What to Do when Your Infant Spits Up

I have had two girls and they both spit up. The oldest one was just fine and the spitting up was very normal. The second, spit up every thing she ate and cried all the time. The doctors were never concerned with her spitting up, but it turned out that she had a severe case of acid reflux. This article will look at what to do when your infant spits up normally, and abnormally.

Normal

Make sure that you burp your baby after each feeding. This can result in less episodes of spitting up. Throw a burp cloth over your shoulder while you are burping your baby as there is a chance that some spit up can come out with the burp. If you don't have a burp cloth, use a receiving blanket. I always preferred those because they were bigger and protected more of my clothing. They are also very easy to wash.

You may also want to have your infant wear a bib. When you are not near a burp cloth you can wipe their faces off with the bib and then just take the bib off. Remember that this is normal and not hurting your baby at all. The only thing you really need to do when you infant spits up is clean the infant up and try to protect any clothing from the spit up. If you get any spit up on your clothing you may want to put a stain stick on the area and wash it soon thereafter.

Abnormal

If your baby is spitting up all the time and not gaining weight, you have a problem. You should make an appointment with your pediatrician right away. Not gaining weight is a sign that something is wrong and the earlier you get help, the better chance your baby has of getting diagnosed and treated.

You also want to keep an eye out for crying. If your baby is spitting up a lot, but happy and gaining weight then it is safe to assume nothing is wrong. If, however, your baby is crying non-stop and spitting up, you may have a problem. My daughter did this and turned out to have severe acid reflux. You must take your child to the pediatrician to get medication for this as it is painful for the baby. My daughter took her first dose of Zantac and was an instantly changed infant. She never cried another day after that and was able to enjoy her feedings. Children with this problem outgrow it after a few years and go on to lead normal lives.

Tips:

Feed your baby sitting up. This reduces the chance of reflux which causes a lot of spit up.

Sometimes thickening the formula with rice cereal can help, but don't do this without the supervision of a pediatrician.