spitting up

[guineverelady]

my LO is 5 weeks old. in the last 12 hours he has begun spitting up what seems like huge amounts after every feeding. up to this point he hasn't spit up like this, it's a lot and it soaks whatever it hits, me, the boppy, etc. i feel so bad for him, he doesn't seem to be in pain when he does it he smiles and coos after. i've been wearing him all day b/c usually he comfort nurses throughout the day but with all the spit up I didn't want to aggravate him with it. The only thing I can thing of is I drank a BIG glass of chocoate milk yesterday. Do you think this is what is causing all this spit up? And if so, when will it pass? It really sucks esp since up to this point he wasn't spitting up after every feeding and when he did it was never this much.

[SusanaLaLoca]

I can't say for sure because I don't EBF, but I know my DS does that when he's been overfed. I BF first, then give the bottle, and sometimes if he nursed better than normal and I didn't adjust for this when making the bottle, he'll spit up what looks like 1/2 the bottle, but it obviously doesn't bother him because he's just giggling and smiling like he did something good. lol

That would be my guess, that maybe he's overfed himself - maybe with the comfort nursing he's been drinking and not just non-nutritive sucking?

[ZoraP]

My babies have all spit up a lot. They're all fine. If yours is jolly and growing well it just means he's filling his tummy a bit too full and something has to come back up. Like Dr. Sears says, spit up is a laundry problem, not a health problem.

[Llyra]

I would wait a few weeks at least before assuming anything is wrong, as long as baby seems to be growing normally, and is wetting and pooping within normal ranges. Spitting up is so common, and most of the time it's only that baby has an immature digestive system, or baby is having trouble learning to stop when he's full. My DD1 in particular spit up a HUGE amount at that age, and it used to spurt all over the room practically. Anyway, she was just fine, and it went away with time, with no long-term effects, and she grew and thrived normally. I think she just liked to suck, and so she took in more than she really needed, and the spitting up was like the valve letting out the overflow, you know?

Six weeks is the peak for fussiness and colic and disorganized behavior in newborn babies. Spitting up is often at its worst at that time, as is gas and difficulty passing BMs (even when the BMs are soft.)

I wouldn't go rushing to blame anything in your diet either. Give it some time, and see how it shapes up between now and about three months, unless you see other signs that something is wrong, like poor growth, blood or mucus in the stool, excessive crying outside of normal evening fussiness, or colicky behavior that persists after three months or so.

It can help to keep them upright for awhile after nursing, and to discourage people from playing bounce-the-baby too soon after a feed.

Spitting up in my experience improves a LOT when they can support their bodies a little better, and sit with support, and usually vanishes entirely by the time they're pulling up to stand.

[goodygumdrops]

Spitting up is normal. My son was ebf and he spit up tons. They do grow out of it eventually.