Spit up!

[moonglowmama]

Everywhere, I'm so tired of this! I'm too tired to deal well with it! Any one else?

[Plummeting]

Yeah, mine's something of a spitter, too. I have to have a Chinese prefold over my shoulder or on the nursing pillow all the time. When I put her down to sleep I keep one under her face. Those little oval shaped cloths Gerber markets as burp cloths nowadays are kind of a joke, aren't they? Luckily at least DD2 is nothing like DD1, who had reflux due to intolerances to foods I was eating. This time around I just cut out dairy and most soy (other than oil and lecithin) from the get go and we aren't having those problems. They take around 3 weeks to manifest and we're almost there and looking good so far.

[catchthewind]

DD1 spat up constantly. When we went out, we brought this enormous diaper bag everywhere because we'd need several changes of clothes for her, plus extra shirts for me and DH. I actually called my doula (who is also a bf consultant) almost in tears at 4 or 5 days pp because she was spitting up after every time she ate, and had projectile vomited a few times already. We weighed her the next day and she'd already gained quite a bit, so it wasn't a problem, but it did worry me at first and was frustrating at times too. I think it was mostly due to OAL and oversupply. All our pictures of her for months the front of her shirts were soaking wet, and we had to wander around with burp cloths over our shoulders too.

This time around, DD1 is nursing still so I think that really helps alleviate the OAL issues, plus we've cut out dairy since we found out DD1 is allergic, which probably makes a difference too. So DD2 doesn't spit up much at all and in fact is often in the same outfit all day long, (and I stay in the same shirt, which is weird for me ).

[PotreroHill]

We have spit up here too. Yesterday I changed his outfit 4 times, so today I put a bib on him.

[moonglowmama]

Plummeting, what do the differences between spit-up and reflux look like? How would I know if that's an issue?

Also, will cutting dairy down or out help, even if there's not an allergy problem? Or how would I know if there was an allergy? None of the rest of us are allergic, and I don't know what I would eat if I wasn't doing dairy. Not that I do a lot of it, but I do like cheese in my sandwiches!

It's amazing how diffrent each child is! this is all new to me again.

[Juvysen]

Mine spits a little, but mostly, he brings milk into his mouth and then just sits there and lets it dribble out - I use a flat diaper folded in quarters underneath him. I think my milk just starts out too fast for him and this is how he deals w/it.

[Plummeting]

With reflux they tend to be more uncomfortable and the spit up can be projectile - think over your shoulder and hitting the wall two feet behind you. That's not always the case, of course, and some babies have silent reflux, where they don't spit up at all because it's not so forceful and they swallow it, but reflux spitting up from my experience was pretty obvious. I KNEW what DD1 was doing was NOT normal. It was all day long projectile vomiting. It would fly three feet behind me and land on DH if he was too close. Her poop was also green and very, very slimy from all the mucus.

If your LO isn't allergic or sensitive, then removing it won't make a difference. If you decide to give it a try, you really have to avoid all dairy sources for 3 full weeks before it's out of your milk and his system. There is a lot of "hidden dairy" in foods - ingredients like sodium caseinate and whey, which a lot of people wouldn't notice as dairy ingredients. It was really hard for me, but I've been dairy-free (except a little during this pregnancy) for over 5 years now (found out some of MY health issues were from dairy when I quit it for DD) and it's not so bad once you're used to it.

[moonglowmama]

Well. no projectile vomiting, but her poop is more green than yellow and mucus-y. From your experience is that related to reflux or allergies? Maybe I should research and call the ped?

[Plummeting]

I don't believe reflux causes green or mucusy poop. I do think, however, that allergies or sensitivities can cause both reflux and green, mucusy poop. You know, overactive letdown can also cause both of those things. Does your baby click, choke, gag, cough when you let down?

I also think we all have a tendency to spend way too much time analyzing baby poop, and I'll be totally honest in saying that I think if a baby is growing well, isn't having any symptoms like awful rashes or persistent stuffiness, and generally seems happy, then spitting up and weird poo is almost always okay.

[Juvysen]

Avery had a green poo when my milk first came in (and I was engorged)... then I started doing block feedings and it's been normal ever since. I'm assuming it was from my oversupply/overactive letdown situation... he definitely ends up choking and coughing, etc...

[Right of Passage]

I switched to block feedings, suspecting OAL, and the spit up has mellowed out. Thank heavens. He still spits up but it's like drooling out milk. I hope that made sense.

[Juvysen]

oooh, glad that helped you (well, your little guy) out Right of Passage!

[moonglowmama]

I did same as ROP and it has helped us too, a little. Also made poop more yellow. yea!