Baby spitting up every feeding, help!

QUESTION: For the past month, my 8 week old has been spitting up a tremendous amount. He is gaining weight well, so I am not particularly worried about his health, but the spitting up is becoming quite a nuisance and sometimes reduces me to tears.

He spits up after almost every feeding, in varying amounts. Often it is quite a flood. Sometimes he spits up for up to an hour or hour and a half after he is done nursing. he typically nurses about every three hours during the day, with one longer period at night (four or five hours). I let him nurse on each breast until he pops off himself, usually after 7-12 minutes per side. Although he sometimes spits up when he burps, more often than not, the spit up just sort of floods out on its own, whether he is lying down or being held upright.

Jack's pediatrician says he is probably just eating too much because he loves to suck, and just keeps going even after he's full. I have been pumping once or twice a day 4 or 5 days a week to build up a supply of frozen breast milk for emergencies and a weekend that I will be away from the baby. Could the pumping have increased my supply of milk too much? I only get about an ounce or an ounce and a half per pumping session. Should I try limiting the amount of time he spends nursing, or feed him from only one breast at a time? Or would I then have to worry about him not getting enough to eat?

HELP! If he doesn't stop spitting up everywhere, I'm going to go insane, and I'm so sick of constantly changing my clothes and his after his feedings.

Oh Gwyn, you remind me of problems we had with my second son, Alex! Here I was, offering him the VERY BEST - and he was throwing it up!

I also called and spoke to lots of people - finally reached a doctor affiliated with La Leche League International who told me - honey (this was in the 70's when it was OK to say "honey"), what you have is a laundry problem!

Well, it did help to know Alex was OK, but I did figure out some tricks to help slow things down. Most of my suggestions will not be "sure cures", but they should help.

First of all, yes, the pumping may be increasing the problem by adding more milk to your production. This means your baby is getting more foremilk, which is less full of fat and less likely to settle in the stomach. It also may mean you are having much stronger let-downs causing your baby to gulp more air. So - watch while you feed him. If you notice at the beginning of a feed that he seems to be making gulping sounds, stop him after one or two minutes, burp him, then return him to the same breast. Another way to increase the amount of higher fat hind milk is to limit the changes of breast. THIS IS ONLY RECOMMENDED FOR BABIES LIKE YOURS THAT IS GAINING WEIGHT WELL. (I stress this so you don't tell a mom of a newborn to do this.)

Feed the baby on one breast for three hours. This means that if he wants to eat at 9:00, at 10:30 and at 11:15, keep him on one breast. At 12:00, change to the second breast until 3:00. Notice I did NOT say to feed him every three hours - just change breasts every three hours. In this way he gets more hind milk and less foremilk.

It sounds like the doctor is not concerned for his health. I used to use a LOT of cloth diapers... I do want to ask you about the weekend you will be away. Are you aware that some babies don't want to go back to the breast after a separation? Is there any way you could take the baby? Are you planning to take a breast pump to avoid mastitis?

sorry to get into what you did not ask about, but often people aren't aware of even what questions to ask!

Please write and let me know how things are going...

Jeanette Panchula, BA, RN, IBCLC
Vacaville, CA

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