What should I do if my newborn baby suffocates while sleeping?

It may be related to modern living habits. Now there is a phenomenon in medicine: children suffer from mild asphyxia at birth, and the neonatal mortality rate is higher than before. For this reason, many parents are very worried about this and worry about what sequelae this situation may cause. In fact, mild asphyxia is caused by lack of oxygen. Once discovered, it must be rescued and handled correctly in time to reduce the neonatal mortality rate.

Neonatal asphyxia refers to a disease in which the fetus is deprived of oxygen and suffers intrauterine distress or respiratory and circulatory disorders during delivery due to various causes before, during or after birth, resulting in no spontaneous breathing or failure to establish regular breathing within 1 minute after birth, with hypoxemia, hypercapnia and acidosis as the main pathophysiological changes. Severe asphyxia is one of the important causes of neonatal disability and death. Neonatal asphyxia is the most common emergency situation after birth and must be actively rescued and properly handled to reduce neonatal mortality and prevent long-term sequelae.

Neonatal asphyxia is closely related to the intrauterine environment of the fetus and the delivery process. Any factors that affect blood circulation and gas exchange between the mother and fetus will cause fetal hypoxia and lead to suffocation.

1. Causes before birth

(1) Maternal diseases such as pregnancy-induced hypertension, preeclampsia, eclampsia, acute blood loss, severe anemia, heart disease, acute infectious diseases, tuberculosis, etc.

(2) Uterine factors such as uterine over-distension, spasm and bleeding affect placental blood circulation.

(3) Placental factors such as placental insufficiency, placenta previa, placental abruption, etc.

(4) Umbilical cord factors such as umbilical cord torsion, knotting, neck wrapping, and prolapse.

2. Dystocia

Such as pelvic stenosis, cephalopelvic disproportion, abnormal fetal position, premature rupture of membranes, unsuccessful or improper delivery, and inappropriate use of anesthetic, analgesic, and oxytocin drugs.

3. Fetal factors

Such as neonatal airway obstruction, intracranial hemorrhage, immature lung development, severe central nervous system, cardiovascular system malformations and diaphragmatic hernia.

Clinical manifestations

1. After the fetus is delivered, the face and skin of the whole body are bluish purple or pale, and the lips are dark purple.

2. Shallow breathing, irregular breathing, or no breathing or only weak breathing like gasping.

3. Regular heartbeat, heart rate 80-120 beats/minute or irregular heartbeat, heart rate <80 beats/minute, and weak.

4. Respond to external stimuli with good muscle tone or do not respond to external stimuli with relaxed muscle tone.

5. Laryngeal reflex is present or absent.

The above is an introduction to mild asphyxia in newborns. Neonatal asphyxia is divided into mild asphyxia and severe asphyxia. Asphyxia is caused by lack of oxygen to the brain. If not treated in time, it will produce a series of sequelae, affecting brain development and mental retardation, leading to neonatal disability, and severe asphyxia can also lead to death. Therefore, if there has been asphyxia at birth, parents should pay special attention to the development of their children.