Is Spitting-up Normal?

It could be normal but if it it every time he eats and everyday you should talk to his dr. Ask him about gerd or reflux. One of my friends had a baby that had gerd ( not fun but treatable ) .

My oldest spit up all the time but lost no weight and ate great. She was just, as some say, a "born spitter" so as long as he is fine otherwise I would not worry about it

My daughter spit up constantly for what seemed like forever, probably until at least 6 months. I told the doctor and she didn't seem to be too worried because she wasn't super gassy or fussy all the time. At one point they did tell me they could put her on medicine if it didn't get better but I just rode it out. The spitting up was just a small quantity but all the time, not projectile and she was thriving. If you notice anything like that you should talk to your doctor but if it is just a little bit all the time I wouldn't worry too much. You could always bring it up to your doctor just to get their opinion and see if there is anything you can do to alleviate the problem. A few suggestions that were given to me were to keep the baby upright for at least a half an hour after feeding, burp really well, and they make these wedges to put under the crib mattress to elevate his head.

Hey J.- omg my daughter spit up ALL the time until about 6 months. She was a MESS and it was horrible, horrifying, awful, etc. Choose your own adjective. :) I kept taking her back to the doctor, and they stood firm by the statement, "if she is still growing at the acceptable rate and thriving, it's nothing to worry about and will go away". So i just gave up and always had an extra change of clothes for both of us. We tried reflux medicine and non-lactose formula, I changed my diet when i was breastfeeding- nothing made a difference and since the spit up wasn't causing her any discomfort, I discontinued the medicine.
The spit up is usually caused by one of two things: most babies have reflux, and some worse than others, and that maybe the formula isn't compatible with his system. I'd try a different formula (i used Enfamil Gentlease, it made a HUGE difference), and experiment a bit with the amount he's getting- he may be drinking too much and overflowing, or he may be lactose-intolerant (which is actually more rare than it seems). But the short answer is it WILL pass. If you are concerned about weight gain, take him to his ped. But for now, I'd try a different formula and see if it helps. :)

J.

Some babies do spit up a little after being fed but you need to look at any other possible symptoms. Is he spitting up the whole feed? Does he cry & sound like he is in pain after being fed?

My 13 wk daughter was crying like she was in pain , had a bloated stomach and had an excessive amount of gas , we changed her to Similac Sensitive which is lactose free and she is a different baby.

Good luck

K. H

It could be his little belly is getting too much.

Hi J., i have 3 boys who are past the formula stage, but they could not handle similac with iron, we had to switch to isomil and had no trouble, my pediatrcian said all babys are different and some can not handle the extra iron. I mixed the formula with breast milk first and then went to all formula and we had no more spitting up.good luck.
M.

my son is 5 1/2 months and is on similac and spits up to everyday after most feedings its got better when we started him on baby food...but ask ur doctor to see what he thinks...my doctor said its ok as long as hes still gaining weight!

He may have a lactose intolerance. I had this problem with my first child, and I had to mix the Similac with another formula that had no lactose (can't remember the name -- it was 20 years ago!). Ask your pediatrician, there may be any number of lactose-free baby formulas out there. Good luck!

It might be the formula or he just has GER (Gastroesophageal Reflux http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/gerdinfant/...
Both of my twins had this problem and one of the twin got over it by 5 month but the other one just couldn't until we totally stopped her formula milk at 14 month or so 'cause we started divign them Organic whole milk.
Bummer!!!, I only realised it when she started throwing up again her milk when we accidentally got Organice milk (Horizon) which had the added DHA/RA .And we had fed our twins enfamil with DHA/RA until they were 14 months, I was so upset with myself that we put our girls through a terrible time with their milk. And one of the twins which had the longer spitting problem had and still has weight issues. We put her through tests and we were so frustated.
I am also very upset that the pediatricians should know all this. Approach your pediatrician with your concern and see what she/he thinks.
Try switching the formula or As the old tale goes there is nothing better than the breast milk.

He could be lactose intolerant. Try soy formula.

Hi J.,

You might try a formula with low iron. My 3 girls could not use formula with iron, so I used low iron formula. Our Ped. recommended it. They are still healthy, it was just too much iron for their system to handle.

Spitting up can be normal if it's not the entire feeding. Their tummies are only the size of a ping-pong ball at 3 1/2 months, so depending on how much you are giving him can affect how much he'll spit up. My son, who is also 3 1/2 months only spits up when I don't burp him well. I burp him throughout each feeding. Since I breastfeed exclusively, I burp after each side, sometimes if he's sucking hard I'll unlatch and burp him. I watch him while he eats, and when he squirms I know it's time to burp him. I have observed that relieving the gas pressure while feeding helps him digest and not spit up. My niece who fed her 3 month old formula found she was overfeeding him and it was causing spit-up/vomiting. I hope that these suggestions help you with your situation. Good luck!

I bet it's the iron in the formula that is making him spit up. Change his formula. If he continues to spit up call the doctor and seek his advice. Best of luck.

Your baby's stomach may just be irritated by something. You have to figure out what it is. None of my own children spit up very much; however, one of my grandsons did it all the time. We finally changed him from Good Start to Enfamil. He never spit up again!

Hi! My son used to spit up about half of his bottle when he was on Good start. He did it for a few months before the doctor said he had a milk allergy. They recommended Nutrimigen ($9/bottle). I bought Similac Lactose Free by accident and got the same results for a lot less ($5.27/bottle at Walmart). When he turned one, he grew out of it because when he switched to regular milk he was fine.

My oldest was a spitter, but my other two were not. All three were on breastmilk for the first several months of their lives. So, I think it somewhat depends upon the child and how their little bodies are made.

My son had similar problems as an infant. He was diagnosed with reflux...and that caused him to throw up constantly...I mean it was very powerful throw up. After feeding him he would actually throw up across the room. It was very scary to see that. But his pediatrician explained to me that reflux (for an infant) is similar to heartburn...it is the stomach acid that causes the milk to come back up. I don’t know if you ever had heartburn, if so, just imagine your baby feeling those symptoms. We ended up putting my son on soy (instead of regular baby milk formula)...and we found that the powdered soy milk does the job.

I really would not give a baby iron.
Best milk is raw goats milk, it's much more like mommy milk with very important properties!
God Bless

My oldest girl spit up A LOT after each feeding too, and when she would, she arched her back and would cry. Hers was due to a milk allergy/sensitivity, which is HIGHLY common in babies. They just have a really hard time digesting cow's milk protein -- it's just too strong sometimes. Even though I was nursing, the cow's milk protein came through, and I chose to cut any type of milk (foods with caisen/whey) out of my diet completely. Once I did that, it took about a week or two to get out of her system, but after that, she was a COMPLETE ANGEL. It was completely amazing the difference. Talk to your pediatrician about it and see what he/she recommends as far as switching formula. I would think they would try either a non-milk or soy-based product for you. Hope that helps!

When I was using Similac I found it to be very strong and caused gas, I also found the premade different that the powered, the premade seemed to be much stronger than the powered and caused gassiness and stained terrible.

When my oldest was little, Similac always made him spit up and gave him lots of gas. That was the formula that they sent him home from the hospital with. We switched him to Enfamil and the spitting up practically ended and most of his gas went away. With my second, we just avoided Similac and didn't have any problems! Maybe some kids are just sensitive to it. Both my boys drink milk just fine today.

It depends. If he seems OK otherwise, than don't worry. If he seems to be in pain, then you might want to try and find the cause.

My son was 20 lb by 3 months because he nursed to soothe the pain. We would go all morning with him refusing to nurse, and then he'd want to nurse, literally, for hours. SO, it is not always OK if they are gaining weight. The dr didn't take me seriously until he threw up in her office. (at the 1 month appt. --she told me I was just a first time mother when I raised the issue at his 1 week appt.) Then we went on reflux meds (he wouldn't take zantac, then we tried another which helped some.)

That's the way my son started out with food allergies, only by the time he was 3.5 months he had blood in his stools...and I was breastfeeding. I ended up seeing a gi specialist and going on an elimination diet, as I couldn't get him to switch from breastmilk to the nasty formula for babies with allergies. (Nutrimigen(sp) or Alumentum(sp?)...

Keeping the baby elevated (upright) for at least 15 min should help.

My oldest never spit up. Her clothes were almost all beautiful and spot free when she was done using them (minus the occasional poop-out). My second child spit up all the time and lets just say, many of the baby clothes don't look quite as nice any more. It is a unique thing to the child. I hated it and wondered something was wrong with her. They suggested she may have reflux, but never thought it was a problem to investigate. All in all, she turned out fine. I just ended up putting a cute little bib on her more of the time so it was easy to clean up.

I now it is frustrating! Hang in there.
Liz