My 14 week old baby spits up a LOT lately, and the doctor told me that frequent burping during feedings might help some. The challenge is, she hates to be interrupted when sucking/feeding. If I try to burp her before 20-30 minutes of sucking (keep in mind that her entire feed is usually completed in 30-40 minutes), she'll cry hard in protest to being taken off the breast before she's done. This makes the "burp her every 10 minutes" advice very difficult to carry out. She'll also often stiffen up her entire body so that bending her over to burp her at these times is almost impossible. Not to mention that I hate making her upset. My question is, is it better to "force" her to burp, because she probably needs it, or is it better to wait until the end of the feed when she'll go along with it? I'm just hoping that the spitting up might lessen if I can burp her more often during a feed. This is my first baby so I have no comparison - does this happen with most babies? Any ideas?
Thank you all for your wonderful advice. I got differing suggestions, which really helpes because now I can take it all in (all of it was very insightful) and figure out what feels and works best for me and my daughter. By taking "a little bit from everyone", I feel much better about tackling this issue.
Hi A.,
My friend had a baby who spit up quite a bit, and she tried cutting out all dairy for 3 days, and that was it. You may want to give it a try, it could be diet related.
M.
Hi A.!
This seems like a good mommy lesson for you. It sounds like you know what to do, you're just not doing it because it upsets your baby. If you don't get used to doing things that are best for your child but upset them now, you will have a long life of your child ruling the household and not doing things that are optimum because they get too upset.
One thing I'd like to add as advice to those who said to burp during the feeding - explain what you are going to do with your daughter before feeding every time until she gets used to feeding this way.
With a lot of love and intention just tell her you need to feed her and tell her why, then feed her. She is not too young to understand.
Good luck A.!!!
S.
I burp my baby in the middle of feedings to prevent excess gas but it doesn't make him spit up any less. I can go through 3 bibs in just one feeding. Apparently some babies just spit up more than others, I'm told. My boy screams when I take the bottle out to burp him so I try to get up and walk while burping for a slight distraction. If he's crying he usually won't burp though. If I don't burp him in the middle of a feeding, the gas is worse later but it sure doesn't help the excessive spit up.
Your child may have food allergies. You may want to look into NAET.com for allery eliminations.
Be well.
N.
I waited to burp until the end of the feeding with my daughter, but then I made sure that she burped twice. It took some time to get that second burp out of her, but was well worth it and helped her keep her food down. I also kept her propped up for a while after feeding rather than laying her flat. This also seemed to help.
Hi... this same thing happened to me with my daughter at 3 months. My pediatrician said she was being overfed. So we gave her Mylicon before she ate, cut her eating time down to 10 minutes and fed her more often. We'd walk around with her while we burped her and slightly bounced her and the distraction worked. I also eliminated dairy and caffeine, among other things, from my diet. After doing this for about a week or so got her eating back on track. Good luck!
burp her before you start to feed her. I had that advise and it really worked for us. You may also want to try different positions, to see if any cause less gas...
I also played with her toes and sang while she was feeding, so she wouldn't forget what she was doing...
Good job with breastfeeding
good luck
R.
A.,
One way to burp a baby is the way I was told. I would sit my baby up and take my thumb and forefinger and run it up and down the sides of the spine along the back. My daughter and son would wiggle cause it tickled and they would burp without spitting up too much. You can see if this works better for her. You should be able to wait till she is done feeding. Try to stop between 20 to 30 mins and see if she will let you burp her.
Hope this works.
Hello A.. You probably won't like my response, but I say burp her in between, if she needs to be burped. I can always tell when my son needs to be burped - he'll be latched on one minute, then he'll let go, then try again, but won't quite be able to get it. He'll start rooting around for my breast, even when it's right in front of his face, and once he finds it, he has trouble stying on. It's at this point that I know he has too much air and can not "eat another bite". I pick him up, and burp him. He absolutely hates it, and fights it and stiffens up sometimes, too, but once he belches (which is usually what he does, he sounds like a grown man sometimes! lol)one or two good times, I put him back down and give him my breast again, and let him continue. When it gets to that point, it usually doesn't take more than a minute, maybe a minute and a half, for him to burp. I feel for you though. I know how hard it is to see your baby upset. It's heartwrenching. I can't think of anything that would make her spit up, though, and so often :( Whatever advice you decide to take, I wish you the best of luck :)
I would say it's just best to wait until you are done. When babies cry they "swallow" air, which can give baby gas (and you don't want that on top of the spiting up!). So, if she cries a lot when you take her off, plus you are not able to burp her (due to her stiffening up), then it's not gonna help any anyways. Plus, babies who are breastfed don't "need" to be burped, whereas bottle-fed babies do usually.
Good Luck!
PS- my friend's son went through a short "phase" where he spit up A LOT, and very often. The doctor didn't find anything "wrong", and so it did eventually subside on its own!! ;)
A. K
when nursing my children or even giving them a bottle I would either set they up supporting them with one hand and gently rubbing their back or patting them on the back or lay them across my lap and pat or rub them on their back. Especially my youngest since he didn't want to stop for anything. LOL He got used to this routine after a while. Good Luck, you have a healthy eater there.
Hi A.,
My oldest was a pill to burp as well. What I did was start rubbing and tapping her back gently while feeding. When she would start to get wiggly I'd then give burping a shot. Sometimes it would work and other times we just had to wait until she was ready. My experience with my little ones was that the spit up slowly goes away around 6 months sometimes more but a little here and there in just a hassle not a huge problem. If it appears that she's emptying her tummy each time she spits up.. I'd just go double check with her Dr. That she doesn't have any little underlying cause of it. At this age they have such funny tummies.As long as she continues to thrive and grow, you know your doing the best possible job you can. Take care! Wishing you well.
M.
HI.. I don't know much about the burping part! I did the whole breast feeding thing for almost 2 years and she didn't have that particular issue but I think babies can sometimes just over eat and then they spit up. I say just let her eat and get rid of the excess. It won't last that long!!
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Well I think that you at least have to give it a try to see if it helps. If it does prevent her from spitting up so often, then she will learn to get used to the interuptions. It may take a little longer to feed, but would be worth it. If it doesn't help within a few days, then you know you don't have to to that. Process of elimination. Have you tried feeding her in a different position? Maybe if you can put her lower then your breast so the milk goes straight down. Just a suggestion.
Good luck!
Hi A.,
I can understand how torn you must feel. It's terrible to see them upset, even if it's for their own good, and we always have to weigh the cost/benefit of whether or not it's worth it to cause them the upset. Sometimes it's obvious, and other times, like this one, it's not.
Here's another option - try burping her before you feed her. Babies can accumulate gas between feedings, and if you can get her to burp before you feed, then you may have better luck with her spitting up.
Also, it's perfectly normal for babies to spit up, and some do it a lot. Is she a "happy spitter?", meaning, she doesn't get upset when it happens. Or does she seem to be in discomfort when she spits up? She may be experiencing acid reflux, which would be something else to look into.
In general, I believe that feeding times should be positive experiences. We are setting the stage for their ongoing relationship with eating, and if you can avoid an upsetting experience, I would.
Just my 2 cents! Have fun and love that baby!
Burping was probably my least favorite part of having a newborn. So tedious and I never felt like I was doing it "right." But someone gave me some good advice: Burping can and should be kind of an "all day" thing. You don't have to wait till feeding time to burp your baby. Clear the gas out throughout the day, but let her complete her meal without interruption. In terms of the "throughout the day" burps: Just because you don't hear a big, dramatic "brrrrap" doesn't mean it isn't working. Good luck!
I always tell my moms to burp the baby before you start to feed them. Then burp between breasts and more often if needed. If your baby is really hungry and gulps the milk with let down she'll swallow air and need to be burped. Do you put her over your shoulder to burp her? I find it helpful to sit a baby on my knees, with my one hand supporting the head under the chin. You can gently bounce your leg up and down and pat and massage her low back. Remember the air is in the stomach so pat/massage the low back not the shoulders, to get the air out.
Hi A.,
I'm not a medical person but I have 2 children. I realized with the 2nd that I have a lot of milk and when you feed for that long (depending on how much milk you have) you may be overloading your baby's stomach! My baby would spit up quite a bit and I'm sure it was because she was getting way too much milk for her little tummy. The recommendation was 10 minutes per breast. I used to be able to pump 8 ounces in 7 minutes! I'm not sure how much a baby's stomach holds, but you may want to ask your pediatrician about it!
Good Luck!
one important thing to remember you are in charge, talk to her when you take her off to burp. it is better for her to cry a lil anyways to help develop her voice. try different positions so she cannot stiffen up. one thing i do with my niece who is 2 months i put her over my thigh so there is a little pressure on her belly and i pat her back till she burps it usually happens quickly. just like pets kids can be trained too. the more you stop to burp she will get used to it and know it is something she has to do to continue to feed. good luck!
Hi A.,
I worked in an infant care center for quite a while and certain babies needed to be burped because they spat up. Yes, they would cry at they beginning, but they would keep all their food in and would be full and satisfied. Those that spat up were hungrier and usually needed to be fed more frequently and cried more often. Eventually, they came to know that this was part of the routine and would no longer cry and would burp quickly allowing us to return to feeding them quickly. Just keep up with your routine and your daughter will eventually catch on. If you don't do this, your doctor may need to put your daughter on medication, which at her young age may not be advisable.
Hi A.,
Congratulations on your baby! How often to do feed her? Have you tried feeding her frequently but in shorter time spurts? Is she bottle or breast fed? It is never a good idea to upset baby to my way of thinking. How about a weaning method instead of interrupting her? You could try shortening her feeding time in small increments...i.e...feed her for 30 minutes this week then 25 next and so forth. Ease her into it rather than upsetting her by interrupting her feeding. Keep her over your shoulder with gentle pats and/or rubbings on her back until she burps. No bouncing or anything that might jolt her tiny belly after feeding. Hope this help. Peace to you. -R.
