I feel silly for asking this, but this never happened with my daughter. My son was born in July, and has developed a healthy appetite. He eats about every 4 or 5 hours, and in the morning he has cereal with 4 oz of formula (he sometimes leaves a little in the bottle so I know he's full) and then the rest of the day he usually has 8 oz bottles, which sometimes he eats all of it and sometimes there is a little left.
My question is, after each time he eats just formula, he spits up what seems like a lot. If I had to guess, it would be at least 1 oz that comes up. Is this normal? Like I said, I never had this problem with my daughter, so this is kind of new for me.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Thanks for all of the responses. I still feel kind of silly, but at least now I know its not out of the norm.
some kids are spitters and others are not..
My son spit up every day for 14months.. every single day..
we tried 2 prescription drugs and neither helped.. he just spit up..
as long as the baby is gaining weight and seems happy dont worry..
my duaghter spit up for 6 months but she screamed adn fussed - so the zantac helped settle her stomach and she was much better..
My kids never spit up on formula once they had the right one. The two I would recommend are Good Start (Orange can). It's a little more expensive but it is processed down more and easier for them to digest. The other one is Enfamil A.R. That one has some rice starch added to it to help thicken it and hold it down better. I would use that one if you don't want to spoonfeed cereal. Otherwise cereal is not really safe in a bottle. They tend to overeat because the cereal is still plumping while they are drinking it and it's in their stomach and still plumping and then it's too late to stop before they are overfull. It's also a choking risk with it in the bottle.... I know, Our parents did it, but things change. American Association of Pediatrics does not support giving baby's cereal in bottles and they are saying now that cereal bottle babies also tend to be fatter because they are overeating. Just start cereal with a spoon and switch the formula and you should be fine. 5 months is a good time for them to lesrn sbout spoons anyway.
I would have stayed on Good Start but when my hubby got laid off we had to go onto WIC so we had to switch to the other. With our first son we went through 6 different formulas before we found the Good Start and the spit up stopped. Both my children had reflux, but I wouldn't say just to continue on the same formula without trying something different that works better with his system.
Remember formula is a substitute for what they are made to be drinking so it may take a little tweaking to find the right one for their individual system. If you switch and still are having a spit-up problem check with your Dr. They give Prevacid to young kids with reflux to help with the spitting up/reflux if it is too bad. Also, I don't know if it was mentioned but keeping them upright for 30 minutes after eating helps too.
Good Luck,
C.
I'm having the same problems with my 6mo old daughter, Evie. My pediatrician said that it could be acid reflux and he recommended that I add some rice cereal to her formula. Make sure that you have nipples that are the right size for thickened formula though. Otherwise he said if it doesn't improve, she may need to start Prevacid. Hope this helps!
It sounds as though he may have reflux. My son had the same problem. He was forced to have a teaspoon of cereal in each bottle. IT thickens the formula and helps to keep it down. He was also prescribed Zantac liquid. They usually outgrow this condition by 9 months to 1 year old. I hope he feels better. :)
All of my kids were spitters....MAJOR spitters, but they gained weight and had no other issues. Since they couldn't tolerate the brand offered in rice thickened formula, doc had us make our own by adding a tbs or so of rice cereal to the formula he could tolerate. It helped a lot, but it didn't completely stop. In our case, it was just an undeveloped valve that resolved on it's own before the first year or so.
Make sure your doc rules out any other issues, and then stock up on burp cloths, bibs, and shirts for you! :)
I just have to add, after reading some responses, to do what is right for your baby and your gut! I have yet to meet a baby who is 'textbook' so don't anybody tell you that you aren't doing the right thing. Trust your instincts!
~L.
N. - My daughter had reflux, so she spit a lot up after eating. My son was 'a spitter' and also often spit up a lot. The difference was that she was in pain when she ate and spit - you could tell - unless she had her reflux meds. Sounds like you might just have a spitter here! :)
It does get better when you move them more towards food than formula.
HTH
J.
N.,
(Lovely name!) I didn't go through this with my 3, when they were bambinos, but may I suggest that it sounds like a full stomach, or indigestion. If we were talking about an adult, or at least a much larger child than a baby, I'd suggest hiatel hernia (traditional medicine's translation for the stomach being just a little out of place). It's easier to suggest something for a larger human, to get the stomach back in place. But a baby.... well, if you do some light bouncy 'games' (without causing that brain shaking syndrome) try a little formula to get some weight inthe stomach, do a little bouncy thing on your lap/knee, and that might just get the tummy back in place, and then proceed. I had indigestion for years and years until someone enlightened me on getting my stomach "adjusted", and how. But it sometimes gets 'moved' a little too high and needs to be maneuvered back to where it should for proper digestion. Difference between night and day!
You might want to contact an alternative practitioner that does stomach adjustments and ask about baby size possibilities.
My ped. always told me that unless its a continual thing (every feeding),Or vomiting after every feeding ( more than once a day) not to worry about it. Keep an eye on it, but don't stress about it. Burp him longer to make sure you truly are getting all the bubbles out.
The amount of liquid that is returning can be really deceptive. unless you can scoop it up and seperate it from the body fluids (saliva and stomac juices) we really have no idea how much of actual food he's bringing back up.
Try starting him on more table types of food (meaning: solider substance. I never use stage 1.) and see if that helps solidify his belly abit.
Good luck
Reflux, possible allergy, or just needs to burp more. My first did it and she had reflux, my second did it too, and he ended up haveing an allergy. I just kept track at when I fed them and when/how much they spit up. I also started giving more baby foods and less amount of formula, that seemed to help. Both of my kids used to take 8oz bottles and were find with it once we got one on meds and the other on the right formula :) I don't see any problems with it, I would just keep track to see if certain things are triggering it.
All three of my kids were big spitters. I found that if I gave my kids REALLY TINY pieces of whole wheat bread before they had their bottle it reduced the amount of spitting up they did. My ped said it wouldn't hurt them, so i was okay to try it. At 5 months he is about to start on food anyway. It worked for me, I hope this helps.
L.
Both my kids did spit up a lot and what the doctor told me is less more often! I know is kind of a pain but it is better than the spitting up! Also my daughter is 8 months old and she has acid reflux so she use to spit up a lot but then we started her on a med that seemed to help her a lot! She only drinks 6oz at time so that helps a lot too! Good luck!
All babies spit up a bit. As long as it's not like prjectile vomiting it really is nothing to worry about. When my kids were little my mom always said they are just overflowing after eating a bit too much. try feeding a little bit less.
8oz is a LOT for their little tummies to hold at once. Try preparing him some 4 or 6oz bottles in its place. It's possible he's only drinking that much because it's there and not because he's hungry - that could be why he's spitting up.
I know you've gotten a lot of responses, but if it happens after every feeding, I would talk to your little guy's doctor because it could be reflux which is not fun for us or for them. Good luck.
I had this problem too! Only I was nursing so I was never sure how much he was getting compared to how much he was spitting up. And it was weird becuase it was usually one big BLEH and it was all out...it reminded me more of thowing up than normal baby spitting up. So, we started burping him really well and that seemed to settle things down. I think it was a combination of my rushing things and his overeating that usually was the problem.
