aarrggg! 'burping'........help!

22 years ago

Hi Everyone, My little dude has the hardest time burping. We burp him after the first ounce and that goes fine. Then we feed him another ounce and he wont burp.So we added another ounce.It took forever but he finally did.Now he wont burp at all again.We moved it up half an ounce and still nothing. I lay him down and after a while a little milk comes out. My hand gets so tired of burping that I have to stop. Do I stop trying to burp him? When do you (age wise)stop burping infants? My DS is 2 months old tomorrow. This is my 4th child and you would think I would know this by now! thanks everybody!

Comment (1)

amygdala
22 years ago
Go by feel. All through the first year a baby is changing and maturing pretty quickely internally and externally. They don't have little pop-out buttons or anything to just let a caregiver know they are ready to be burped (that would be ever so much easier).

At a guess, the first one ounce burp kind of preps his system and gets out older air as well as any air from the feeding of that first ounce. That might be why it goes relatively easily. It makes more room in his now two month old tummy. More air has to have time to accumulate before he will be able to burp again. It's very individual in babies how much air they take in as they feed, or between feeds (crying, mouth breathing and babbling can increase air between feeding).

If the one ounce burping is a habitual pattern already and seems to work or help in any way, continue with that one.

Experiment with the next one or ones, try waiting some amount of time or more ounces. See if there seems to be another time in his digestive or feeding process (or after) which seems to be conducive to his benefiting from a burp. At 2 months it seems like there should be, but there may not be and he may not need help (or want help) with his burping. By 3 months you should notice if/when he really seems to enjoy a burp or burping. That will make things more clear for you.

Bupring techniques can vary from pats, to positions or both. A position with the baby's tummy over your thigh as you sit and gentle pats or very gentle bouncing can help sometimes when there is a burp that needs help (you will have to support their head/chin). Another position is to sit the baby upright (with support) and kind of let them lean foreward so they bend a bit at their belly (that can squish out a burp that needs help).

remind yourself that all you can do is your best, and that all bablies are individuals who can have different needs and even if all your previous 3 might have been similar he could still have a different burp-schedule or burp-needs

P.S. Sometimes you can get great burps and still end up with a sated baby who has a little milk come out later.