Burping Basics

Your baby will need to burp after each feeding and you will need to help him to do such. Burping prevents discomfort and crying by releasing air bubbles that collect in your baby’s tummy. Some parents burp their babies after every two to three ounces of formula. Others opt to wait until they think the baby is full. You can follow your baby cues and remember that newborns do not necessarily need to burp with every feeding.

You should spend a minute or two to try burping baby, if this does not work, then he probably doesn’t need to burp. There are various techniques that can be used to burp your baby. You can try these techniques to see which works best for your baby.

Some of the burping techniques are:

• Hold your baby upright against your shoulder and gently massage or pat his back.
• You can sit your baby upright in your lap, support his chin and jaw so he can look ahead and gently rub his back.
• Also, you can lay the baby face down on your knee or forearm and gently pat his back.

It is always a good idea to have a small cloth to cover your clothes in the event that your baby spits up. It is common for every baby to spit up at one time or another; however, if your baby is formula fed and spits up a lot, your pediatrician may recommend at thickened infant formula which will help reduce the spitting up while still ensuring the baby is provided with a balanced nutrition.

Some parents may attempt to add rice cereal to the infant formula but this affects the nutritional balance of the formula, not to mention it’s messy, inconvenient and may even clog the standard nipple.

Has your baby been spitting up excessively and you’re concerned he/she isn’t getting adequate nutrients?