How to Handle Child That Spits Up

This happend to my son at three weeks on. They told me to put rice (baby rice-the flakes) in his bottle and it really did help him to keep down the breast/formula milk.
Hope this helps.

My daughter used to spit up all of the time like that. She was also growing and gaining weight, so I didn't think anything of it. When she started having terrible stomach aches at three I took her into the dr and found that she had a dairy allergy. I felt so bad for not knowing sooner! I used to work with my mother in law doing daycare and there were a few babies that spit up a lot as well and their drs told them that the stomach muscles were just not strong and as developed and once they started sitting the muscle would strengthen and they would stop.

There is nothing to do with a baby that spits up except have a rag handy at all times :) Cloth diapers work really well as spit up rags. She will grow out of it. It took my daughter until almost 9 months old before she stopped completely. As long as she is still gaining weight as normal, don't worry.

Hello I have a three month old little boy who spits up alot also. My doctor suggested gripe water. Its all natural and inexpensive. you just add a teaspoon to the bottle up to six times a day. So far it has helped some and the chiropractor is next! Good Luck

My daughter did that and it was a slight case of reflux, something she just had to outgrow. She spit up ALL the time but was gaining weight so we didn't worry about it.

There wasn't anything I could really do so I just tried to keep her upright after feedings.

Tell your doctor about the spitting up. It is possible your daughter is suffering from reflux. My daughter had the same issue. She now takes 1/2 a tablet of prevacid and the spitting up has stopped.

If you're formula feeding I second tyring the Enfamil AR. My youngest son had moderate acid reflux disease and switching the Enfamil AR really helped with the amount of spit up at each feeding. The added rice helps the formula stick to the stomach lining.

My daughter used to spit up a lot too after eating. I took her to a chiropractor for an adjustment and that was the last day she did it. Of course there was still the "normal" spit up once in awhile.

Have you ever heard of craniosacral therapy? It helped with my son's terrible spitting problems. Some people say that spit up is normal and mabey it is but if you can find something to help reduce it than GREAT! :)
Craniosacral therapy is pretty inexpensive, short term (we did 2 treatments) and is just like a massage for the baby. They work on the head and spine and it is very gentle!
Good luck and congrats on the twins!

I am not sure what type of formula the are given, however when my two children spit up from acid reflux we switched them to Enfamil AR and the spiting was very minimal. The AR stands for added rice which helps the formula stick to the stomach lining. That way they are not spitting up as much. It worked for both my kids.

My son at 11 months did this. We did two things gave him lactose free formula Similac Sensitive and also did a chiropractic adjustments. WOW! They both helped. Before even after he would burp he would spit up alot later on while playing.

I have bottles that are suppose to minimize spit up but really I saw no change when I used them or a different kind. It was the adjustments and formula change that helped us.

Now we have switched him to whole milk and there has been NO spit up.

-Good Luck

I've never had this problem, but my sister-in-law did. I did have problems with throw-up after feedings because of lactose and iron intolerance with my first child. I had to use a formula lactose/iron free and that stopped it. It would be a good idea to see if the problems are being caused by lactose intolerance problem. If it isn't, then usually doctors don't do anything about reflux if the baby is gaining weight (the other comment about doctor prescribing 1/2 prevacid is a first with me...so make sure you get go to your doctor about it). My sister-in-law would feed her daughter in her car seat and let her sleep in her car seat if she got sleepy after feeding so she wouldn't spit up. She would schedule her feedings when she was sleepy so that she would fall asleep after eating. She eventually grew out of it and hasn't had any stomach problems.
Hope these suggestions help!
Melissa

I'm a nurse with 44 years experience, some in hospital and home care pediatrics. I've worked with many kids with acid reflux disease and problems with their pyloric (stomach) valve. (I've also raised two kids.)

What you are describing can be an important medical problem. Certain kids, for instance premature babies, are more prone to these problems. Do not ignore it, especially if you believe you've been doing all the regular parent things to handle the problem. Talk to a PEDIATRICIAN about your babies' symptoms. If that doctor doesn't seem to take you seriously, and you have health insurance, see a Gastrointestinal specialist. Acid reflux is not just "baloney." Your babies need to be observed with medical and parental care. If they outgrow the problem, great. If not, they will be getting the medical care they need.

Good Luck.

D.

could be the type of formula. both of my youngest children spit up shortly after bottles and we determined they were lactose intolerant. we switched them to soy and they never spit up.

I had this problem with my daughter too. She would projectile vomit and soak anyone or thing in the path. I was changing both her and my clothes several times a day! At the time, our doctor gave her medicine for reflux but it made no difference. She was an appropriate weight and all possible medical conditions were eliminated. The advice I received at the time was to wait until she was a little older and as she grew the problem would take care of itself. Indeed it did! It started to decrease around 6 months and stopped all together shortly after that.

You might feed less quantity during feedings. If they are gaining healthy weight, try cutting down just a bit on the quantity of formula. It may be that they are just getting too much in their stomachs from overfeeding.

You might also consider that they may not be digesting that particular formula very well if they are spitting up even 2-3 hours later. This could also be due to overfeeding, or it might be due to food allergies (either to soy or milk)... you might try switching to a different formula.

Is the children watched while on the floor and on a blanket. I suggest you stop using your floor cleaning supplies from mop to
vacuum to dusting spray on furiture that may get on floor and also all abrasions from water to polish and cleaner for floor.
And call and see if your local posion control thinks it is a posion situation.
Also have all formula and clothing and blankets toys infnat seats and on and on ready to be listed expectly by e mail message.
Save the vomit also.
Also contact your exstenion service and toy to blanket cos.

Also ask the doctor if it is a allergy or tempered formula or some thing.

I do not mean to scare you but I know someone who went thru this and it was the worse line and others it was just a upset tummy.

But with both twins it sounds fishy like a bad blanket,cleaning or formula or could be a birth defect both share expectly if invitro babies the likelyness is higher.

Also see if any one else in the home is sick or in the building if apt to neighbors in their homes and neighbor hood.

Have the furnace and water heater chimney gas pipes etc checked out.

Expectly if you use breast milk have you checked thruly.

I hope your all well and if needed while having it checked out move to Grandmas or a sisters/aunts to be safe.

Get allergy tests also.

D. been there alot.

My first born was a spitter too and it varied as to when after eating. My midwife suggested that I or course burp her well and keep her sitting upright for no less than 15 minutes after eating. This did help a bit but what I found helped more was .... burping once or twice during feeding time and also after feeding was done bouncing lightly on an exercise ball with her in my lap or on my shoulder (burping positions) for a few minutes to get all the bubbles to come up. My girlfriend with twins had the same trouble .... these things helped with one twin and the other just stayed the same. Some kids just spit up more than others. Another friend of mine found that her child was sensitive to whey based formula and when she switched to soy based formula her child's spitting up decreased greatly. Of course, discuss changing formula with your pediatrition first...he/she has great experience with this topic. Good luck and hope that one of these suggestions is the solution for you!

I also have twins (b/g) and my little girl spits up just like yours. Sometimes it was really bad and would be coming out of her nose, or be considered more like vomit than spit up. It would wake her up and she was very fussy because of it. I was used to this because my older daughter had really bad reflux and was medicated for three years. The twins were only a day old and we noticed how our little girl was a "spitter" just like her big sister and our pediatrician offered to put our little one on meds right away. I decided to wait and see how it played out first. Then, through encouragement from friends, I decided to take her to a chiropractor. Now my little girl spits up only on occasion, it is much less volume, doesn't make her cry and we have now avoided medicating her. So, long story short, you may want to consider taking her to a chiropractor. Also,if she doesn't seem bothered by it, then she will probably just grow out of it and it is nothing to worry about :) Good luck!!

Hey it sounds like reflux to me. I would talk to your doctor about it. I add some rice to his bottle at home and at daycare he has some too. This has really helped alot. He does some still but not nearly as much as b4. He is growing like a weed still!!!

Hi JD, I had this problem with my daughter. It would be constant. I used to think that if I even looked at her she'd spit up! We used to go through like 4 burp clothes throughout the day. I breastfed her. I just waited for like an hour to put her on her stomach. I did take her to the doctor who prescribed her Prevacid Solutabs twice a day. That seemed to help a little bit but she just eventually stopped doing it when she was around 8 mo I think- thank God. Now she no longer needs medicine.

One of the obvious factors could be that you have stopped concentrating on burping them after feeding. It is easy to lose track of this as they grow older, but each baby does need a good burping session after eating until they are sitting up by themselves and can rock the burps out. If you are burping them well then...

Are they nursed or bottle fed? Nursing moms sometimes have this problem when they eat things that upset a child's system (cabbage, eggs, coffee... some of the more acrid/gassy foods). If you are nursing them you may want to contact the LaLeche League for advice.

If they are bottle fed you should look at a few things:
1. The bottles and nipples themselves, which should be BP free. If you are heating their food in plastic bottles you should stop this practice immediately. Plastics leach into food when heated causing stomach upset and, worse, nervous system damage.
2. Check the formula for corn syrup solids or any other form of corn syrup. Find a formula corn syrup free.
3. Switch to milk-based if you are using soy, or soy-based if you are using milk. Mix it up between formulas. All bodies develop resistance and/or allergies to the same foods eaten day after day.
4. Shop at a natural foods store for organic, non-toxic formula for your babies. These are healthier and have fewer allergens for them to deal with.

Don't give in to the popular new "reflux" theory. Babies don't get reflux, they get bad food or are poorly burped. No amount of medication will take the place of a thoughtful diet and attention to detail.

I have to daughters, the first one never spit up and still loves her food. She was taking 8 ounces at 3 months not spitting up an once. The 2nd one is a spitter. When she was younger (3 months) we stopped patting her on the back to burp because everytime we did it was like a volcano exploding. We just would hold up in sitting position, she burped on her own and after feedings we kept her up right.

We did give her gripe water (could only find it at Hy-Vee) and bought the Hy-Vee brand comfort-ease formula (only $12.00 a can) and it seemed to help a lot. The doctor told us some kids are just spitters and recomnended us to start cereal at 4 months. It helped out a lot. Now she is 8 months and we have no more fountains but occasional leaks, we always keep a cloth bib on her for those little spills. Good Luck and always keep an extra outfit handy.

Hello, I have four young children and my second daughter had the same problem with spitting up although she spit up a lot more than it sounds like your daughter does. We had to, per the doctor's recommendation, put cereal in her bottles. We also had to give her zantac. Holding her upright seemed to help a little. We eventuallly took her to a chiropractor which I was really unsure of until after 9 treatments she never spit up again. This chiropractor and father of five said that sometimetimes the trauma of birth causes compression of the nerve that innervates the stomach. She was like a new little girl.

Hi J D,
My little girl spit up a lot and was a very fussy baby. We put her on reflux meds. when she was 3 months old and I took her off fairly quickly because I didn't want her on that. She still spit up, but didn't seem to be fussy, so I left it alone, thinking she would outgrow it. When she was 8 months old, she started getting continual ear infections. At 11 months old, we when to the ENT and he decided to put tubes in her ears. When I told him about the spitting up, he suggested she see a GI doctor to check on reflux as reflux can greatly effect the ears because the acids run past the ends of the eustatian tubes of the ears and cause inflammation. Well, the upper GI ended up showing significant reflux and she was put on medication which she did not outgrow until 18 months old.

Just an FYI of other signs to watch for and questions you might ask her doctor. I've also heard that chiropractic can help this.

Good luck,
K.

I hate to tell you this, but some babies are just spitter upers!!! My 3rd, who is almost 9 months old use to spit up all the time, all day long. Is a good eater, gained weight good, just always spit up. She still spits up once in a great while, and I think alot of it has to do with eating more solids and less formula, or she is just growing out of it. It wouldn't matter if I waited to let her play, how often I fed her, it just didn't matter, she was going to spit up. You never knew it unless you looked at her and saw that she spit up. It never effected her, she still laughs, plays, babbles, everything. Your daughter may have heart burn, or reflex issue that the doctor can give her meds for, but otherwise, she will eventually grow out of it..