For those who are unfamiliar with parenthood, bottle propping is a sneaky method of propping up a bottle so you can feed the baby essentially hands-free. But recently, a young mother from the UK is pushing parents to re-evaluate using this so called parenting “hack”. Chloe Masters has lost her four-month-old son when he choked on the milk dripping from his propped bottle after being left with his godmother.
Chloe had been suffering from some intense back pain and so she decided to drop off her son overnight with his godmother, Claire. Unfortunately that was the last time she’d see him.
Chloe lost Alex, her son, back in 2015 but it has taken three years for the coroner to confirm that he indeed died from bottle propping. BBC covered the story, and questioned Claire about the baby’s death. Initially she had said she’d fallen asleep while giving Alex his bottle on the couch, however, the truth later came out.
At a hearing, Claire said she’d put Alex in his car seat and fed him from a bottle of milk that was propped up by a blanket. She woke up thirty minutes later with Alex’s face covered by the blanket. He was still.
He had then been rushed to Lincoln County Hospital in England, where a postmortem revealed he had inhaled milk into his lungs.
Chloe told Lincolnshire News, “Never, ever, ever, bottle prop under any circumstances. You could be put in this situation with your own child. I did it and thought it would never cause anything like this, and I was supervising. But people can lose concentration.”
Chloe told Goodfullness exclusively, “Even though bottle propping isn’t recommended I know people will still do it and I urge parents to be very cautious whilst doing so, it can seem like it’s giving you 10 minuets to do something else but can lead to very traumatic events and it will haunt you for the rest of your life. I hate to see this method of feeding being used but its so common people don’t see the dangers that come with it. “
If a baby falls asleep before finishing its bottle, choking can occur since instead of swallowing the liquid, the baby may inhale instead, causing it to go down the wrong passage.
Babies are little tiny humans who don’t have the strength or skills to feed themselves, and while bottle propping might seem like an easy feeding method, it’s not worth the risk. It’s a short cut that could go very wrong and haunt you for the rest of your life.
Sources: BBC | HeartySoul | Lincolnshire News