vomiting and side-lying position

9795 Views 1 Reply 2 Participants Last post by wombat, Oct 4, 2003

beebs

Discussion Starter · Oct 4, 2003

Perhaps this is just new parent overreacting, but my 7wk old DD has been vomiting once a day for the past week, and it usually happens in the evening when we're trying to get her to sleep. She's gaining well (11lbs, from 8lbs at birth) and looks otherwise healthy. But we're talking more than spit-up. It's everything she's eaten in the last two feedings and it's distressing to us, even if she's fine with it!

It usually happens after she's nursed a lot (cluster feeding?) at night due to hunger and/or fussiness. I try to do the last feeding in the side-lying position so that she'll drift off to sleep (which she does just splendidly two or three times during the night, so I'm really liking the position), but then somtimes when she's tryng to latch on she'll gag, go quiet, and then it all comes pouring out. It also just happened after I tried to lie down with her for a nap - she nursed to sleep after having eaten an hour before, woke up after 10 min, tried to nurse some more, gagged, then vomited. It's not projectile.

She's been gagging a lot more lately but not always vomiting, so I'm wondering if the position has anything to do with it? I know they say that BF babies can't overeat, and they also say to let babies nurse as much as they want, especially at fussy times. Don't they also say that babies don't take in milk if they're comfort sucking

: But it seems like she's overeating, and maybe side-lying works better if she's a little sleepy rather than trying to sleep, cuz then she doesn't suck as much/vigorously? She usually eats 8-10x a day, not terribly much. I don't want to deny her nutrition or comfort, but I don't want her to throw up, either.

Any insight?

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wombat

· #2 · Oct 4, 2003

I think you're right, she probably really tanks up at evening cluster feedings. And I guess in the side lying position, when she drifts off to sleep, you're not burping her? When dd was a newborn, that's when she would spit up. Try burping her more frequently, maybe when you switch sides. And try burping her before letting her drift off to sleep. Actually I used to burp dd in her sleep. If more burping doesn't help, maybe you need to nurse her sitting up for a bit longer. She'll grow out of this spit up stage.

If dd didn't burp, I'd prop her up a bit to sleep. She slept in a SnuggleNest so I could put a towel under it to safely prop it up a little bit.

Read this on kellymom.com for more info:
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/reflux.html#normal

edited to add - I forgot to say it probably is the side lying position - her stomach is level with her throat, makes it easy for the milk to come back up. A position where she's more upright will help.

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