2 week old vomitting

[sonicfrost]

My 2 week old baby boy has thrown up twice in the past 12 hours. He doesn't have a fever and is exclusively breastfed. What could be causing this? It always happens either right after he eats or while he eats. Is this a sign that he's allergic to something I ate? If so, should I keep a list of everything I eat and figure out what it is that doesn't agree with him? Or could he just need to be burped more? I always try and burp him, but he doesn't always burp.

[Dar]

When you say vomiting, what exactly happens? Could he just be spitting up? Especially if it's happening during or right after eating, spitting up seems more likely.

Is he otherwise eating well and gaining, and having anough wet diapers? if it's just spit-up and everything else is good and he doesn't seem to be in pain, I wouldn't worry. Some kids are just spittier than others, and twice in twelve hours isn't a lot. You could try making sure his body is sort of diagonal rather than horizontal when you nurse him, but really it sounds okay.

[sonicfrost]

Its not spit up, its actual vomitting. Its like a fountain out of his mouth and its a lot, I assume the whole contents of his stomach. Last night when it happened, my husband was with him and I was in the other room, he had just eaten and when he vomitted, my husband said some came out of his nose, too. That alarmed me

He is eating every 3 to 4 hours and has a wet/poopy diaper every time I change it right before he eats. He has gained his birthweight back as of last week. He also threw up once last week, but it was a less amount than today, though that one was kind of mucusy..

He also has a congested nose and sneezes a bit. Last week the pediatrician said that was normal for newborns, I don't know if that's true or not. I have not talked to the ped about the vomitting yet.

[4myfinn]

My DS was doing the same thing at about 3 weeks. He had some mucusy vomits that would get everywhere and everything would come up. It came out the nose too. Now, I'm just a new mom, and my LO is only 4 months old, but I would try:

1- Burping him more often.
2- Feeding him less in a nursing session so his stomach isn't quite so full. Just feed him more frequently.
3- I think you're right to suspect a food allergy, especially because of the mucus (or at least that's what my pedi suspected when I told him that his vomit and poop were mucusy). First, I'd try giving up dairy. And if you do it, make a full commitment. I made a half-hearted attempt at first and am now finally getting serious about it. If I had taken it more seriously when all this started I think we could have avoided a reflux diagnosis. I'm not saying your LO has reflux. There were other signs pointing to reflux in our situation, but I think medication would have been unnecessary if I had made dietary modifications at the beginning. I'm also reading a great book right now called The Baby Bond, and in one chapter the author discusses "common" issues like colic, reflux, and gas as a result of the prevalence of cow's milk in the American diet.

Good luck! I hope you can resolve this soon!

[sonicfrost]

I have been staying away from drinking milk since he was born to avoid a problem like this, but I have been eating yogurt because my midwife said it would be good for me. I guess I'll give that up, too.

I try burping him twice every feeding, but he doesn't always burp. Last time I tried, it took 20 minutes to get him to burp. I could try feeding him less per feeding. I was told to let him nurse on one side until he let go, burp him, then put him on the other side until he let go, then burp him again.

Oh, and I forgot one time yesterday that he threw up too, so its actually 3 times in 24 hours, though he hasn't thrown up since I posted my original post.

[dahlialia]

DD did this off and on for the first several weeks. In her case I think sometimes she would just eat too much. And it would ALL come out. Through her nose as well as her mouth.

She was otherwise happy, healthy, gaining well. So the midwife and Dr were not concerned. I hated it though. I'm SO glad she's grown out of it.

[ATruck]

My first did this. I think it happened for a variety of reasons-- sometimes she would just eat too much (we BF on demand). She also spit up pretty often, but was not particularly fussy. I found it kind of upsetting- it is like you said, she would just pretty much empty the contents of her stomach. It happened more often when she was lying down. My mom is a ped nurse and she just sort of shrugged and said that some babies just do that.

Anyhow-- she is 3 now, not particularly pukey and has no allergies that we know of.

[tzs]

the congestion, yeah, we had it too. my ped said the same thing. she outgrew it.
and my 4 month old occasionally "projectile vomits" too (had two this weekend....once in a fastfood restroom, ugh.) she's not allergic to anything and had never had reflux, colic, anything. i've noticed that it happens when she's presumably eaten too much. usually when i've cajoled her to eat more (b/c we were not going to be able to feed for a while, or because she hadn't eaten in a while, or b/c i felt too engorged, etc...)
it is scary at first though and frustrating to feel like you have to start over with the feeding, although i'm not sure if that's true.)

[MyLittleWarrior]

If baby is gaining, and not fussy, doesn't seem to be in pain, and is having plenty of wet/dirty diapers, then excessive spit up is a laundry problem, not a medical problem. Babies have very tiny tummies, and immature digestive systems, and sometimes they just work in reverse. DD is way more of a spitter than my boys were. And at about 2-4 weeks of age she was having a huge spitup (or vomit, what ever you want to call it) about once every 24 hrs, with smaller spitups frequently. Also, it always looks like more than it is. I would burp her 4-5 times per feeding and that seemed to help. Even if you can't get a burp out of him, just interupting the feeding and holding him upright can help him slow down. So when he has those huge spitups wipe him off, change his clothes, change yours if you need to, and go on about life. I would only worry if he was acting in pain, stopped gaining well, or stopped having enough wet/dirty diapers.