Almost 5 Month Old Frequently Spitting Up

M., I know what you are going threw. I am a mother of 3, my youngest is just about 8 months old and, man, she is a spitter, and a projecter!!! She was worse a few months ago, but she still spits up everyday. And some days are worse then others. She never acts like it bothers her, but I think she picks when and where she will spits up on you, lol. It does get very old. And I know it is not what you want to hear, but some babies are just spitters!! My other two spit up once in a while, but my youngest does all the time. She could just be sitting on you, she could be playing on the floor, jumping in her jumper-roo, whatever. I think the only time she does not spit up is when she is sleeping. I know it sucks, but I believe that she will eventually grow out of it. Good luck!!

I wouldn't be satisfied either with your dr. I would get a second opinion.... this could be acid reflux. I have it and it does get better on some days and others I just want to die. I would bring it up with another dr and see what they do and if they don't want to do anything speak up.... she's your baby, your the mom, I had trouble speaking up to our dr at first because you think, "she should know she's the dr!" I really hope you can figure this out for her, I do feel for her. Please give her a big hug from me.... poor girl!

Hi there,
My son was also a spitter--to the point that we went through 2-3 bibs a day. He was a spitter with breast milk, formula, and food. At one point, we did have him on meds for reflux, but it didn't really seem to make a difference, so we stopped with the meds. Anyways, he is now 10 months and seems to finally have grown out of it. I think that sometimes it just takes a little while for their little esophagus and spincters to get used to taking in food. So, maybe time will help your little one as well. Take care.

I am a big fan of Dr. Mercola. Obviously he is not main stream, but he is extremely well researched. I think what he has to say about soy based products and especially soy based formula is critically important. Here is the link to one of the links on his site, but you can get a whole wealth of info by joining and searching through his archives: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/0...

Oh, my gosh, I went through the same thing with my now 18-month-old daughter! It didn't matter whether it was formula, baby-food, water, etc. You name it, she would spit it up. We tried everything--several different formulas, more cereal--less cereal, different feeding positions, different reflux meds, etc. The only thing that seemed to help was Chiropractic adjustments. Even so, the problem did not completely go away. I also changed to "Slow flow" nipples because she drank her bottles so fast. It slowed her down but didn't stop the spitting up.

I was told by my doctor, "Some babies just spit up until they walk." I thought there had to be something else going on. Well, once she started walking, she stopped spitting up! I couldn't believe it!?! It was the craziest thing! I will never forget how I felt the first day I picked her up at daycare and she was wearing the same outfit I dropped her off in that morning! What a monumentous occasion! Then, all of a sudden, we were making it whole weeks without using extra clothes. I was dumbfounded the first time I did laundry and had absolutely nothing to soak! A lot of the time, I would have two soaker bins in use at the same time so it was a big deal to realize I didn't have anything to soak anymore!

We had a very large fleece blanket that was on the living room floor at all times (unless it was in the wash after she was in bed) and it was her "boundary." Once she started rolling and crawling, it became a little harder to keep her on the blanket but it still served to catch most of the surprises. We also had a large stack of towels, one on the shoulder at all times and, at feedings, one laying on the front of her as well. I sure don't miss that part of her infancy! So, if you can hang in there a few more months, it really will get better!

One of my twins sons (now 13 months) would spit up like that, too. It ended up being something called reflux, which can be common. We did two things... From birth we tried 5 different formulas, but same thing would happen. It happened much less when we used Good Starts - not the Soy formula - because it seemed to be very gentle for him. Next, our doc prescribed liquid Zantac and we would give him a syringe and squirt it into his mouth 2x per day. It tasted terrible, but he didn't seem to mind. This helped tremendously. Then we noticed after about 10 months that he outgrew the reflux. By the way, we learned the hard way that as your baby grows in size, you must increase the dosage of medicine. You'll notice more spitting up as the baby isn't getting enough medicine.

I would continue to question your doctor. That's strange that he/she isn't taking the spitting up more seriously. Also could be an allergy to the formula? Good luck!!

My daughter spit up a lot until she was sitting up really well. Then it just stopped. She didn't do anymore until she threw up like a big girl in the middle of the night once. That was awful. Spit up is just something to deal with until about 8-9 months. If it seems to be bothering her, then talk with your doctor, but otherwise it's just something that many babies do.

I think your doctor is right, and some babies -- my son included -- are just spitters.
In some infants the esophageal sphincter is just not strong enough to keep the food in their stomachs. Children with acid reflux/GERD experience pain when they spit up, or just in general. My niece was diagnosed with acid reflux and she had much different symptoms than my son.
The good news is that you're almost done with the spitting. It should go away in about a month when she starts sitting up on her own.

I had a nephew that did that quite often. They tried cutting back about 1-2 oz, at each feeding what they were giving him, because he was drinking even when when he wasn't hungry, so he was filling up the spitting all the access back up. We aren't sure what was the true answer that helped him but I would try it out. It worked with him and he was a much happier baby. If you do 6 oz now try 4 oz then give her 1 more ounce if she is still hungry. I don't think that they had to feed him any more or more often, cause he was still getting full. Hope this helps. J.

I hate to say this but it is true that some kids are spitters. I have three kids. The first two were spitters. For a while my 3 1/2 year old would throw up at least one whole feeding a day. But she was happy and still gaining weight and after a while it went away. My 22 month old son was also a spitter, not large volumes but several times a day until about 9 months. Now my 4 month old-hardly a wet burp out of her. Give it some time, it usually gets better as the amount of solid foods they are eating increases. And unless she is not gaining weight or seems really uncomfortable I don't think they consider this a problem until they are more than a year old. It's a mess but it usually eases up-just keep a rag handy :)

My daughter was a spitter and projectile vomiter as well. She was breast fed and than later we found her to have acid reflux and we than switched to Enfamil AR, the AR stands for added rice which allows the formula to stick better to her stomach lining and allow her to keep from throwing up all the time. I would get a second opnion from a different dr and look into the formula I stated unles you are strict on soy based formulas. Never settle with one drs advice if you still feel unsatisfied. Once we switched to the formula and had her on Liquid Zyntac for her acid reflux she was much happier!! Good luck I know it is frusterating.

I have a friend whose baby went through the same thing and she had acid reflux. I know it sounds odd for a baby but that's what she had and was given a infnat version of zantax and that saw immediat improvment. Still spits but not nearly as bad as before

M., all of my children were like that also. Their doctor put them on a liquid zantac and it helped out alot. My daughter was on it for 2 years and my son was on it for a year. My 2 month old is also on another kind of reflux liquid that seems to help a little. I don't like it as much as the zantac, however it is helpful. I would ask your Dr. to try and see if that would help. Same as the response below, we also give our kids Nutramigin...it is expensive, but worth it. The baby zantac was awesome, my kids didn't mind the taste. Good Luck

My daugher also spit up a lot. All of the books say that it always looks like more than it actually is. We had to constantly carry burp cloths with us--which were always pretty wet! If your daugher is starting to move around some that can also cause the spitting up. My daugher's doctor said that it will get to a certain point inside and if they move some it will just come up. At eight months she was still spitting up.

I don't know if it would help, but I recently heard of a product called Colic Calm. You can find it at www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com

We dealt with this too. Once he threw-up into a $2000. electric piano. That was a bad day.

Two questions: Does the formula have iron in it? Some kids are intolerant of iron and it is not usually necessary for babies. Second question is does your baby eat really fast. We found that we had to put rice cereal in with the formula to make it thicker, then we made the hole in the nipple bigger. He still sucked it too hard and collapsed the bottle so we created a vent hole in the bottom of the bottle. We used a broccoli rubber band to close the hole when the bottle was upright. It looked goofy, but it stopped the volcano.

M., there was recently a thread here on use of chiropractic for reflux in babies. I'm amazed at how successful it is. If there is a search (I'm fairly new and haven't explored the site) then look from a couple days ago on those topics. It's definitely worth a try to search your area for a good chiropractor with pediatric experience. "Spitting up" that's common would not be constant and you've unfortunately already been unsuccessful with diet changes (too bad it's too late to go back to nursing). Knowing what I do just from reading the thread here, I'd definitely give chiro a try if it were my baby. Best wishes.

My son was the same way and as frustrating as it is he did grow out of it. It seemed like once we got into more solid foods it got better and by 1 year he rarely spit up. We tried the soy formula but that didn't seem to make a difference. We ended up switching to the Carnation brand and for some reason that also seemed to make it a little better. Good luck!

I still say it can possibly be a dairy allergy (not just simply cow's milk and cheese, but food containing dairy products like whey which is found in Spaghettios, etc.)

Out of five of my friends with babies/toddlers, four of us have children with dairy sensitivity, which is crazy! My youngest daughter as an infant had eczema. I was very frustrated that our ped at the time only wanted to mask the condition by prescribing a topical steriod (Cortaid). However, I wanted to know what the SOURCE of the problem was. After talking to other mothers, I decided to go on a dairy-free diet and her skin cleared right up. In hindsight, my second daughter also had a dairy sensitivity (breast fed as well) since she projectile vomitted after each feeding for the first 6 months (she also had a little eczema on the inside of her elbows when she got older before having her go dairy-free.)Colic can also be a sign of dairy allergies. That's my two-cents anyways. Good luck!

M.,
Our youngest was the same way as well as our oldest grandaughter. They both had reflux and needed to take meds for this for a few weeks. The meds worked. Insist on having a reflux test done and see what they find. Good luck.

You could try another formula..one that is not milk-based. I know that some children that are sensitive to cow's milk are also sensitive to soy. I am not sure what the best options are as I strictly breastfed my son. But I do know there are many options out there. Good luck!

My oldest was a projectile vomiter so I feel your pain! If you are comfortable with it, you might want to look into a chiropractor who works on children. Both my boys see one regularly and I have been really happy with the results. Depending on where you live, I can give you the number for mine which is a family chiropractor and is really set up for kids, complete with a family room so you can bring other kids with you. They are Health and Healing Chiropractic in Andover.

Does she fuss or get uncomfortable while she is eating or taking a bottle? My daughter also spit up a lot and I kept bringing it up to her doctor. He told us the same thing, that she's gaining weight and seems fine otherwise. Finally at 3 months old she was having so much fussiness during her feedings that I brought her back to the doctor and fed her in front of him. He knew right away that something wasn't normal. She was diagnosed with Acid Reflux. She was put on a solutab Prevacid once a day and Maalox 4 x's a day. She was a different kid after that. It eventually went away at about 9-10 months old. This may or may not be the issue with your daughter. I wish you good luck!

I had a spitter also. Our Dr put him on Zantac liquid. That seemed to help a little. We were also told to try putting dark corn syrup in the bottle, but I think there are some differences of opinions on whether that is a safe method. Our son was fine, and even got a bottle made with vegetable oil instead of corn syrup when dad was in charge. If you aren't satisfied with what your Dr. is telling you, you might want to get a second opinion. You are the mommy and you know your kids best. I think we also tried feeding him while in a bouncy chair so he was sitting up while eating? I had twins so some of that time is a blur as they are now almost 3. Good Luck.

I think your doctor is right, some babies are just spitters. I think so many parents push and push for answers when there are none, that lots of babies end up being 'diagnosed' as having reflux and put on meds when its really not necessary. I see posts on here about reflux and there are 50 replies with every parnet saying thier child has reflux, and I have a hard time believe that ALL those kids have reflux, when 5yrs ago you never heard of a baby with reflux. Now I think parents just want an answer and a medication for every little issue a baby has from crying to spitting up, when all those things are normal part of babies.

Ok off my soapbox, but I think your doctor is right. If your baby was a spitter on breastmilk, your baby will be a spitter on formula. Which is harder to digest and harder on her system. Also, any reason why you are using soy? If you successfully bresatfed for 4 months, there is no reason to use soy since lactose intolerance was ruled out at birth (or she had been very sick from birht and not left the hospital breastfeeding or on regular formula). Use plain as you can get milk based formula, feed her slowly, burp often, and when seh starts sitting up on her own and eating more solids, she'll slowly stop spitting up.

Have you considered taking her to a chiropractor? I did with my daughter when she had a similar problem at 3 months. She hasn't had a problem since. She is now 13 months.

My babies were just "spitters" too. The doctor could do nothing to help us either so we started chiropractic care. That seemed to help a little but eventially my kids both outgrew it by about 7 months. (I know how you feel. The worst part for me was having to change their clothes multiple times a day every day for months....) But I would give the chiropractor a shot. Anything to keep kids off medicine is worth a try.

Both of my children spit up quite a bit. My 10 month daughter wasn't as bad as my son, but she has a strong gag reflex and we are struggling with keeping solids down. The Dr Brown's bottles helped us with the formula spit up. Visit to chiropractor also helped.

Good luck!

I have to disagree with the mom who said she doesn't believe in all of these babies that have reflux. We eat so many more processed foods in today's society that has had some profound affects on our systems and our children's. Both my husband and I have acid reflux, so it was not surprising that our children born three months premature were also diagnosed with it. The muscles that help control the acid and food between their mouth and stomach have not properly developed yet, which is what allows the acid from the stomach to come up through the esophagus causing a painful burning sensation. Because those muscles are not quite developed, the food also comes back up. Yes, most babies do some spitting up. But there can be more than just the normal spitting up. If you are not happy with your doctor's answer, don't hesitate to get a second opinion. She is your daughter, you are her mom and have every right to be satisfied and comfortable with what you are being told by a doctor. We went through the whole round of changing formulas and ended up back on what we started with but adding cereal. We are also giving our children medication to help keep the acid down so they are not in pain. I hate giving them medications, but it really helps keep them more comfortable and a little less fussy. Our neonatologist at the NICU told us that they don't suggest Soy formula anymore, but I did not ask why. I hope you find some answers.

my best friend had a similar issue with her son he is now four and can still throw up at the drop of a hat. She had him tested and his Epiglotis was weak and they put him in steriods for a little while to help build that muscle up. It seemed to help for the most part then, but now like I said he still vomits.

Is your daughter gaining weight like she should? My daughter spit up afet feeding but she had a small blockage in her esophigus and needed surgery to fix it, but they found that out when she was very little. You may need to see a different DR or have her eat in little amounts more often. Good luck!

Could your daughter possibly have reflux? My daughter was like that when she was an infant. We did an x-ray type thing(very easy to to have done - she just layed there on her blanket) where she had to drink this dye in her bottle - she was given a prescription for "baby zantac" it was liquid and she hated to take it. We started putting it into her bottle with her formula. Our pedi also switched her to Enfamil Nutramigin formula (after we tried the soy) and it really helped with the projectile - she still did a little normal spit up, but it was not the constant projectile we were use to.

The nutramigin is VERY expensive but worth it. Ask your pedi for a few sample cans they always seem to have them for you.

Good Luck!

My oldest daughter was a baby that spit up alot. We had to use the ready made soy formula because the powder was too difficult to digest. She was hospitalized when she was a month old because she was losing so much weight. She still spit up, but it wasn't as bad. Plus, we had to use OTC meds recommened by our Dr. for a while. She is now 13 and thriving. Good Luck

My daughter went through the same thing and after like 4 other tries at new formula (including soy) I put her on Enfamil AR (added rice) and it was a miracle change! My neighbors tried it with their spitty son and it worked for him as well! You might try the Enfamil AR...it's a little more expensive, but you will save on laundry costs! :)

My oldest daughter did this as well! She was formula fed Enfamil first and vomited and spit up constantly. Then we changed her to Nestle Good Start Supreme and the vomiting stopped but the spitting up didn't we later found out that it was because of acid reflux that she was spitting up and they put her on meds and that totally changed everything. I would say ask the doctor about acid reflux and see what they say.

My now 11 year old had the same problems from birth to 6 months old. I would come home from work and my hubby would have no shirt on cause he said there was no point, he kept projectile vomitting all day. Anyways we took him to another doctor 3 hours away and they told us he had a bacterial type infection that gave him stomache problems for that long. Wouldn't you know that it only took a little bottle of some medicine that was prescribed and he was like a totally new baby, happy as ever and no more spit up problems. Hope this helps and you should get a second opinion. Babies shouldn't have to be in pain like that. They shouldn't be "Projectile" vomitting all day either.