old…it scares the heck out of my husband and I. I do notice she does it when she is laying down and not when she is upright or on her tummy. It just seems like she can’t breathe. Sometimes she will do it a couple of times in a row. After examining her My doctor also said this was reflux although she rarely spits up. She does get hiccups a lot. I am breastfeeding her, I don’t know if that makes any difference. As a mom, I can’t help but worry regardless of what my doc says. Hearing that other people are going through this also makes me feel like this may be more normal than not…its just so strange that this never happened to my son.
My daughter’s baby who is one month old is exhibiting this behavior a lot.
This has been happening since he was born, the doctor said he is healthy but it appears that the episodes are becoming more frequent.
I can see the panic on the baby’s face when this is happening.
My daughter has slept with the baby on her tummy since he was born, she is frightened to put him in a crib.
The idea of him sleeping on his tummy may be a possible solution.
I just checked the web for this topic and unfortunately, we ( Moma and I ) thought this sound was our little 9-week-old angel starting to laugh. So I believe we encouraged it a little, but we will keep an eye on her & consult the Dr in 2 days during our scheduled appointment.. Very helpful and thank you for posting your experience.
My son was diagnosed with laryngomalacia at 3 weeks old. A proper diagnosis can only be done by a pediatric ENT (ear, nose, throat) specialist. It’s a fairly quick procedure usually done in-office where they pass a small flexible tube with a camera on the end down the back of the baby’s throat to look at the larynx (vocal cords).
Laryngomalacia is a floppy larynx that collapses when the baby inhales and can cause many of the symptoms you are all describing. The severity varies, but most babies will grow out of it as their larynx tissue strengthens with age. In rare cases, a baby may need surgery. My son had trouble eating (coordinating his swallowing & breathing while drinking) and had feeding therapy that really helped.
Other airway defect names are listed below. Often these conditions are associated with acid reflux as well.
LARNYNGOMALACIA
BRONCHEOMALACIA
TRACHEOMALACIA
Go here to this fabulous support group for more info.
https://www.copingwithlm.org/
This defect is often not caught or is overlooked by pediatricians. An ENT must diagnose it, however. Good luck to you all, I hope you find some answers!