The first two months of Garrett's life, I thought "I have a baby who doesn't spit up" and I thought that maybe it had something to do with breastfeeding. I remember my friend Kim repeatedly telling me how much Nate had been spitting up and all the outfits she went through in a day. Nate is formula fed, so when Garrett never spit up, I was sure I was on to something and that I had made the clearing.
Unfortunately, as soon as he hit the two month mark, the spit up appeared and came in large quantities! Some days he barely spits up and other days he seems to spit up his whole feeding and then some. On those days that the quantity is massive, I begin worrying that maybe he is vomiting and not spitting up. In my frenzy I browse the Internet for the umptenth time to give me the definition of vomiting in infants. I should have the definition and symptoms memorized by now! And then after reading, I realize, his spit up moments are more a surprise to him then anything else because they are never accompanied by pain, aren't projectile (even though it does go everywhere) and he is still gaining weight.
I, on the other hand must endure changing him and usually myself at least 1-5 times a day. You would think I would learn and have a spit up rag on hand (as my friend Kim had warned me on numerous occasions) but I haven't yet. So far, the most outfit changes he has had in a day is 5 and that was today. I only witnessed three spit up episodes myself and each of those occurred almost back to back. Seriously, no more had I picked out a cute little outfit and put it on him before he had spit up streaming down him and me. I have officially become the spit up rag I think! I had the cottage cheese like sustance all over me- a present just for mommy, on my shoulder, on my leg, on my hand....
My hubby seems to think I'm not burping him enough. But, the boy usually burps more on his own than when I try to coax one out of him. I actually think he spits up because he over eats while nursing. For example, tonight he nursed on both sides before dosing off and then woke up about 20 minutes later. I picked him up and played a bit with him and he even had some time on his mat before he went on his spree of spit ups. I am wondering if moving around with him caused some of it as well as the combination of no burping and the overfeeding.
All I know is I don't have a clue how to minimize it and unless he is in pain, I suppose I will chuck up these moments to experience.
Anyone have advice on dealing with spit-up?
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5 comments:
I am unfortunately dealing with spit up baby #2. Both have been very talented spit-uppers. I read on BBC recently that sometimes it helps to burp in the middle of a feeding, if the baby gets squirmy. I've found that is a good idea but we still get plenty of spit-up. If I take him off the breast when he has slowed down a lot, it seems to help keep him from overfeeding and eliminate some of the BIG spit-ups. That worked for Ana too--just trying to prevent so much overeating since my kids have trouble holding it all down. But really, we never found a way to prevent it; we just lessened the frequency somewhat. Ana still spit up occasionally after she had turned a year old! :-O
I didn't have major problems with Emily with spitting up until she became more active (and it still wasn't major, no she had the reflux (GERD) that hurt). I would put her in her bouncy seat or lean her on my legs so she was sitting up for a while after eating. She never really drank until she fell asleep so we were able to keep her upright while we read to her. It seemed to help.
I agree that burping in-between switching sides really helped. Ella was a gulper, & it does help them slow down a little...
I love your take on changing clothes -- somehow, even though I knew I should, I would always forget to bring extra clothes with me, and would constantly smell of sour milk all day long! :-)
Thanks ladies for your advice!!
So far I have started paying attention to the 'squirming' and I take him off and burp him. It seems to be working. I try to keep him upright, but he still spits up...just not as much. He's definitely an overeater and a gulper- I'm sure the two go hand in hand!
Leanne- we try to read one book a day to him too!!
Our biggest problem is that he wants to comfort feed because of the teething. Hopefully, we'll figure it out soon enough. Otherwise, I might want to consider opening a laundrymat!
BTW, Leanne...I bet dealing with GERD was tough! How did you diagnose it?
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