Guidance on how to reduce regurgitating milk in infant
Regurgitating milk in children is a constant obsession for many families. Though the baby already belches when mom held them on her hand. But after putting them down, the baby just twists a little, they will regurgitate. Especially it hard for moms who have to express breastmilk into a bottle. Every time the baby regurgitates, it’s not only wasting the effort to express milk but also making parents worry about their children’s health.
7/24/2020 1:25:43 PM
Regurgitating milk in children is a constant obsession for many families. Though the baby already belches when mom held them on her hand. But after putting them down, the baby just twists a little, they will regurgitate. Especially it hard for moms who have to express breastmilk into a bottle. Every time the baby regurgitates, it’s not only wasting the effort to express milk but also making parents worry about their children’s health.
To learn more about this issue you need to differentiate between regurgitation and vomiting:
- Regurgitation is the phenomenon of the baby pouring a little milk on the mouth after feeding or before the next feeding without abdominal muscle spasm.
- Vomiting is the forcefully spraying of milk with the involvement of the abdominal muscles. Most babies and young children often experience regurgitation.
The cause of regurgitation is because the baby's stomach is small and horizontal than that of adults, the food is in liquid form, and the sphincter between the stomach and esophagus is weak. If the baby is still feeding well, gaining weight, and not crying, this is just transient physiological regurgitation. After 4-6 months old, it will be improved.
When to take your baby to the doctor:
- Have your baby go to the doctor if the baby regurgitates too often causing prolonged wheezing, recurrent pneumonia, bloody vomiting, slow weight gain, sleep disturbances. At this time, it’s no longer physiological gastroesophageal regurgitation but pathological gastroesophageal regurgitation disease.
- There are also other pathological causes of milk regurgitation. If the baby has the following signs, take them to doctors: vomiting a lot, losing weight, vomiting everything, vomiting with diarrhea or bloody pepper, poor feeding, fever, irritability, more difficult to coax crying.
- Examine immediately if the baby vomits yellow fluid, blue fluid, vomiting blood, stops feeding, bloating.
How to reduce regurgitation:
- Split breastfeeding into small once, reduce the amount of each
- Hold your baby for 20-30 minutes after breastfeeding; keep the head, chest, stomach in line, and stay 30-40 slope or use objects like reflux pillows.
In summary, regurgitation is very common in infants and children. Most of the cases don’t need medication and will get better as they grow up. However, if the baby vomits a lot and has abnormal signs above, take them to see doctors.
Reference:
- Acid reflux (gastroesophageal reflux) in infants. Patient education. Up to date
- Gastro-oesophageal reflux and GORD. Raising children network
Dr. First Degree Specialist. Tran Thi Hoang Anh - Pediatric Specialist of CarePlus International Clinics