5 Ways To Reduce Baby Spit Up

We were blessed with two kids who were pretty good spitter uppers…our son more so than our daughter.  If scary, eerie music had started playing in our house when they spit up, I would have been looking for a nearby exorcist. :-)

Here are some ideas that we tried that may help you bring the amount of new baby spit-up down a notch in your house:

1. I’m sure you have all heard this before but try very hard to get baby to BURP after each feeding and even during a feeding.  If you are breastfeeding, feed on one side then burp him, then feed on the other.  If you are bottle feeding feed them a little, burp them, feed them some more, burp them, etc., etc.  The biggest cause of spitting up is a gas bubble in your baby’s tummy.

2. Feed your baby while she is sitting upright.  Keep her upright for 20 or so minutes after feeding as well.  This will help keep her stomach elongated and reduce the amount of potential gas bubbles.

3. Sometimes baby just has a mild digestive issue (warning: consult your doctor please) and if so putting some acidophilus (the stuff that’s in yogurt) in her bottle or on the breast might ease a bit of her issues.

4. You can try gas drops like Mylicon (generic brands at Target, Walgreen’s, etc. are significantly cheaper and have the exact same ingredients) but we found that we gave the drops to them more because the action of doing so made us feel useful, but honestly it didn’t seem to do much. 

5. Check out the information at Medline Plus (they have pictures) and kellymom for more detailed information and other ideas on how to address spitting up and reflux in a baby.

For those of you who don’t have babies or have not had kids yet, just be glad I did not include any pictures of babies spitting up…it’s not a pretty sight. :-) 

If you are concerned about the amount, frequency, and timing of your baby's spit up episodes, you can use Baby Insights to record in the comments area when he or she spits up. Elise's family was able to detect trends in Elise's spitting up using Baby Insights and show their doctor reports that helped them feel comfortable with the recommendation to give her medicine for reflux.

These tips are based on our experiences. Please always consult with your doctor before implementing any tip that might impact the health of your baby.

Aruni Gunasegaram, President/Founder of Babble Soft