When Will the Spitting up Stop!?!

Fyi: the medication does not prevent spitting up, all it does is remove the acid so spitting up is not uncomfortable for the child. Adding cereal to the bottle or using a formula specifically for spitters (thicker) is what helps keep it down, but since you are breast feeding, you are doing all you can. My son was a non-medicated, breastfed spitter, and by the time he was 12 months, on mostly solid food, it was significantly reduced, but he still spit up occasionally until he was at least 18 months, maybe even closer to 2, but it was much less often.

My nephew was a huge spitter-upper. It happened constantly, and my sister wouldn't leave the house without half a dozen bibs. He was like yours, seemed happy as could be and didn't seem to notice the spit up except he didn't like having his neck area wet. He did not have reflux, so they didn't medicate or add cereal to his bottles or anything, just waited it out. He had mostly outgrown it by a year old. It slowed down quite a bit in the couple months leading up to his birthday, and only happened occasionally after that.

My sister's pediatrician said it had to do with the valve between the esophagus and stomach not being fully formed and closing properly. So the milk would just kinda pop out. The valve has to finish forming in some kids and it can take about a year. Keeping him upright like you are doing, being careful not to jostle him right after a feeding, and not letting him get overfull were all things that helped, but nothing made it go away except time.

Hi, I know I am late on this, but wanted to let you know that I had a baby just like you described. All but one of my kids have been spitters. One of them I put on medication, but she had other health issues as well and was having trouble gaining weight, so she needed all the calories I could give her. The best example for you would be my first daughter. She spit up all the time. She was exclusively breastfed for the first months, and she still spit up. After feeding she would also commonly throw up. My husband and I decided we felt she was getting too much milk. I have an extremely fast let down and produce a lot of milk. So our solution was to only allow her to nurse one side at a time. The throwing up stopped. If I ever fed her both sides, she would throw up again. I don't remember at what age I did allow her to go to both sides or if I even did.

Now, even though the throwing up stopped, the spitting up did not. Just like your baby, she was happy and healthy. It never seemed to bother her. She always smelled a little like spit up and her clothes often were stained yellow, but I gave up on changing her every time. I just changed her if she got really really wet. I would always have a burp cloth or blanket under her when she was on the floor or on anyone's shoulder. I carried tons of them in my diaper bag.

The good news is that it did not adversely affect her at all. She wasn't a large baby, but she is 7 now and is still small, so I think she is just naturally petite as the doctor says she is perfectly healthy. She developed right on track, actually ahead on most things, and is extremely smart. She also does not have any issues now that seem related to having reflux.

The bad news is that it did not go away as soon as people said it would. When she started solid foods, she still spit up, it was now just in a multitude of different colors. :) When she hit one year old, she still spit up, though probably less than she did before. It stopped sometime after one year, but I don't remember exactly when. We just got used to it and it stopped bothering anyone.

Anyway, I hope that helps you to know you are not alone. You might have the doctor do a reflux test before choosing medication as they can actually tell if she is refluxing or not. I don't think there would be anything wrong with putting her on medication if it helps, but I also don't think there is anything wrong with choosing not to if it is obviously not affecting her health. Talking with her doctor is a good first step.

M.

3 of my 5 children had reflux and they all gained weight and were even on the very chubby side till I quit nursing them. So just because they are gaining weight doesn't mean they don't have reflux. Not only are they spitting up but what they are spitting up can irritate the throat and can also cause the teeth to rot long before their time as theres acid in it. Putting him on medicine would be more a benefit in so many aspects. All my children were on Zantac and we ALWAYS got it flavored as its super minty. The only flavoring they will/can do is grape and it does a world of difference. My daughter is 19 months old and still takes Zantac as she hasn't "grown out of it" and not all children do grow out of that either. After seeing so many specialists and talking with them spitting up all the time IS NOT NORMAL!

My son had terrible reflux. He spit up a ton also, but he wasn't a "happy spitter", so we had to use the medicine. Even with the medicine, he still spit up, it just didn't hurt him anymore. He did start to slow down significantly after he started sitting up more consistently. He started sitting up on his own at around 4.5 months (walked at 9...crazy!), so by around 6 months or so we took him off of the medicine. He still spit up some until he started eating more solid foods (around 10 months or so), but he didn't go through 3 outfits per day anymore either. I just always kept a bib on him during those first months when it was really bad. Saved at least some clothes.

I guess I don't have a great answer for you since I'm sure all kids are different, but he should slow down a little at least in the next few months. My son didn't stop spitting up altogether until after a year old. He's 22 months now and we don't have that issue anymore, but it felt like it took forever to get there! Hang in there, mama!

My daughter was a HUGE spitter too and I remember how annoying it was to constantly clean up. I think it started to get better once she was eating more solids than having milk as food. I think by a year when she was eating about 5 small meals a day it was for the most part gone.

Have a LOT of bibs handy....leave it on him during the day.... the bibs (if it has a plastic backing on it), will also prevent the moisture from making his chest skin & neck skin always moist and causing a rash... and from preventing his clothing from being wet there too.
AND have a lot of burp cloths too... for putting over your shoulder when he is on your lap or feeding.

My son spit up a lot... I ALWAYS had a bib on him at all times. Except when he was sleeping, as a baby. He had nothing wrong with him. We checked with the Doctor. He grew out of it by 1 year old.

Your son will grow out of it.

Good luck,
Susan

My son was a horrible spitter.. He spit up every day many times a day until he was 14 months old.. we was happy gaining weight.. we tried zantac, and prevacid neither helped him so we stopped the meds and kept a burp cloth handy.

I breastfed so it didnt stain much and we just wiped him off as needed.. I only changed his clothes if absolutely necessary.. a quick wipe with a wet washclothe.. and he was fine..

My daughter had acid reflux since birth and she still has it at age 3. I would bring like two changes of clothes to the nursery and she would use them both. She eventually outgrew the actual spitting it out part but untill then I believe she was like the stinky baby of the nursery. LOL. She just always had the smell of spitup on her. She still did it past a year old so he may too but eventually they taper down. Just be patient because he won't do it forever.

My daughter (my 3rd baby) was a HUGE spitter. It was constant, pretty much as you described. And, she was totally happy about it. One of her favorite things to do was to smear it all over the floor once she started scooting around. Yuck.

She started to grow out of it around 9 months. My MIL was "very concerned" but we ignored it (and her comments) and she totally grew out of it between 9-10 months. You are getting close I'm guessing!

Good luck.
Jessica

It sounds like you have a reflux baby, not the normal spitter. The normal spitter is small volume and usually only one a day outfit change for baby. You are describing what I went through with my first child. My reflux baby took 2 years to "grow out of it." The specialists said most stop around 6months and the rest around 1 year.
I too do npt like meds but with reflux the acid will burn he esophageal lining and well damaged cells with later mutated cell division can lead to cancer. i can tell you there is a distict smell to regular spit up and then reflux spit up. The acidity is a smell that you'd know and recognize. It would require you to bathe your baby to rid the smell. It would not smell like formula or anything else, just acid.
Please do ask your doctor, and realize that if the meds do not stop the spitting up, they do decrease the acidity, which makes your baby feel better as weell as helps their esophagous and teeth. In my case baby 1 was 120th percentile for weight and puked all day for 2 years with the help of 3 specialist. She was on 4 different meds, had occupational therapyy and cried at the sight of food. I still keep her on a restricted diet when it comes to food acidity. Baby 2 is much better eater, only 50th percentile for weight, klittle spit up... but i recognized the smell in a few of her spit ups, not all. She is on zantac and so far the acid is under control.
Hope I helped and best wishes!
-MB

My daughter stopped as soon as we started solid foods, around 7 months. Solid foods were the key! I also tried to buy the baby food vegetables that had rice in them to help it stay down.

My son was a HUGE spitter. Receiving blankets were my friend, and I got to the point that if I could wipe it up, and he wasn't too wet or smelly, I wouldn't even change him. Bad, I know, but it was really that often. I think that it started to calm down at about 10 months, but it was really gradual, and all of a sudden I realized that it wasn't so often. It will get better, and it doesn't always mean that there is something wrong.

He needs magnesium. You can rub magnesium oil on his skin daily. you can find it online.

Dont give vit D supps or calcium or iron supps either, they all deplete MG.

my lil guy was the same way - he didn't really stop until we started giving him more solid food. sorry! all kids are different so it is impossible to tell...