Baby spits up a lot – some young mothers find this alarming. Especially when it happens more often. We explain how you can tell when constant burping indicates serious problems. But what is normal and at what point should you start worrying?

You’ll also learn all about the causes of the spitting up phenomenon and how best to deal with it.

Baby Spits Up A Lot – Especially After Breastfeeding

It is a common phenomenon in the first few months: your baby spits up a lot after breastfeeding. It seems that the baby spits up all the food. This can happen with the famous burp or completely unexpectedly.

Young mothers are then frightened because they are rightly worried about their child. If you keep spitting out food, you may not be getting enough of it. First of all, you should clarify what your child is spitting up in the first place – and how much of it.

Are there accompanying signs of an illness? Or do you perhaps have a so-called spitting child? The latter spits out its food again without having any major problems. Don’t worry: Your child will definitely get enough to eat! Constant burping is not necessarily a sign of illness.

Baby Spits Up A Lot During Burping And Coughing

If a newborn baby spits up a little food after breastfeeding, this is quite normal: it affects more than half of all newborns! They simply do not yet have the anatomy that prevents food from refluxing.

Not all of them become so-called spit-up children, but still a good 40 percent. They are the ones who regularly frighten inexperienced parents. There is an age-old saying: spit-up children are thriving children! This means that these children should thrive extra well.

Especially with premature babies it is often said: This baby spits up a lot! However, the phenomenon disappears when the children switch to more solid food. At about six months, the phenomenon rapidly disappears.

By the age of 10-12 months, however, only 5% of all children are still true spitters. Only very rarely does the appearance persist longer without a pathological cause.

Baby Spits Up A Lot In These Situations

• During or after feeding
• When coughing
• When crying
• When burping (burping)

Tip: Tip 100 ml of water onto a table. Then you will get a feeling of how much your child actually spits up! It will help you to distinguish between normal and abnormal spitting up. Normal is a few milliliters, often only about a spoonful of milk.

These Are The Reasons Why Your Baby Spits Up A Lot

Especially in the first few months, your baby is developing at a rapid pace. Then the stomach also grows, which is obvious, because it has to absorb a relatively large amount of food. If it is still the size of a hazelnut shortly after birth, it will grow to the size of a chicken egg in the coming weeks.

Only at about 15 months is the stomach big enough to really take in all the food all the time. This explains why most spit-up babies are younger than 15 months. The esophagus has its own sphincter muscle, which separates it from the stomach.

Scientifically speaking, it is called the esophageal sphincter. When fully developed, it ensures that food does not flow back to where it came from. This muscle does not function well at first, which is why spitting up can occur. Often, when spitting up, some of the food just comes back out.

Baby Spits Up A Lot Of Milk After Breastfeeding – An Overview Of The Causes

• Too small stomach.
• Sphincter muscle of the esophagus is not yet working properly.
• Drinking too much and too hastily – swallowing air.
• Reflux due to illness.

Reflux means backflow. The stomach can only prevent this with difficulty if it is still small and underdeveloped. Then spitting is even a sign that your child has drunk well.

Doctors separate two types of reflux: functional reflux, which is normal in spitting up children. There is also secondary reflux, which has a different cause: There is always another disease behind it.

Belching And Spitting Up: Baby Spits Up Curdled Milk

Especially with very small babies, however, you normally have little to worry about. If babies are not yet fed complimentary food, they will only spit up curdled milk for up to two hours after feeding.

His is almost pH-neutral and therefore does not attack the esophagus. Unpleasant acids are not present in the stomach contents until later, i.e., when breast milk or powdered milk is no longer fed exclusively.

Belching Or Reflux: When Does It Become Dangerous?

Only later does stomach acid become aggressive. This is exactly the reason why it should not rise up into the esophagus even during belching. That is why we have a sphincter there in the first place. If it does not function properly, the esophagus becomes irritated. The technical term for this is gastroesophageal reflux.

The result: redness, swelling, which leads to pain. This can also happen during early childhood burping. Your child will then express his discomfort by crying more. In addition, it will refuse food or have significant problems swallowing.

In this case, the doctor will help again: After clarifying the causes, he or she will prescribe your child medication to soothe the affected mucous membranes. The doctor will also determine whether your child is suffering from reflux that requires treatment. He will also examine whether constant belching is pathological.

Your Baby Spits Up A Lot? Only Rarely It Is The Reflux Disease

Reflux always has a reason. Normally, it is developmental and passes with time. But there are cases that indicate another condition. For example, reflux can be a sign of developmental problems in the gastrointestinal tract.

Or your child may not tolerate certain foods. Baby spitting up after pre-nutrition can therefore occur as well as with certain complementary foods for older babies. Even lung diseases can trigger reflux. The same applies here: Take your child to the doctor and have it examined!.

Baby Spits Up: Is Constant Burping Still Normal?

Burping is only normal if it is not permanent. The burping occurs during or after eating – but it must stop later. Also, distinguish constant burping from vomiting! If there is an increase in gushing vomiting, this is no longer constant burping and requires a doctor!

Is your child really experiencing constant burping – or maybe just hiccups? Click on the link to learn more!

When Does Spitting Up Stop?

It can take up to fifteen months, and in a few cases until after the second birthday. So it takes a little patience. Reassurance: Most of the time, the problem is over by the time your child can sit upright. Many children also stop spitting up when they start eating complementary foods.

Active children can later fall into a second spitting phase. This is when they start crawling and often move around on their tummy: This provides increased pressure on the stomach as well, which can lead to the old familiar spitting up shortly after eating.

Baby spits up a lot of water when burping: For several reasons, the fluid your baby spits up can be watery. Amniotic fluid is vomited up by some newborns, so this is not a cause for concern either. If your child is older, he or she may simply have swallowed a lot of saliva that is now coming out.

You Have A Spit-up Baby? This Is What You Can Do

What many young mothers forget: Take care of yourself, too! Less laundry means more serenity and also more time for your child. Therefore, always plan for the following:

• Put an extra sheet in the crib under the baby’s head to protect the bedding.
• Another extra cloth over your shoulder protects your clothes in case something comes along during burping.
• Do not take the baby’s bib off right after the meal!

How To Feed Your Baby Properly

Take a break after ten minutes at the latest. Change the breast and give the baby a chance to get rid of any swallowed air. So encourage the chance to burp, even while breastfeeding. Constant burping can also be a sign that the baby simply has too much air in his belly.

You can find out how to breastfeed in a relaxed way here: Breastfeeding pillow test for more relaxed breastfeeding.

This Can Lead To Increased Spitting Up

• If your child drinks too hastily and takes in air.
• If your child is disturbed by a hectic environment. Always make sure that breastfeeding is quiet!
• If too much milk flows at once. Spread the breast a little before breastfeeding! If you feed with a bottle, make sure the teat is not too big.
• If the position is not right. If the baby lies too low, it will spit up more. Keep it upright and straighten it up completely every now and then!

Clusterfeeding Can Help

Clusterfeeding is the more frequent change between the different breastfeeding positions. This leads to your child feeding for less time in each position. The advantage is that by taking more breaks, the little stomach gets a chance to grab the whole amount of food and digest it during the breaks. A proven method especially for the evening!

Does My Child Need Anti-reflux Food?

Anti-reflux food is abbreviated AR food. This is a special food, which your child normally does not need. Not even if he spits up more often! If this is the case, the pediatrician will tell you.

AR food is specially thickened. The creamy consistency is supposed to prevent reflux, hence the name. Binding agents are starch or locust bean gum. This is why this type of food can lead to increased constipation – as well as undesirable excessive weight gain.

Your Baby Spits Up A Lot? Watch Out For These Tips And Home Remedies

• Swaddle your baby before breastfeeding.
• Refrain from playing sports games such as “Hoppe, hoppe Reiter” immediately after breastfeeding.
• Allow your baby to rest afterwards and ensure that digestion can function properly.
• Constant belching? Try a warm cherry pit pillow: This helps to relax the baby’s belly.
• Make sure your baby drinks enough fluids, such as diluted apple juice or chamomile tea!

Your Baby Spits Up A Lot And Doesn’t Aain Weight

There is a very simple way to tell if the process is still normal: the weight. If your baby is gaining weight normally, then there is nothing wrong, although you may think your baby is spitting up a lot.

Rule of thumb for healthy weight gain: In the first six months of life, your child should gain between 140 and 170 g per week. Don’t worry if there is a minimal drop in weight in the very first days after birth, this is only temporary!

If you think your baby is spitting up a lot and not gaining weight, please consult a doctor. Especially if the following phenomena also occur.

Baby Spits Up Like A Gush: Then You Should See A Doctor

Your baby spits up a lot, this can also be gushing vomiting: Here everything comes up again, which was drunk before. Then look for other signs that something is wrong. Does he have a fever? Is there little urine? Does it seem dazed or, on the contrary, does it cry constantly? Individually or together, all of these can indicate an illness!

• Gushing vomiting of the whole meal
• Fever
• Little excretion
• No weight gain or even loss
• Apathy or constant crying

Also pay attention to the consistency of what your baby is spitting up. Bile or blood needs immediate medical attention. With bile it looks green, with blood it looks more reddish-brown.

Conclusion

A baby spits up a lot? There are many babies who spit up a lot, and they even have their own name for it. As a so-called spitting baby, the baby vomits up part of the food because its stomach is still small. The muscles above the stomach are also not yet strong enough to prevent reflux of food.

This will get better with time, so you don’t have to worry about it. Constant belching does not have to be pathological either. Weighing is an important way to find out if everything is okay.

If your baby spits up a lot and does not gain weight normally, you should consult a doctor. Because it can also be vomiting or reflux due to illness. Only a specialist can determine all this by examining your child thoroughly.