How long do babies spit up. Why does a baby often spit up: the main reasons. Vomiting and regurgitation: how to distinguish one from the other

The appearance of a baby in the family is a great happiness, which is accompanied by many worries. The usual way of life of each family member is changing, fatigue and lack of sleep appear. And if a child gets sick or does not gain weight, this is a universal catastrophe. Parents begin to run to doctors, do not sleep at night and constantly worry about their child.

Why does the baby spit up?

In order to understand whether the child needs any help, you need to determine whether the baby is spitting up or vomiting. With the help of regurgitation, the stomach is freed from excess milk. This happens without effort, the baby feels great and is not afraid of this process. Babies stop spitting up by six months, when their digestive tract becomes more advanced. Vomiting is accompanied by spasms, the baby becomes lethargic and behaves restlessly. If a child starts vomiting, it is necessary to call a doctor, as it may be a sign of some serious illness.

Why does the baby spit up? This happens due to overeating, swallowing air or improper care of the baby. Newborns suckle at the breast not only to feel full, but also to satisfy the sucking reflex, which is why they overeat. If the baby is gaining weight normally, there is no cause for concern. Air entrapment during feeding can occur due to improper nipple latch, excess milk, excessive arousal, and other reasons. In order to prevent air from entering the stomach, the mother must ensure that the child captures the entire nipple, along with the areola. In this case, the lower lip should be slightly twisted.

Until what age do babies spit up?

The main reason for regurgitation is the immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract. Restless children with increased muscle activity spit up more often than their peers with a calmer disposition. Inexperienced mothers sometimes feed the child incorrectly, hold him in the wrong way and insert the nipple into his mouth.

Until what age babies spit up depends on the individual characteristics of the child. Some stop spitting up at three months, and some do it up to six months. You don't have to worry about this. After all, spitting up is a natural process. Mom should not be worried about how long the regurgitation will continue, but whether she is putting the baby to her breast correctly.

Frequent spitting up of the chest

In newborns, the stomach is located vertically, and the esophagus is straight and short. The sphincter between the esophagus and stomach is poorly developed. It is impossible to avoid spitting up. Over time, it will stop on its own, when the digestive tract becomes more perfect.

If the baby often spits up, after feeding, try to keep it in an upright position. It is advisable to press his tummy to your chest. You can also put the baby on the tummy before feeding.

In general, children are more likely to spit up due to overeating. When a mother has a lot of milk, the baby is forced to swallow the entire flow, and this leads to an overflow of the stomach. When switching from breastfeeding to artificial or mixed, babies begin to spit up more often.

Baby spit up a lot

When a nursing mother has little milk, the baby begins to suckle eagerly at the breast and captures a lot of air. Promotes aerophagia flat or inverted nipple. The child cannot capture not only the areola, but also the nipple itself. If a woman sees that the baby cannot cope with the nipple, she can buy special pads that help shape the nipple. You can also use a breast pump, it helps to give the nipple the desired shape.

When the baby spit up a lot due to the large amount of air that has entered the stomach, he behaves restlessly, while his tummy is inflated.

Up to four months, the baby should spit up no more than two teaspoons of milk after feeding. In order to determine whether a baby is spitting up a lot or a little, you need to lay a diaper, pour a teaspoon of water on it, and then compare it with what the baby burped.

In order for the newborn to spit up less, it is necessary to limit his activity after feeding. You don't even have to change clothes or disturb him in any way. Clothing and diapers should not squeeze the tummy. If the baby spit up after feeding, he should be fed often and in small portions.

If after a year and a half regurgitation continues, you need to go to a gastroenterologist. Perhaps there are some serious diseases that need to be treated. Such diseases include a herniated diaphragm, food intolerance, malformations of the digestive system, increased intracranial pressure, or pathology of the central nervous system.

The baby spits up a fountain

It is important to determine the cause of profuse regurgitation in a newborn. If the baby spits up a fountain, it may be a violation of digestion. Dispersion occurs due to poor-quality milk formula or poor mother's milk. It just seems that mother's milk cannot be of poor quality. In fact, women who do not diet, drink and smoke give their children completely unhealthy milk.

If the child is spitting up profusely, it should be shown to a neurologist. Since the cause of regurgitation may be the pathology of the central nervous system. In order to help the newborn, the mother must follow all the recommendations of the neurologist and pediatrician.

Baby spitting up cottage cheese

At first glance, it seems that newborn children do not understand anything. Maybe they do not understand everything that is happening around, but they feel the psychological atmosphere in the house well. In order for a child to grow up healthy in all respects, it must be protected from conflicts and quarrels. Since regurgitation can have a psychological basis.

Do not worry if the baby spit up cottage cheese. Spitting up is normal for babies under six months of age. The consistency of milk that a child has burped up may resemble cottage cheese, because it has already undergone a little processing in the stomach.

Baby spitting up milk

There is no child who has never burped. It happens to all newborns. The imperfection of the digestive system leads to the fact that the baby gets rid of excess milk by spitting up. If the baby spits up milk, the mother should think about how correctly she feeds and holds him during feeding.

Baby spits up mucus

In the first days after childbirth, the baby may spit up mucus. You should not be afraid of this. Just the body is freed from all that is superfluous. If a child swallows amniotic fluid, his vomit may contain not only mucus, but also blood. This is also normal.

If the baby spits up mucus not only after childbirth, but also for several months, you need to seek help from a pediatrician. You can bring vomit in a napkin to the appointment so that the doctor can see the cause of parental anxiety.

Baby burped yellow

Spitting up is normal for newborns. However, if the child is spitting up too often or profusely, while the vomit has some kind of peculiar color or texture, you should contact your pediatrician.

If the baby burped yellow, this means that bile is present in the vomit. This happens if the baby has an anomaly in the development of the esophagus.

Baby spits up water

Many pediatricians forbid mothers to give babies water. They believe that milk can be lost because of this. Actually it is not. You need to water the baby, you just need to do it not too often. Milk is a food, albeit a liquid one. And water is a drink that no living organism can do without.

The baby spit up water if the mother gives him too much water. It is better to drink from a teaspoon. Give no more than three spoonfuls at a time.

Newborn babies are a great blessing. Parents do not need to be afraid that they will do something wrong and harm their baby. Nature has provided for everything. Relying on instincts, even animals give birth and raise offspring, to say nothing of beings endowed with consciousness and intellect.

Baby spits up (video)

A wonderful remedy for profuse regurgitation in infants after feeding is massage. As experience shows, just a few massage procedures and your baby will get rid of regurgitation that goes beyond the physiological framework. That's what the video below is about. But first, an experienced specialist will tell you why regurgitation occurs in infants and how to deal with it.

Most families in which a newborn baby appears face the problem of regurgitation. This phenomenon scares parents, because it is very similar to vomiting. However, regurgitation is often not associated with pathological processes and is quite acceptable in infancy. Why does a newborn spit up? Can you help him somehow? Let's discuss.

Is it normal for a baby to spit up?

Yes, there is nothing criminal in this, and, with the exception of special cases, regurgitation is considered a physiological process. More than 70% of babies experience a similar phenomenon before the age of six months.

Regurgitation is the ejection of small portions of undigested or semi-digested food (most often mother's milk) from the stomach. If the baby is not capricious at the same time, smiles and gains weight well, you can not worry too much. But when the baby at the same time behaves restlessly, loses weight over time, burps constantly, with a fountain, be sure to consult a doctor as soon as possible. A little later we will discuss why this happens.

Whether vomiting or regurgitation

Each mother needs to be able to distinguish between these two conditions, because our further actions will depend on what we are faced with.

regurgitation The contents flow out easily, without contraction of the abdominal muscles, in a small volume. Not more than 2 times a day. Usually occurs immediately after eating or when changing position. The contents are liquid or slightly curdled, without strong odors. The baby is doing well. Physiological process.

Vomit Abundant volume of secreted masses, accompanied by spasms; vomiting is preceded by pale skin, nausea, salivation. Attacks of vomiting can be repeated one after another. Occurs regardless of food intake. The contents are often colored yellow (impurities of bile and gastric juice). The child is naughty, he feels bad. A pathological process indicating poisoning or the development of certain diseases.

As you can see, vomiting is a phenomenon that brings spasms and pain with it, the child will never be cheerful in such a state, while he may not particularly react to regurgitation.

Unlike vomiting, regurgitation does not cause inconvenience to the baby.

Reasons for regurgitation

The digestive system of a newborn baby is in the formative stage, and this is the main factor that the baby often burps. Here are some reasons why this happens:

1. Binge eating . As Winnie the Pooh's friend, the Clever Rabbit, said: "It's because someone eats too much." It's no secret that suckling mom's breast gives the baby a feeling of security and love. This state is so comfortable that even after eating, the baby does not want to come off the breast. Because of this “attachment”, the child may drink too much. But the stomach knows its norms, and regurgitation becomes a protective reaction. Formula-fed babies may experience a similar pattern due to the fact that the standard dose from the bottle is too much.
2. Air and food. It is not uncommon for air bubbles to enter with food during feeding. This is due to improper attachment to the breast, the uncomfortable position of the child during meals. If you are bottle feeding, the opening in the nipple may be too large and the milk (mixture) will flow out with too much pressure.
3. Flatulence. A child who receives breast milk, along with him, uses substances from those foods that the mother ate the day before. And if among the products there were legumes, cabbage, fresh apples, black bread, it is quite possible to increase gas formation, which, in addition to spasms, causes an increase in intra-abdominal pressure. As a result, the baby may vomit.
4. Weak sphincter muscles. They will form during the first 6 months of life. In the meantime, an untrained muscle “passes” the contents that have entered the stomach back.
5. overexcitation. This reason, although rarely leads to regurgitation, but has the right to exist.
6. Teething. Thus, the body gets rid of excess saliva.

Due to the large hole in the nipple, the baby can swallow air while eating.

Pathological regurgitation

If a month-old baby spit up often, profusely, while losing body weight, be sure to show the baby to the doctor. These symptoms may indicate the development of a serious illness.

1. Pathology of the digestive organs. For example, such an anomaly as pyloric stenosis appears already in the first weeks of life. With her, the child burps with cottage cheese, body weight decreases, fecal formations are absent even after an enema. If the operation is not done in a timely manner, the baby may die.
2. Pathology of the central nervous system. Occurs with difficult childbirth, fetal hypoxia, underdevelopment of the central nervous system in premature babies. In such cases, the child burps strongly, literally like a fountain, sleeps restlessly, the head may tilt back. The content is undigested milk or formula.
3. lactose intolerance. The child may spit up a lot due to lactose intolerance to the milk protein. Some people are born without the lactase enzyme involved in the digestion of milk. In this case, the baby is transferred to a lactose-free mixture and, unfortunately, breast milk becomes contraindicated for him.
4. Infection. These include food poisoning, meningitis, etc. A frequent concomitant symptom is high fever, pale or yellow skin. Spitting up with mucus indicates that the infection is localized in the gastrointestinal tract, or dysbacteriosis is to blame.
5. kidney failure. Sometimes regurgitation after eating can be not only due to overeating, but also due to kidney problems.

With lactose intolerance, milk should be excluded from the child's diet

In all these cases, the child needs emergency medical care, since all of the listed diseases are quite serious. Summarize. Seek medical help in such situations:

• regurgitation "fountain" frequent, more than twice a day;
• the baby refuses to eat, pisses too little or too much, lethargic, body temperature is lowered (signs of dehydration);
• very high temperature, weight gain is weak or not gained at all;
• the evacuated contents look like sour milk that is far from white in color, with an unpleasant pungent odor.

So, yellow regurgitation, a fountain, will tell you that the condition is similar to vomiting with bile impurities. Cottage cheese indicates that the digestion process has begun, but there are certain failures in the digestive system. If such symptoms occur periodically, and the baby is cheerful and cheerful, they are not terrible. But if the contents are brown or green - this is a very alarming signal, intestinal obstruction is possible and an urgent need to see a doctor!

And through the nose? The force of the push and the large amount of content lead to the fact that the vomit looks for all possible exits for itself (not only through the mouth, but also through the nose).

It is best for the baby to sleep in the side position.

Learning to reduce the frequency of physiological regurgitation

How can you help the child, without waiting for 6 months, when the condition itself normalizes? There are several simple tricks:

1. After feeding, always take time to carry your baby upright until you hear a burp. This will take up to 10 minutes.
2. While eating, make sure that the baby correctly captures the breast (nipple with a halo surrounding it). With artificial feeding, the hole in the nipple should correspond to the age of the little one, that is, a nipple with a small hole is suitable for newborns. In addition, there are special anti-colic bottles that prevent air from entering the stomach.
3. How long to keep the baby at the breast? Let it be more often in time, but experiment with taking the breast a little earlier than usual. When children are full, they no longer suck so intensively, often begin to fall asleep at the breast.
4. Keep your nose clean. Difficult nasal breathing leads to the fact that during feeding the baby swallows air.
5. Don't feed while you're crying.
6. Security measures: when putting the child to sleep, put him on the side and fix the position with rollers.
7. Refrain from active games after feeding. No need to throw up the baby and, moreover, do exercises.

Important! A baby who has just eaten is not left unattended to lie on his back. There is a risk that the child may choke on vomit.

Caring for young children is always accompanied by anxiety for their life and health. And such fear is quite acceptable, because it encourages us, parents, to respond to alarm signals in time and help our children. Just do not allow excessive worries, since almost every child burps during the newborn period, but this does not affect his development and health in any way.

A newborn baby has to go through a difficult path of adaptation to new environmental conditions. A child is born with imperfect body systems. As they develop and develop, various phenomena may occur that alarm parents, but not every symptom indicates any pathology. Many conditions go away as the body matures.

Parents often worry that their baby is spitting up. Most babies are more or less prone to this phenomenon, but spitting up is of a different nature. They can be purely physiological or indicate various kinds of pathology.

Physiological causes

Why even a healthy baby can spit up? All due to the immaturity of the digestive tract. In newborns, there is practically no special valve that closes the entrance to the stomach - instead of it there is only a fold of mucous tissue. Part of the digestive system (esophagus-stomach) of an infant resembles an open bottle. Food can easily both enter the stomach and splash back.

The sphincter that closes the exit from the esophagus to the stomach should be fully formed in the child by the end of the first year of life.

When the situation develops within the normal range

In other cases, we are talking about pathological regurgitation.

anxiety symptoms

You should definitely consult a doctor if regurgitation proceeds as follows:

• frequency of manifestation after 4 months - more than three times a day;
• food masses come out in large quantities and in volume can exceed half of what is eaten;
• in the secretions there are impurities of bile, mucus and blood;
• observed even after a small amount eaten;
• accompanied by anxiety and crying of the child;
• occurs against the background of symptoms such as fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, impaired stool, weight loss, etc.

Regurgitation that occurs an hour or more after the completion of feeding is also pathological.

Late regurgitation

If regurgitation that occurs shortly after a meal does not indicate a pathology, then late regurgitation (after an hour or more) is of concern.

However, if the child has no other symptoms, this phenomenon may be a variant of the norm and be explained by physiological reasons.

Milk or formula in the baby's stomach is digested 2.5-3 hours before the next feeding. At this time, with active movement and turning the child on the tummy, the contents of the stomach can splash out in the form of fresh milk.

If more time has passed after eating, then it comes out in the form of partially / fully curdled milk or is vomited with water.

The walls of the stomach of the baby are very elastic, easily stretched and contracted with any sudden movement, turn and change of position. Therefore, until the age of 4 months - by the time the digestive system gets better - regurgitation can occur after each feeding, even if a lot of time has passed after eating.

Delayed regurgitation (an hour or more after a meal) is sometimes explained by the "lazy" stomach syndrome in infants. The rejected content is a curd mass without a change in color and an unpleasant odor. Sometimes there is regurgitation of water.

The thing is that in babies up to 3-4 months there is a global restructuring of the digestive system.

During this period, the intestines are populated with beneficial microflora and set up for regular work.

Until this age, food can be digested more slowly, move from one department to another longer and linger in the stomach. Late regurgitation may be accompanied by irregular stools and intestinal colic. If the baby is not worried about anything else, you should not worry. In some cases, the pediatrician will advise therapy that normalizes digestion.

As a rule, such a phenomenon passes after a while on its own and completely stops when the child reaches the age of 3-4 months.

Not to be confused with vomiting

When a baby eats exclusively liquid food, it is easy to confuse regurgitation with vomiting and vice versa. Therefore, it is important for parents to know the distinguishing features of both in order to objectively assess the situation.

If the child feels and behaves as usual and his condition does not change (no temperature, stool changes, abdominal muscles do not tense, food masses come out in the form of fresh milk, cottage cheese or water), then we are talking about regurgitation. At the same time, they are observed no later than an hour after a meal in children older than 4 months and may appear for another 2-2.5 hours in children under 4 months.

Vomiting is a complex response of the body, in which several systems are involved.

Before vomiting, the child's pulse and breathing quicken, nausea is manifested by whims and anxiety, refusal to eat.

Food masses are pushed out by the fountain, have a yellowish or other hue. They can erupt in water mixed with bile, mucus and blood. At the same time, the abdominal muscles of the child noticeably tighten. Vomiting can occur at any time after feeding.

Inexperienced parents may mistake vomiting that occurs in infants after feeding for regurgitation. However, it must be able to distinguish, since vomiting often indicates pathological processes. Recurrent vomiting may be caused by infections, neurological or organic problems.

Causes of pathological late regurgitation

In addition to physiological explanations, late regurgitation may have pathological causes - such as pylorospasm and pyloric stenosis.

Pylorospasm

With this disease, a spasm of the lower part of the stomach occurs, which impairs its emptying into the duodenum. Food masses linger in the stomach.

Factors affecting the occurrence of pylorospasm:

The spasm is not permanent, so the symptoms appear with varying intensity. The baby begins to spit up from birth. According to the intensity of regurgitation, they can increase, decrease, occur both during meals and after an hour or more from the time of eating. The erupted masses have a normal color without an unpleasant odor, and do not exceed the amount eaten in quantity.

If regurgitation occurs two hours or more after a meal, oxidized food may be regurgitated in water.

Since the spasm itself causes discomfort to the baby, the child begins to worry. A small amount of digestible food leads to gradual weight loss. If parents notice these symptoms, they need to show the child to the doctor. Diagnosis is based on physical examination and confirmed by ultrasound.

Diet therapy and physiotherapy are used as treatment. In some cases, special drugs are prescribed. As a rule, with effective treatment, the condition improves after 4 weeks, and by 6 months the child completely gets rid of this problem.

Pyloric stenosis is a congenital narrowing of the lumen of the lower part of the stomach (pylorus).

In newborns, symptoms begin to appear after 2-4 weeks in the form of profuse vomiting, which occurs regardless of the meal (during, immediately after completion, after an hour or more).

Food masses have a stagnant sour smell and may exceed the amount eaten in volume.

Usually the baby does not show concern, however, frequent and profuse vomiting should alert the parents and encourage them to take the child to the doctor.

Pyloric stenosis is a dangerous disease that requires immediate surgical treatment. Without treatment, the child will not be able to get enough nutrition, which is fraught with the death of the baby.

Any condition of the baby that causes concern to parents should not be ignored. Whatever the reasons may turn out to be - purely physiological or pathological - it would be useful to conduct an examination to dispel all doubts.

The birth of a baby is always a blessing. However, young parents face a host of questions. For example, at what age does a baby stop spitting up? There are situations with which they cannot cope due to lack of experience. Every parent handles this situation differently. Some turn to grandmothers for advice, others look for answers in specialized literature. Both the first and second methods can be considered correct, however, in order to be confident in your actions, you need to regularly consult with a pediatrician.

Often, young parents are worried that after each feeding, the baby spits up. When can this process be considered the norm, and when does it signal danger? Let's try to figure this out.

Spitting - what is it?

If the baby spits up after feeding, should parents worry? In order to understand why this happens, it is necessary to look into the essence. Regurgitation is the process of expelling a small portion of food from the stomach into the esophagus. After that, it enters the oral cavity and exits. Most often this happens with infants.

As a rule, in children, this process is observed immediately after taking milk. However, sometimes this can happen after some time. In this case, parents will see a mass that looks like cottage cheese.

In principle, regurgitation in infants is considered quite normal. However, doctors say that if this is repeated quite often and in large volumes, then it is necessary to undergo an examination to exclude the occurrence of diseases associated with the digestive system.

When will a baby stop spitting up?

In the first months of life, every baby spits up after eating. There is nothing dangerous in this. The cause of this process is the formation of the gastrointestinal tract system. Also, during sucking, the child can swallow air, which after a while should leave the body. Most often, the release of food outside stops on its own.

Many parents who are inexperienced are interested in when the child stops spitting up on artificial feeding. In most cases, the terms are practically the same. Babies who are fed mother's milk or formula stop spitting up when they begin to sit up steadily. By this time, the stomach works faster, so that all the food is absorbed.

The body of each baby is individual. For one, regurgitation can go away as early as 4-5 months, while for others it can last up to seven. It is not possible to speak with certainty about the timing.

Even if the child has practically stopped the exit of food from the esophagus into the oral cavity, this process can be repeated if you feel unwell or during the appearance of the first teeth.

Reasons for regurgitation

Have you noticed that the baby spit up after feeding and want to know why this happens? Let's look at the main reasons.

If the baby was born prematurely, then his body did not have time to fully form. Usually, premature babies spit up much longer than those born at 38-40 weeks.

The next reason is rather banal - overfeeding. If a mother gives her baby a bottle of formula or a breast with every cry, this leads to a significant excess of the daily dosage. No wonder doctors recommend certain portions for each age. As a result, when children stop spitting up, it means that they simply do not overeat.

There is a theory that very small crumbs are not recommended to mix different types of food. In some cases, this can lead to disturbances and even provoke regurgitation.

And another reason that contributes to the release of milk into the oral cavity and beyond is air. It enters the stomach when the nipple or breast is not sucked properly. And the faster the mother begins to feed from a spoon, the faster the child stops spitting up.

When to start sounding the alarm?

If the child is gaining weight well, does not lag behind in development, is active, then parents have no reason to worry. In the first year of life, it is necessary to regularly visit a pediatrician in order for him to monitor the health of the baby. It is at the reception that you can ask when the children stop spitting up. He will also tell you what is considered the norm and what should cause excitement.

Most often, the symptoms of disorders in the digestive system are restless behavior of the baby, insufficient weight. Doctors also pay attention to the number of outgoing masses and the frequency of regurgitation. In this case, the child may be prescribed tests and examinations. And already on the basis of the results obtained, the doctor will draw the appropriate conclusions.

Preventive measures

Going to the forums, you can see that young mothers often ask the same question: “When do babies stop spitting up?” Some answer that this problem was over by 6 months, while others - by 8. In any case, the age of up to one year is considered the norm. By this time, the baby should stop this phenomenon.

• Under no circumstances should you overfeed your baby.
• When breastfeeding, it is important to ensure that the baby is properly latching onto the nipple.
• If feeding is carried out using a bottle, then you need to ensure that the nipple is completely filled with milk. This prevents air from entering the stomach.
• It is recommended to increase the frequency of meals, but by reducing portions.
• If you have to feed the baby with mixtures, then you do not need to make a big hole in the nipple. Through it, milk flows continuously, filling the stomach very quickly.
• While eating, it is not recommended to lay the crumbs strictly horizontally. It will be better if mom raises his head a little.
• To get air out of the stomach faster, it is necessary to put the baby on the tummy more often.
• And the most important rule that our grandmothers advise us: after feeding, you need to vilify the child in an upright position for 10-15 minutes.

Conclusion

In this article, we tried to find the answer to the question: “When do children stop spitting up?” This factor is purely individual. Every mother can rely on her feelings. If the baby feels great, plays, eats with appetite, then there is no reason to worry if a few drops of milk come out after eating.

However, everything is much more serious if the child's behavior has changed a lot. He began to sleep more, act up, eat little and at the same time also spit up? You need to seek help from a doctor. He will conduct an examination and find out if there is a reason for excitement.