Prevent such dangerous situations at home
Several months back we read about two baby boys choking to death after milk feeding at a nursery. So, we figure that perhaps a baby would be safer when at home, right? For it could have been negligence on the part of the caregiver at a daycare center who may have to pay attention on too many babies at once.
In Penang, Malaysia, baby Lau Yi Yang was taken to a nearby clinic after he lapsed into a coma but the doctor failed to bring the baby back to consciousness. The parents were not willing to accept this and hurried to Penang Hospital to get help. Unfortunately, upon arrival the baby boy was pronounced dead upon arrival. Other sources say that it was the baby sitter who brought the baby to the clinic as Yi Yang was the only child of a working couple.
Safe bottle feeding tips
Here are a some steps to take into account when it comes to feeding time
1. Clean your hands and dry them.
2. Your baby might be drowsy and might need to wake up fully before you start feeding.
3. Get a comfortable feeding chair to settle in and make sure that your arms, elbows and back are supported.
4. Try to hold the baby slightly upright so that the formula will not trickle or flow into the middle ear to cause an infection.
5. You could rest your baby at the bend of the arm. Switch arms if you feel tired feeding mid-way.
6. When holding the bottle please ensure several things:
- A tight seal needs to be formed so make sure you place enough teat in your baby’s mouth.
- Place the teat over your baby’s tongue and in the center of the mouth.
- Make sure you have a strong hold on the bottle, your baby may pull the bottle while sucking.
- Hold the bottle at an angle.
7. Periodically take the teat out of your infant’s mouth so that the teat can unflatten. All the sucking can flatten the teat and prevent proper milk flow.
8. Burp your baby to bring up air that’s swallowed while feeding.
9. Bear in mind that if your infant stops feeding too soon in the session, you need to burp them before continuing the feed.
10. Hold on to your baby while feeding, it can stop choking and keep the bottle at the correct angle. That’s not all, it provides skin-to-skin contact, bonding and all the love your baby can get. This is precious time for connecting.
11. Burp your baby after feeding. Lay your baby on his or her side so that the spit-up will come out instead of choking your baby.
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