Child Feeding Issues
What is baby "spit-up"?
Well, spit up is when basically milk comes out and it could be from many different reasons. Spitting up in general is normal. All baby spit up and usually happens with burping or round burping because as the gas comes up the milk comes up as well. Spitting up always looks much more than it really is when spit up comes up it looks like more than they possibly could have even had for their meal. But in reality it's probably only a teaspoon or couple of tablespoons. So it's really nothing to worry about. There are times with spitting up that we want to investigate other thing that's when the spit up hurts them or bothers them.
How do I help my baby not to spit-up?
There are a couple of things you can do to stop your baby spitting up. First of all, know that spitting up in general is normal, and that spit-up doesn't hurt your baby, and not to worry about it. So when you are burping, and the more burping you can do the better, it gets those big gas bubbles out to stop the baby spitting up. But occasionally with the gas will come a little milk or spit-up, and that's OK. The other thing you can do to help your baby not to spit up is keep your baby upright after feedings, to use gravity to your advantage, and keep the milk down. Even elevating the head of the bed a little bit helps so that, again, the milk stays down and if they do spit up they spit up to the side.
When does my baby's spit-up indicate a serious problem?
Doctor's get concerned when spit-up is causing your baby to be more fussy or it's bothering them when they spit up. In general, when babies spit up they spit up and they go about their business, they even may smile afterwards because it was a release of gas and that feels good. But there are some other causes of spitting up that need to be investigated. More severe reflux or painful reflux and certain allergies. So, with reflux that would show up as your child when they spit up they arch their back and get really fussy and scream, and they do this because the acid, as it comes up, hurts them. Now luckily only about one-third of reflux is painful. So we get concerned with reflux if it's painful to them, so that they're really miserable every time they spit up and it usally happens about fifteen to thirty minutes after feeding or they're spitting up so much that they're not gaining weight. So in that case obviously we would want to investigate, and if we think it's reflux, start them on a medication to help keep the food down. The other thing, of course, the first thing we do with reflux is just positioning. We mention keeping the head of the bed elevated at least at a forty-five degree angle, keeping their head elevated in your arms after feeding, just to use gravity to your advantage.
What medical problems could cause my child to spit-up during feeding?
