Baby Has A Small Tummy
The reason why your baby is spitting up is because she has a small tummy. Did you know that your babys tummy at birth is the size of a cherry? After 3 days, the tummy is the size of a walnut, which is really not that big! For the first four months, the tummy really cant hold that much, which is why you need to feed her so often. When the tummy gets filled too fast, the milk come right back up and thats when the baby spits up.
Why Do Babies Spit Milk On Food
Aside from this, there are three distinct reasons that babies spit up: 1 Overeating: Eating too much or too fast can be the culprit because babies have small stomachs. A baby who is taking too… Sensitivity or allergies to certain foods or drinks in your diet: Allergens can be transferred into …
Does Baby Formula Contain Cows Milk
Most infant formula is made with cow’s milk that’s been altered to resemble breast milk. This gives the formula the right balance of nutrients and makes the formula easier to digest. Most babies do well on cow’s milk formula. Some babies, however such as those allergic to the proteins in cow’s milk need other types of infant formula.
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Mommy It Would Help If You Are Relaxed And Not Get Overstressed
Babies are complicated, and parenting is never easy. Keep yourself together and calm. It is possible that your baby may stop spitting up after you practice the techniques mentioned above, or it is also possible that he permanently hook up to formula because of some rare food allergy. Either way, your focus should be on the best for your baby. Never lose your cool while upbringing your children, and remember to enjoy the process.
Always remember, fed is the best, either it is breast milk or formula. So your main aim should be to fulfil the hunger of your baby.
How Is It Different From Normal Spitting
If your breastfed baby is spitting up curdled milk, it does not mean that you should hit the panic button at once! You need to know that most babies may spit up curdled milk at least once before they turn three months old. However, you may want to know what is considered a normal scenario in this case and also when should you become concerned! Well, if your baby appears content, does not experience any breathing difficulty, is comfortable, is not losing weight and basically, if your baby feels and looks fine, then you can term your baby as a happy spitter. However, if your baby is spitting up the entire contents of his stomach on regular basis and as a result is cranky, not gaining weight, and exhibiting other such symptoms, then it could be a cause of concern and usually not considered normal. It will be a good idea to visit your doctor to know about the underlying causes of the same.
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What You Need To Know:
Overfeeding happens when you try to get your baby to keep feeding after he or she is full. This often starts in the newborn period. Overfeeding is more common during bottle feeding than during breastfeeding. It is easier for your baby to drink from a bottle than from a breast. Your baby may take in large amounts of formula or breast milk with each draw from the bottle. He or she may also be encouraged to finish so formula or breast milk is not wasted. Overfeeding can become a pattern that continues into adulthood. This increases your child’s risk for obesity as an adult.
How To Reduce Spitting Up
To reduce spitting up you can:
- Burp your baby several times during and after feeding. To do so sit the baby upright with your hand supporting the head. Let the baby lean forward slightly, bending at the waist. Gently pat your baby’s back.
- Try nursing with just one breast per feeding while breastfeeding.
- Feed smaller amounts of formula more frequently. Avoid large amounts at one time. Be sure that the hole in the nipple is not too large while bottle feeding.
- Hold your baby upright for 15 to 30 minutes after feeding.
- Avoid a lot of movement during and immediately after feeding.
- Slightly elevate the head of babies’ cribs so babies can sleep with their heads slightly up.
- Talk to your baby’s health care provider about trying a different formula or removing certain foods from the mother’s diet .
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Baby Does Not Drink Milk
Your babys refusal to drink enough milk may be their way of telling you that it makes them feel sick. The common signs your child may be having a bad reaction to milk are diarrhea, frequent crying after drink milk, noisy sounds in their stomachs, gas, vomiting, hives, rashes, coughing, or wheezing.
What Does Curdled Spit
Your babys spit up milk looks just like the breastmilk or formula that your baby feeds. However, the spit up milk may appear less or more curdled based on the time it stays inside your babys tummy. This means that if milk comes out or the baby spits up soon as after his feed, the spit up milk may appear just like milk only, however, the milk that stays longer inside the tummy may appear more curdled because it gets mixed up with the stomach acids and appears chunky or curdled. Also, if the baby is only on breastmilk or formula, the curdled spit is likely of whitish hue. However, red spit up could indicate the presence of blood, and green or yellow spit up could indicate the presence of bile or phlegm, and if any such abnormal coloured spitting up is noticed, it should be reported to the doctor!
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What About Thickened Feeds
Baby cereal, added to thicken breastmilk or formula, has been used as a treatment for GER for many years, but its use is controversial.
Does it work? Thickened feeds can reduce spitting up, but studies have not shown a decrease in reflux index scores . Per Donna Secker, MS, RD in Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, The effect of thickened feedings may be more cosmetic than beneficial. Thickened feeds have been associated with increased coughing after feedings, and may also decrease gastric emptying time and increase reflux episodes and aspiration. Note that rice cereal will not effectively thicken breastmilk due to the amylase naturally present in the breastmilk.
Is it healthy for baby? If you do thicken feeds, monitor babys intake since baby may take in less milk overall and thus decrease overall nutrient intake. There are a number of reasons to avoid introducing cereal and other solids early. There is evidence that the introduction of rice or gluten-containing cereals before 3 months of age increases babys risk for type I diabetes. In addition, babies with GERD are more likely to need all their defenses against allergies, respiratory infections and ear infections but studies show that early introduction of solids increases babys risk for all of these conditions.
Safety issues:Never add cereal to a bottle without medical supervision if your baby has a weak suck or uncoordinated sucking skills.
Your Childs Digestive System Isnt Fully Developed Yet
While not an issue that affects all children, its still a very common one.
The most prevalent issues are infantile lactose intolerance, which may or may not persist for the entirety of your childs life.
Although, in most cases, it fades shortly after your childs first birthday, when his digestive system develops enough to take solid foods on.
The other issue is gastroesophageal reflux disease .
GERD is a condition where an underdeveloped lower esophageal sphincter muscle is too weak to keep all of the stomach contents down.
This can cause quite a stir in your little ones digestive system for the first 12 months of his life, after which it normally clears up.
A small percentage of children must undergo corrective surgery in order to fix it.
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Its Always Fed Through Bottles
While this last one isnt exclusive to formula, considering milk can be pumped and bottled just as well, it is a unique benefit in that you are able to measure exactly how much you are feeding your baby.
This opens up the opportunity to properly portion feeding sessions and lower the risk of overfeeding your baby.
Reasons Why Your Breastfed Baby Is Spitting Up
by happymomblogger | Nov 10, 2018 | Babies and Toddlers |
My first two babies spat up A LOT! In the early days, I was most comfortable breastfeeding in my bed and when the baby would spit up, we would get spit up all over the bedsheets! This meant that we were changing the bedsheets VERY often! But the worst part was, our washing machine would break just after I had the baby! That really sucked! Our laundry would pile up into a huge mountain until the new washing machine arrived. They dont make washing machines like they used to! They just seem to break down so fast these days! Anyways, because the constant spitting up was becoming such a problem, I had to research why it was happening so frequently. Here are 4 reasons why your breastfed baby is spitting up! This post contains affiliate links.
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When To Call Your Pediatrician
- You notice your child heaving. This is vomiting, and the heaving will cause it to project a lot more than spit-up. Vomit does happen, so if this only happens once or twice, it is not a cause for concern.
- They may be fussier than usual and exhibit signs of pain or discomfort.
- Your child vomits frequently or keeps vomiting after a 24 period.
- Vomit has traces of blood or is green.
- Symptoms of dehydration are present .
- Your child is not gaining weight or loses weight.
Baby spit-up is very common for happy, healthy babies for various reasons!
Spit-up is most likely not a cause for concern, but if your child vomits, keep a close eye on them and call the pediatrician if necessary.
Imbalance Of Foremilk And Hindmilk
If the mother doesnt feed her little one correctly, there can be an imbalance between the babys intake of foremilk and hindmilk, causing some babies to spit up a lot after breastfeeding.
Know the correct way of latching your baby and the breastfeeding technique to give your baby the right amount of foremilk and hindmilk needed.
So, the question remains- why doesnt my baby spit up after drinking formula as much as she spits up after breastfeeding?
Well, as said earlier, formula milk is a controlled diet. You will measure and give your baby the milk, and you will know how much oz of milk satisfies your little one every time.
But, with breast milk, you can have an oversupply of milk, causing your baby to throw up the excess milk consumed.
Another reason is that the formula has the same type of nutrients every time you give it to your baby, but its a completely different ball game with breast milk.
Breast milk is dependent on the mothers diet. So, the taste and the nutrients present can change depending on what the mother eats.
So, if the baby is sensitive or allergic to certain foods the mother has consumed, it will become difficult for the baby to digest the milk- resulting in the baby throwing up.
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What To Do When New
- Change the baby’s feeding position to a more upright one. Gravity will play its role in keeping the milk in the tummy if you keep the baby upright for about half an hour after the feed.
- Avoid any vigorous activity soon after a meal, which may cause the baby to spit up.
- Keep feeding times calm and relaxed. Keep noise and distractions to a minimum. Avoid letting the baby get too hungry before you start feeding her. A hungry and distressed baby may swallow excessive air, increasing the chances of refluxing the breast milk.
- Keep baby’s feeds shorter but more frequently to avoid overfilling the tummy.
- Avoid overfeeding the baby. A good indication of this is if she spits up a lot after every feeding session.
- Burp baby as frequently as possible to get rid of air bubbles that may be trapped below the milk. If the baby fails to burp after a few minutes during a feed, continue with the feed- there may not be any air trapped.
- Baby should be put to sleep on the back rather than on the tummy. If the baby spits up during sleep, place a foam wedge under the baby’s mattress to elevate the head area so that the baby sleeps at an angle. There are special foam wedges available in baby shops for this purpose.
- Keep any pressure off the baby’s tummy area. Loosen any tight clothing and avoid placing her tummy on your shoulder to burp her.
- You can eliminate certain foods from your diet to check if the problem resolves, like diary or other foods.
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Swallowing Of Air Bubbles While Feeding
Swallowing excessive air during feeding leads to excessive air building up in the stomach. In this situation, burping release the air, but it is accompanied by milk and thus the throw-up. Air can be swallowed because of different causes.
Quickly sucking the breast milk and swallowing milk rapidly causes the baby to take bigger mouthfuls, and they tend to swallow air with it.
The fast letdown of the mother also leads to fast gulping and swallowing air bubbles.
This leads to air building up, and every time the mother burp the baby to release this air in the stomach, babies spit up a little.
Spitting up a little after feedings is normal. Some babies spit up even after an hour or two hours of feeding. This is not an issue of concern unless your baby is vomiting and related symptoms.
Compared to breastfeeding, bottle feedings are somewhat controlled because you can observe your baby sucking and swallowing milk. You can then adjust the position of the bottle or baby and can check the nipple flow. Your active observation of bottle-feeding decreases the spit up instances after formula feeding.
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Serious Reasons Baby Spit Up Breast Milk But Not Formula
Are you tired of cleaning spit-ups and washing clothes covered with white milky liquid? Do you hear all the time that exclusive breastfeeding will solve the spit up problem, but you were doing that right before your baby starts spitting up after feeding breast milk? This must be a worrisome situation for you. But dont you worry, this article will help you understand this issue and answer your questions.
Breast milk is the best nutrient-filled food for babies. Every mother wants to breastfeed their babies as much as possible. However, certain problems make this phase difficult for mothers. Spitting up breast milk is one such issue.
Spitting up is common in babies. A feeding baby tends to throw up once in a while. Some babies spit up more frequently than others. Spitting up depends on various factors, and there could be multiple reasons behind this behaviour.
Some mothers complain that their babies happily drink the breastmilk but spit-up formula, but it is another way around for some babies. They happily take formula milk but spits up breast milk. With babies, you can never 100% predict a behaviour. Babies may behave a certain way at a time and then totally change their behaviour.
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