Spitting up...?

[not_telling]

How much spitting up is normal? My LO has been spitting up frequently (to me) this week. Sometimes it happens right after (or during) a feeding, sometimes it happens between feedings. He's also started coughing sometimes while BF (usually after I hear him burp or hiccup).

What's normal?

[kris4chloe]

Is it after every feeding or just once or twice? it always looks like more then it is. but i would be concerned that maybe baby has a food intolerance. Anything else? is baby gassy? if gassy usually that is a sign of dairy intolerance.

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/reflux.html

[red_trillium]

i don't know. we're dealing with a lot of spit up too. my first was a super fountain, but looking back, i'm almost sure he had pretty bad reflux that was never diagnosed. that coupled with an extremely sensitive gag reflex and he threw up every single day untill he was 3. and pretty much all day when he was a tiny baby.

with my dd she spit up every now and then, but i think it was much more "normal".

now we're dealing with lots again. not as bad as ds1, though. he's extremely gassy, but he has a poor latch/suck so he gets lots of air that way. but, i'm working on cutting out dairy to see if that helps. i'm almost sure it will. i had to cut a lot out with dd as it agitated her digestive system(she was such a happy go lucky baby, she was never upset by anything though). dh was dairy sensitive when he was little, and both of my older kids have sensitivities, i think we just need to go dairy free throughout the whole house. i hope it helps. i can't stand to hear rowan crying cause his belly hurts so bad. poor little guy.

oh i guess i should state that "lots" to me is he's spitting up after almost every feeding(and he nurses a lot!) and frequently in between, along with crying from a gassy belly and lots of burps. it's usually just a little spit up, but at least once a day he seems to empty his whole belly!

[yamilee21]

Both of mine coughed and sputtered during feedings, and spit up some afterward. With my son, the spit up was worse from two to six months; it ended abruptly at six months; but my daughter began spitting up almost as soon as my milk came in. In my case, it is because of overactive letdown and oversupply. It does not happen as much if I nurse leaning back or flat on my back, or if the baby is nursing upright in a carrier, tummy-to-tummy position. Nursing in the side-lying position also helps. I also keep the baby upright after feeding, unless she has fallen asleep.

[not_telling]

I started recording spit-ups a couple days ago. So far Aydin is spitting up 5-9 times a day. Sometimes it's after a feeding and every once in a while it's during. He has started coughing (gagging?) this week during feedings sometimes. He also get hiccups a lot (5-7 times a day). I think he takes in a lot of air when he starts crying or in the middle of the night when he's kind of fussing while feeding. He doesn't seem distressed by the spitting up and is gaining weight. But I do wonder about reflux. He does seem to prefer being at least semi-upright and will spit-tp when placed on his back (e.g. for a diaper change after breastfeeding). At this point we've only "mastered" the cradle/cross-cradle holds, so upright nursing is something more in our future perhaps...

I'm not eating tons of dairy, but usually have at least two dairy things a day (e.g. yogurt and ice cream). He's also showing a tendency toward MAJOR upset in the middle of the night (12:00am-3:00am last night) and I'm wondering about colic too...

How do you know if your baby is feeling gastrointestinal pain?

[prothyraia]

Originally Posted by not_telling

At this point we've only "mastered" the cradle/cross-cradle holds, so upright nursing is something more in our future perhaps...

Do you have a recliner or a cushy couch you can really lean back into? If you do a cradle hold and lean back, babe ends up nursing more 'uphill', which can help.

[not_telling]

Actually, we have been doing a lot of the more "uphill" cradle position (me leaning back on pillows in bed)...especially at night. we haven't done any side-lying in bed because of pelvic damage I sustained during delivery - which thankfully seems to be on the mend thanks to physical therapy. so, actually, we've spent much of the past two weeks in bed.

After my last post in this thread, he had his first "projectile" spitting up. He was sitting up between my legs and the spit-up went about 6 inches.

If it was a food sensitivity, would there be other signs besides spitting up?

[Tenk]

my first ds had milk protein allergy, and reflux. He would spit up almost after every feeding, sometimes during, and everytime he laid down flat. I knew his tummy was hurting because he arched his back a lot, and was very squirmy and pulling his legs up a lot. I'd have it checked out mama, just to be on the safe side. GL

[prothyraia]

Originally Posted by not_telling

If it was a food sensitivity, would there be other signs besides spitting up?

My first son had a mild dairy sensitivity, and the only symptoms were general fussiness and spitting up only when I ate a large amount of dairy.

[firespiritmelody]

All of my kids have been supper spitters - it's just who they are. I wouldn't be worried if the spitting up (even if it's a lot) isn't bothering him. If it is bothering him, talk to your doc, it can't hurt. But even projectile spit up isn't a big deal if it only happens once in a while. GL

[yamilee21]

Here's the Kellymom link for food sensitivities and here is the one for overactive letdown. Hopefully, between the reflux link kris4chloe posted and these, you might be able to figure out what the problem is, if it isn't just ordinary baby spit up.

My daughter had the hiccups a lot in utero, and she has them a lot now, but I have noticed they are worse if she lies down right after eating, so that is another reason to keep her upright.