Question about breathing...

This is probably me being overly paranoid and might even be a really dumb question but... when a baby stops breathing, can you just sort of nudge them back into breathing?

Basically, what happened was... I was carrying DD in the close carrier, like I do most days and she was having a sleep. I was going about my daily business, checking things on the computer, cooking, cleaning... whatever and suddenly, I felt like I couldn't feel her breathing against my chest so I put a hand on her back and still couldn't feel anything. I started to panic a little then and tried to nudge her to see if she would react but she remained still so furiously tried to get her out and when I had my arms under hers and was lifting her out she woke up. After she seemed fine. Smiling, cooing, moving her limbs etc. She is yawning but I did just wake her up from a nap that she was probably only halfway through.

Now, is it possible to snap a baby back into breathing like that? It is highly possible that in my hurry to try and feel her breathe, I couldn't because I was stressing... but she was so still when I tried to wake her that it has me worried. If she did stop breathing, it can't have been long... I don't know...

She may have been in a very deep sleep. You notice it often with babies & kids when they're in a deep sleep, they look as though they've stopped breathing. You have to listen/watch very closely to see that they actually are still breathing.

Thank you for that. I think and hope that is what happened. I was almost shaky trying to feel her breathe which is probably why I struggled to. It was as though I could almost make out her breathing but it was hard enough to determine to make me worried so her being in a deep sleep makes sense!

If it happens again, just try and stay calm, and lightly put your hand on her chest to see if you can feel her breathing. I know it's easier said than done to stay calm, but important to do so. I speak from expierence as Nina sleeps really deeply (if that makes sense) so I've had to do this often with her.

I bet she gets it from her father... I could be nudging him, holding a screaming baby in my arms and he still manages to not wake up! He can sleep through anything haha.

When DS was tiny I actually took him to the Drs because it sounded like he was always stopping breathing. The doctor told me about 'periodic breathing'. Perfectly normal in bubs. This is one of the things I've found

Periodic Breathing
Periodic breathing refers to the pattern that newborns exhibit when they breathe during sleep. While it is harmless and natural, first time parents sometimes find it quite worrisome.

What one observes about the very young is that in sleep, a newborn tends to maintain rapid and shallow breathing for a period of maybe 15-20 seconds, and then he pauses. The pause lasts just a few seconds - it seems like forever if the parents are watching - and then the breathing starts again.

Key to the diagnosis of this type of breathing is that the child shows no change of color - no blueness around the lips - and resumes normal shallow breathing without any parental intervention.

This phenomenon is simply a reflection of the baby's immature breathing control center in the brain. It is over-responsive to CO2 concentrations in the bloodstream. The shallow rapid breathing "blows off" or flushes the CO2 from the bloodstream, and the brain's automatic respiratory drive shuts down temporarily until the CO2 level rises again. Then the cycle repeats.

This phenomenon reminds us of the immature nature of newborn breathing regulation and serves as a good reminder why back sleeping is so strongly recommended for infants.

Periodic breathing is not to be confused with true apnea. If you are concerned about either topic, you should of course discuss it with your doctor.

HTH
Spring