[justmama]

My daughter is a big spitter. We have days where she feeds, spits up a LOT several times and is crying for the breast again because she's hungry because she barfed everything up. We walk around holding her AND a receiving blanket to wipe barf from her face. We never go anywhere without an extra change of clothing and two receiving blankets from this barf. When does it stop?????????????? I'm so tired of this. I really would think something is wrong with this kid(ie, reflux) if she was crying. She sometimes projectile vomits but it's infrequent. She doens't cry about it. She's happy, gaining weight, etc. It's more of a laundry problem than anything else. I just want to knwo when babies stop spitting up. We notice that she does better when held upright for about 20 minutes following a feeding and that when she barfs, it keeps coming. It's like when she starts, she can't stop. It just pumps out of her several times in a row. And this is daily. I'm getting so frustrated and tired of laundry and people saying that there must be something wrong with my milk and that she has a tummy ache.

: I love nursing. 5 months and going strong, with no intentions of stopping. She refuses bottles anyway. But honestly, when can i expect that this spitting up will lessen or stop altogether. My older dd never really spit up so I have no clue!
Meg

 

[alegna]

Have you tried eliminating dairy?

sounds tough.

-Angela

 

[womama]

I had a frequent spiter-upper, too!

Eliminating dairy really did help.
The improvement was amazing.

 

[Periwinkle]

Your dd has reflux. Reflux only means milk is coming into the esophagus regularly, not that it warrants treatment. A baby who spits up as you describe definitely has it. My oldest two had terrible reflux and you are very very lucky to have a "happy spitter" instead of a poor weight gain or miserable baby. I've done a lot of research on it and yes, it can go away tomorrow or it could stay with her the rest of her life, but for the overwhelming majority of cases, for a "happy spitter", reflux is at its worst between 2 and 4 months of age then begins subsiding steadily.... with greatest improvement once the baby can sit on her own and nearly gone completely by the time the baby can crawl (9ish months).

 

[desertpenguin]

When you start introducing solids, rice cereal may help her keep her stomach full and you puke-free.

I agree with the pp, you should try eliminating some of the most common allergens from your diet to see if it's contributing any to her reflux.

 

[justmama]

: This is what I figured. In it for a long haul I guess! DD was a 34weeker and her neonatologist was surprised that she seemed okay in the NICU with no reflux. Unfortunately as soon as we got home it began. She saved it for us! :LOL YAY! In the NICU they called her neighbor, "mount vesuvius" because he just erupted constantly after each feeding. :LOL That's what Sara has become. I will start phasing out dairy in hopes that it will help us out a little with the barf because I'd like to have an outfit or two without any barf. My poor dh got barfed on yesterday two minutes before he had to leave for work and went in with white baby barf stains on his olive drab uniform.

It was sorta cute in a weird way! But I'll try eliminating dairy and see if that works. Is it worth bringing up to her neonatologist at the next appt? I haven't so far because I worry that it will lead to her pushing tests on us and medications. As long as she's happy and gaining weight, I don't want any interventions. Delaying vaccines on my preemie was a huge deal with the doctor so I dont' want to have more chances to argue with her. Should I just keep it to myself or should I mention it in passing casually? Thank you for the advice. I'm looking forward to the upright baby who is sitting and walking and crawling and hopefully not barfing so much! Until then it's no dairy and lots of slinging to keep her upright.

meg

 

[Periwinkle]

Meg, my twins were also preemies

and just wanted to be master of the obvious here but when I said 2-4 months that would mean corrected age for your dd.

Rice cereal did little for my refluxers fwiw. Here's what did help:

*Upright, tummy-to-tummy facing me (e.g., kangaroo-style in sling, sleeping on my while I sit up) for 45 min. post-feeding and as much as possible.
*As much breastmilk as I could give them (I had twins and supply issues), in as small feedings as possible. The old saying "smaller feedings more frequently" is true... HOWEVER...
*Limit "snacking" where baby gets mostly foremilk and ensure good hindmilk transfer through good latch and breast compression... the hindmilk forms curds faster and not as spit-upable as foremilk, and also decreases gassiness and discomfort, either of which can lead to more spitting.
*Suck on something for 30-60 minutes post-feeding... an "empty" breast, pinky finger, pacifier, etc. The sucking stimulates esophageal contractions and keeps food down.
*Position baby on her left side to sleep. This position enables the gastroesophogeal sphincter to be higher than the outlet to the small intestine, meaning, milk doesn't slosh up the esophagus as easily. Research is less consistent re: raising mattresses etc. but anecdotal evidence shows an incline (45 degrees) can also help some babies. I think this did make a difference. They now make "sleep positioners" that are on an incline.
*Mylicon Drops to help manage the burps also helps some babies, including mine (totally harmless, active ingredient isn't absorbed by the gut at all). I found over-burping actually caused more spitups than it prevented and so the Mylicon helped them self-burp better if that makes sense.

Good luck.

 

[mama23k]

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