questions about bf and spit up

[suddenlyamama]

hi there,
my dd is only 2 weeks old. I have been breastfeeding her from day 1 except when I had to return to the hospital for fear of blood clot on day 3. I couldn't pump enough milk fast enough so she had to formula feed the 16 hours I was at the hospital.
When I returned she took to my breast immediately and we have bf ever since, however, she has started to spit up...a lot. Like after every feeding she will spit up and then want to eat again. Could it be something I am eating that is making her spit up? She is also a really rapid gulper who makes sounds a lot while feeding. Could it be eating to fast. Her doctor has told us not to worry, but lately it seems she is holding nothing down and is fussy and sour smelling.
Poor babe.

[texmati]

not an expert at all, but have you tried burping her more often mid feed?

[PatioGardener]

nak

does this seem familiar?
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html

[Shannie77]

DD1 spat up SOOO much. It seemed like she would just spit up everything she had just eaten. It happened over 10 times a day for sure, and a lot came up. She also wanted to nurse all the time. I worried about reflux but she didn't have any other symptoms. Fast forward 3 years she was tested highly sensitive to dairy, gluten and eggs. We removed them from her diet and her rashes and tummy aches disappeared. I am not sure if those sensitivities might of had something to do with all the spitting up. I should add that despite all the spitting up she was in the 90th percentile for weight for a most of her babyhood, before slimming down as a toddler.

DD2 is now 11 weeks and she hardly spits up at all, nurses much less and is gaining ont the same curve as DD1.

Anyways, perhaps you could try cutting out dairy if you don;'t think it is the strong letdown.

[Llyra]

Sometimes spitting up is a problem. In particular, at this age, you want to watch out for the baby who spits up forcefully (enough to spurt past your lap and onto the floor) about a half hour after every single feed, especially if it seems to be getting worse. This can be a sign of pyloric stenosis, which is a serious but entirely correctable condition. If you suspect this, it's probably worth mentioning it to the doctor.

Spitting up can also, however, just be a sign of baby's immature digestion. Most spitters outgrow the problem, and are unbothered by it, and continue to grow and thrive just fine. My DD1 was like this. She spit up a LOT after almost every feed. Anyway, she wasn't particularly fussy and didn't seem to be in pain, and was growing just fine, and we just let it be. It eased up a lot when she learned to sit up with support, and was almost entirely gone by the time the reached crawling age. It was messy and gross and we did a lot of laundry, but it was not a serious problem.

Keeping in mind, of course, that sometimes babies this age are just fussy, and it doesn't point to anything particularly serious. And also keep in mind that what looks like a whole feed when it's spilled on the floor may really be much less than a whole feed-- she may be holding in more than you realize.

Has she begun gaining weight? Is she wetting and pooping frequently? Those would reassure me that everything is probably fine and normal, because those are signs that she's getting enough milk.

She may just be taking in more than she can hold down, especially if the flow comes fast and strong. That should even out a lot once your supply regulates, which often happens at around six weeks.

[dakotablue]

My son was spitting up constantly. It started around 2 weeks. The ped said reflux. I did an elimination diet, no gluten, dairy, soy or corn products for me. His spitting up improved about 1 week out and to normal baby dribbles 2 weeks out. As soon as I'd eat a contaminate he'd spit up again.

He would immediately go back to the breast, but I think it was for comfort rather than more food. And he was gaining properly. He progectile vomited a handful of times. The ped had him on reflux meds (for all of 1 1/2 before I took him off) they really didn't help.

He also had that sour smell.

Oh also, he just started tolerating dairy in my diet at 9 months.

[Mrs-Mama]

Sounds like my DD except she started her spitting up at 3 weeks. Turns out I had an fast letdown and a bit of an oversupply. The LC suggested that as soon as I felt the letdown to take her off, burp her, let my milk spray into a burp cloth and then re-latch DD. She also suggested giving only one side per feeding. It did help some, but she was just a "happy spitter" until she started spending more time in a sitting positions (5ish months). She was fine, but some of my clothes were ruined from oily spit-up stains

[suddenlyamama]

thanks all,
well too fast of a letdown and an oversupply is a big problem for us, but I have tried to correct that, and nothing is much working.
She is still crying all day, it is so overwhelming.
She has a rash, baby acne, and tends to wheeze a lot. She spits up, but what is worse is that it sounds like she is constantly swallowing back more spit up. And this makes her really unhappy.
She also will cry when laid on back or side.
I suppose I should give an elimination diet a shot.

[Knitting Mama]

Are you block feeding, meaning are you using the same side for multiple feedings?

As well, what helped a lot with my daughter's reflux was keeping her propped at a 30-45 degree angle for all feedings and sleeping. For feedings I would put a small pillow under the Boppy on the side her head was on.

[Terrilein]

Whoa! What's this block feeding thingy??? I'm not up to trying out an elimination diet when ds's only symptom is spitting up after after meal. But block feeding? What is that exactly? My ds feeds from both breasts at each "meal".

[suddenlyamama]

cecilia's mama, how would you keep her propped for sleeping? I have got to find a way to do that

[Knitting Mama]

She sleeps on my arm.

Terrilein, here is a great link from kellymom on fast letdowns and oversupply in general, and about halfway down is a section on adjusting how you feed.

[terra-pip]

my 7 week old dd is still a spitter. We had to do a pretty big elim diet to get her to keep most of her meal down. But now I've been able to add a few things back in, and every other day or so I'll take a bite or small sip of something dairy. She seems to tolerate it well, but we get more curdled spit up that way. I still block feed, which means I'm nursing her on the same side about twice or three times as long as she wants because I have a lot of milk. It's getting better. I braved going out yesterday without nursing pads. lol.

But just today I soaked a prefold dipe in just a few minutes so badly that I can actually wring out milk. Her poo got green today and she's been spitting so back to cutting out all dairy for awhile.

[slgt]

Both of my DD's are (were) spitters. DD#1 just spit up after every feeding until about 6 months. DD#2 started spitting up at about 2 weeks, and she spits up after most meals. I find the following are helping reduce, and we will sometimes go several feedings without an urp:

• eliminated dairy from my diet - it's helping after less than a week. It seems to get rid of the BIG spit-ups, projectile ones, and most of the really big *SPLAT*-style spit-ups.
• Burp her mid-feed
• Burp her after she's done
• When she's been gulping a ton or seems like it's been a big feed, I will stop her when it seems like she's had a full feeding. I let her suck on my finger for 5-10 minutes. If she continues asking for nursing, I nurse her more - this seems to help her not overeat, or gives her time to process some of the initial gush so that her little tummy isn't overflowing.
• Keep her head higher than body - reclining or mostly upright - for as long as possibel after she's done nursing.
• Nurse her while I'm in a somewhat reclined position, so that she's kind of lying across my belly, with her feet lower than her head.

None of this is foolproof - she still spits up - but it has certainly helped. What PP has said - some babies are just "happy spitters" - they spit up a lot with little or no discomfort, due to immature upper digestive tracts. As long as the babe is gaining weight, peeing & pooping etc....

"It's a laundry problem, not a health problem" says my pediatrician.

[somegirl99]

Overactive letdown and lots of spit up here as well. Block feeding and frequent burping breaks help a bit, but it also depends on how much he gulps. Sometimes he will keep sucking until he just overflows. I tried an elimination diet but it didn't make any difference. He doesn't seem to mind the spit up all that much but stubborn burps really upset him.