Infant Breathing - How to Stop Worrying

Your new baby doesn’t do much but sleep, eat, and require diaper changes, and that is exhausting enough. Since your baby cannot tell you whether he is okay, you rely on observation to determine if all is well. Because you are concerned and want the best for your baby, it is perfectly normal to check his breathing, but

if you are depriving yourself of sleep in order to watch your baby sleep, you’ll eventually run out of energy. Try to strike a healthy balance between watching your baby and getting some sleep yourself.

If you find that having your baby close to you will help keep you from worrying about his breathing, then move his bassinette into your room or consider a co-sleeper that will let you keep your baby in arm’s reach but safely in his own space.

Experts are divided over whether co-sleeping is safe, but some believe that sleeping next to his mother “reminds” baby to breathe and lets his breathing get in sync with hers. If you choose to co-sleep, be sure you do it safely.

Regardless of where he sleeps, make sure your infant cannot get entangled in bed covers, pillows, or anything else, that his sleeping surface is firm, and that he sleeps on his back only.

Educate yourself about infant breathing so that you’ll know that the usual snuffles and gurgles of infanthood likely mean just a stuffy nose (common in the first few weeks of life) or saliva or milk in the nose. Remember that, like adults, babies have sleep cycles, so sometimes your baby will be sleeping deeply, sometimes he will be more active and noisy.

Take an infant CPR class before your baby is born, and encourage your partner and family members to do so, too. If you’re armed with this knowledge before your baby is born, you’re likely to feel more at ease when he arrives.

Baby monitors are readily available and allow you to listen in to your sleeping baby when he is not in the room with you. These may make you feel better so that you can respond quickly to coughs or cries.

If your baby has apnea of prematurity, he will likely be sent home with a breathing monitor. There are other monitors available to consumers, and they will alert you to a lack of movement while your baby sleeps.

Babies experience what is called periodic breathing during sleep: they will breathe deeply and quickly, then more shallowly and slowly, and then pause in breathing. In babies without sleep apnea, breathing will resume in fewer than 15 seconds. Periodic breathing is disconcerting, but normal.

That advice is easy to give, but not so easy to follow. It is a natural parent instinct to want to watch a sleeping baby, both to marvel at his perfection and to make sure he’s sleeping well. Try some of these tips to help make your baby’s naptimes and nighttime sleeping is peaceful for you both.