Back to Sleep

Back To Sleep. That is the mantra that is drilled into your head when you have a newborn. It has nothing to do with you getting any sleep so that parts sucks. Basically the medical world now believes that having babies sleep on their backs cuts down on the chance of SIDS. And anything that can lower the chances of that...done and done.

I always had a question though. What happens if they barf while on their back? I am not saying I drank a lot in college, but I do distinctly remember making sure a friend or two didn't fall asleep on their back after a night out. Choking hazard. So what if that would happen to a tiny baby that has no control over their body? Wouldn't they choke?

My question was answered this morning. Let's backtrack for a minute though. A while back, I had fed Alex, changed his diaper and left him laying on the contoured changing pad in his crib while I threw away the nastiness his butt had created. I was out of the room for .2 seconds. When I came back in, he was laying there with his mouth full of regurgitated formula. I immediately picked him so everything was quickly expelled from his mouth. I also cried a bit with him because we were both pretty freaked out. What if I hadn't come back so fast?

Fast forward to this morning. After his 4:30 AM feast, I changed his diaper, wrapped him into a burrito and put him back in his crib. He was doing his normal wiggling and grunting. I kinda fell asleep. I come out of an awesome dream about water skiing to hear a weird gurgling, then some coughing. As I bolted up and ran to his crib he started crying. There was formula barf e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. All over his face, coming out of his mouth and nose. All over the crib sheet. All over the blanket he was wrapped in. So apparently when babies barf while laying on their back, they manage to get it out. Question answered. A very messy answer.