Newborn vomiting amniotic fluid...

When DS was born, he vomited amniotic fluid every half and hour for the first 24 hours in hospital. This scared the pants off us, as every time he vomited, we would have to roll him on his side and pat his back, so that he wouldnt choke on it.
Even the peadiatrician was starting to get worried at that point, but no one explained anything to us.
Did anyone else have this experience with their newborns? How long did the vomiting persist for? Can anyone shed some light here for me
Thanks everyone.:)

Milo vomited up a lot of mucous for the first 24 hours or so, so I guess thats what it was.
The first time there was a fair bit there, so I called the midwife in, and she freaked me out by running out to get someone else to have a look. She looked at me with that "Its your first baby isn't it?" look, and said "yes dear, its just amniotic fluid" or something like that.

i recall this happened also with my first baby. she did vomit quite a bit for a few hours after her birth and it from memory looked like dark blood FREAKED ME RIGHT OUT, it was bad enough that the midwives changed her bedding during the night a few times, they didn't seemed concerned at all. the next morning however they did take her into the nursery for suctioning and after that there were no more episodes.

i don't recall this happening with my ds, but with my 3rd child she passed meconium whilst in labour and once her head was born the ob was suctioning her before i pushed the rest of her out.

very scary to witness for the first time i think

Mooshie, It is very scary to see. It makes you feel that there is something wrong with your baby. Esp being a first. We had to use (clean) flat nappies to cover DS bassinet in the hospital and even when we got home, as it had to be changed every 20min. His vomiting amniotic fluid, later went to reflux instead.
So you can imagine the laundry i had to do! I really hope this doesnt happen to the next bub when the time comes.
I know that when DS was born, they didnt suction it out of his lungs. I guess if they had of, he wouldnt have been as bad, and probably wouldnt have ended up with reflux.(IMO)

Ally was your baby born by c section or natural delivery. The only reason I ask this is because if born naturally they are massaged (for want of a better word) on teh way out by contractions and the like. This helps to get out any fluidin their chests. If born via c section this doesn't happen.

My DS did this for about 3 days after birth, but he was mainly vomiting up blood (and once.. gross... a pubic hair!???!!) anyway, he had a terrible tummy ache for the first few days from it, didn't feed at all, but once he got it out of his system, he was fine, and began to feed well (they did give him formula twice in hospital as they were a bit worried about him, but he wouldn't have that either)..

Try holding him tummy down across your lap and pat him gently on his back to try and get it all up and out of him.. and put down lots of cloth nappies or you will be changing sheets constantly!

We always say DS will never be a swimmer unless he can learn to keep his mouth shut!

Good luck.

Both of my boys had heaps of fluid in their tummies. I remember Angus having a rather nasty gagging episode when he was about 12 hours old. Sorry I can't remember how long it lasted for but I'm sure it wasn't longer that 2 days.
HTH!

Matilda had an awful time & they wouldn't put her down on her back in hospital because she would gag & choke & fluid just dripped out her mouth constantly. Eventually after the second day it slowed down & cleared up.

Yep I was wondering the same thing as Trish....

Zander had to bring up a lot of fluid & mucus in the first few days & it was quite scary sometimes. The reason was that with a vaginal birth the bub gets squeezed so everything in their lungs gets brought up during the birth process, however because Zander was a c/s all of the gunk was still in there so he had to vomit it all out. Not nice at all.

DD was born naturally, but in one big push. She crowned, and then the next contraction she was all out! Because of this, she coughed up gunk for the next 2-3 days and the midwives told me that it was because she hadn't had the stages of contractions that most babies have to push it out at birth. After that she was fine.

Yes, Jacob was also a bit mucousy.

Thanks Girls, You have relieved my anxieties. It is hard knowing what is normal and what isnt with your first.:)