Last night around 3 am, Jack started crying.  One minute he was sleeping in the Bugaboo next to our bed, and the next minute he was screaming his head off.

We’ve never heard this particular cry before.  Between screams, there was a gurgling sound, as if Jack was underwater or something. 

Greta was the first to wake up.  She lifted him out of the bassinet, put him on his tummy, and gave him her finger to suck on.  But he continued to make the strange gurgling sound and he cried loud as ever. 

When I reached consciousness, there was that split-second feeling of “on no, not again, please just go back to sleep,” followed by “HOLY SHIT HE’S CHOKING!!”

I sat up straight and grabbed him out of Greta’s arms.  He-Man to the rescue.  I tried to burp him, thinking it would help clear the airways.  It didn’t.  So I put him on his tummy, and patted him on the back.  Finally, I gave him my finger to suck, which helped him swallow and start to breathe normally again.

Just to recap, I tried a whole bunch of things that didn’t work and then did exactly what Greta had originally done.  Which, of course, was the right answer.

In a few minutes, he was sleeping peacefully.

Apparently It happens all the time.  Babies spit up while they’re sleeping, and they start to choke.  But they’re fully equipped to turn their head and spit out the milk.  We found a website that said no baby has ever died from choking on his own spit-up. 

They’re resilient little suckers.  And boy do they know how to strike the fear of Moses into their parents!

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Tags: baby