breastfeeding
Not the babyIt's a mother's nightmare come true. A 1-month-old baby boy recently died via suffocation while his mother was breastfeeding him. The 32-year-old new mom had reportedly gone out for a night of drinking, and when she returned to nurse her baby, she fell asleep while doing so. The next morning when she woke up, she saw that her baby's lips were blue (I really don't want to go into further detail of the state of the baby, as it's too disturbing), and she realized her brand new baby had passed away.

Yes, I know what you're thinking.

You shouldn't be going out for a night of drinking when you're breastfeeding, right? I agree. Nonetheless, this is extremely sad.

It's hard to think of anything more horrifying and disturbing -- waking up next to your child who passed away in the middle of the night. I certainly don't want to "lecture" a mom who's going through something awful, or act like I'm the world's greatest mother, but I will say, probably not the best idea to go out imbibing all night -- if this is true -- when you're breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding, as anyone who's tried knows, is hard. Really hard. It's so much more than, "Oh, I'm just going to pop this baby on my boob and feed it." Not only does it hurt (a lot) at first, you have to give up things. And "nights of drinking" are among those things. If you really, really can't do that -- honestly? Switch to formula. At that point, it's what's best. And, please, don't co-sleep if you're wasted.

My heart truly breaks for this poor woman. It's a tragedy in every sense. But the saddest part of all is that this could have been prevented. What a shame.

Did you worry about your baby suffocating when you first started nursing?


Image via sebribiero/Flickr