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Baby Spit-Up: How Parents Can Cope with this Normal Event
When you’re a new parent, everything can be a little overwhelming. It is so easy to fall into the trap of over
analyzing every little thing that happens with your baby, turning normal events into causes of major concern. The
truth of the matter is that there are lots of things that happen with babies that may look a little scary but
really are no cause for concern. One such thing is baby spit ups. Babies spit up all of the time, and although it
may look a serious, it really is just a normal part of life with a baby. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t,
and shouldn’t, try to control it, if for no other reason than protecting your outfits and keeping that baby formula
spit up odor to a minimum! There are a few ways you can control baby spit ups to make them less of an annoyance for
you.
As you might imagine, babies have sensitive little stomachs - hence the frequent spit ups. As for anyone with a
sensitive stomach, feeding on a schedule can be beneficial. If your baby tends to spit up a lot, try to keep
feeding times constant. This will help your baby’s system adapt the feeding, plus, it will have other benefits,
such as forcing you to stick to a schedule overall (which can have a big pay off for you in terms of more restful
nights!).
Another thing you can do to help keep your baby’s sensitive stomach in check is to keep feeding time nice and calm.
Try to keep loud noises away from your baby when they’re eating, and keep lights low and unobtrusive. If your baby
is having a screaming fit, begging for their food, take the time to calm them down a little bit before you start
feeding them, hard as it may be. Taking this tact will have two benefits for your baby. For one, being calm when
they eat will help with digestion, and also they will not learn to associate food with comfort (and you will also
avoid rewarding them for screaming their heads off).
Other techniques you can try to help food sit in your baby’s stomach a little more easily is feeding them smaller
amounts more frequently instead of large meals in infrequent sittings. Hold your baby steadily while they’re
eating; don’t rock in the rocking chair while they’re having a bottle, for instance. If you are bottle feeding,
make sure that the hole in the nipple on the bottle is not too large. If the nipple drops a few drops on your hand
and then stops, it is fine, but if the formula keeps coming, the whole is too big. If you can’t seem to quell the
spit ups at all, consult with your doctor about changing formulas or checking your child for allergies.
The last thing you should remember about controlling baby spit ups is that they are completely normal. Scary as
they may look, you should not be alarmed if your baby spits up somewhat frequently. You should also be aware that
you will never be able to prevent spit ups entirely. All you can do is make feeding time as calm as possible and
make sure your baby can tolerate the formula you are feeding them. From there, biology takes over, and they will
spit up from time to time. If your baby spits up after every meal and is losing weight, then it is time to get the
doctor involved. If not, then you can relax in the knowledge that your baby is just being a baby. They will grow
out of the spit ups soon enough.
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