Recently, many new mothers have asked me in private how to alleviate the baby’s vomiting? For newborn babies, vomiting is a normal thing, but new mothers are still worried when they see their babies vomiting. For example, some mothers complain that their babies always spit dirty clothes after drinking milk, some mothers find that their babies vomit milk in large mouthfuls or even spurting milk, some mothers find that their babies still vomit milk after month… So, what kind of baby’s vomiting is normal? What type of vomiting needs attention?
Be careful! Vomiting milk is not the same as spitting up.
In order to correctly treat and deal with the problem of baby’s vomiting, first of all, we should make clear what is vomiting, and distinguish vomiting milk and spitting up. All mothers who have experience with babies will take the baby’s vomiting very lightly, and will tell new mothers that vomiting is normal and need not worry. In fact, it is true that the majority of babies’ vomiting milk is normal, and the more reasonable name of this vomiting should be “spitting up.”
Spitting up refers to the overflow of a little milk from the mouth without pressure or ejection after feeding, with no change in face color and no crying after vomiting. It is mainly related to the physiological characteristics of the stomach of infants. The stomach of infants is horizontal, the stomach capacity is small, and the sphincter at the end of the esophagus is immature. If improper feeding occurs, for example, overfeeding, incorrect feeding posture, premature turning, and amusement after feeding, and so on, babies may spit up.
Vomiting milk refers to a kind of intense vomiting after feeding. Babies may have painful expressions such as neck stretching or mouth opening. Food in the stomach is forcefully discharged. Sometimes it is sprayed, and the amount is significant. It is mainly due to the obstruction of babies’ digestive tract such as the esophagus, stomach, and pylorus, or dysfunction (such as achalasia of cardia and pyloric spasm, etc.), but not all of them are caused by pathological causes.
Do not worry about baby’s spitting up or mild vomiting.
When the baby vomits, most mothers will be very distressed, mainly about the health of the baby, and a little distressed about their hard-produced breast milk. Generally speaking, baby’s spitting up is really a normal thing, in addition to increasing the trouble of cleaning clothes, there is no much harm, the amount of baby’s spitting up will not be much, most of the milk is actually eaten by the baby.
Compared with spitting up, babies’ vomiting can make their mothers look more distressed. Mothers often describe it as “vomiting milk in large mouthfuls” or “spurting milk”. If the baby does not vomit a lot of milk every day, but only occasionally, then most of them belong to physiological vomiting. The reason is related to the physiological characteristics of the stomach, like spitting up. When the stomach contracts, it may shoot part of the milk into the esophagus like an air gun.
Three points must be made to correct the baby’s spitting up or vomiting.
If your baby often spits up, you should pay attention to correcting your feeding methods, which can reduce the spitting up to a certain extent. First of all, feed according to a reasonable amount, do not feed too much or too fast at a time, and pay attention to the choice of the appropriate flow of pacifiers. Secondly, the baby’s head and upper body should be raised when feeding. After feeding, stand the baby upright, make him/her face on the mother’s shoulder, gently pat the back until the baby belches, and then lightly put the baby down. Third, don’t tease, change diapers, or bathe immediately after the baby finishes drinking milk.
Babies need to see a doctor in 5 cases of vomiting.
Although most babies’ spitting up or vomiting milk is a normal phenomenon, there is no need to worry too much, a small part of the vomiting milk may be due to other physical problems or have a greater impact on baby’s health and need to seek timely help from doctors. The following five situations need to be noted:
1. The baby’s weight dropped significantly or did not increase for a long time.
2. The case of vomiting is getting worse and worse, and it is often jet vomiting.
3. The vomited milk is green and may contain bile.
4. Vomiting is accompanied by intestinal spasm (Intestinal spasm is a paroxysmal abdominal pain caused by intense contraction of the smooth muscle of intestinal wall. It is the most common cause of acute abdominal pain in children.).
5. The baby chokes and coughs whenever he/she is fed.
