baby is spitting up alot!

[whywouldhe]

Sometimes after feeding my 2 week old he will spit up what looks like ALOT of milk (I am BF on demand at this point). Afterwards, he cries and acts hungry again. I don't know if I should go ahead and feed him again, or wait awhile (supposing that he spit up so much b/c he ate too much). Any advice? Thanks!

[HelenD]

You should call your Pediatrician!

That being said, does the vomit come out w/ force or just kind of dribble out? Are you burping often?

You really do need to talk to Dr. because you want to be sure your baby is getting everything he needs! Some spit up is normal, but not lots and not w/ a lot of force. At that age, he's probably not eating more then a couple of ozs at time anyway, so you definitely want to talk to the doctor about this.

H.

[Cade S]

I agree with checking with the pediatrician, especially if he is spitting up a lot after every feeding.
Being a first time mom and an avid reader I bought a lot of different books and searched the internet to read up on everything. Baby 411 was a GREAT help!! If you don't have it already I recommend it. It helped to relive a lot of questions and concerns that I had.

Here's some useful tips I found to be helpful:

-obviously, try to burp often and burp after every feeding, if baby doesn't, try holding baby upright or place baby in a car seat after feeding for at least 20-30 minutes. You could probably have baby sleep in the car seat, but I personally didn't want to confine him in that.
In the beginning, as a newborn, DH would try to burp DS in any position. Whether he burped or not, he'd hold him for the 20-30 minutes and then place him down to sleep. When we started doing this, it helped a lot and he spit up less. When he did spit up, he wouldn't cry but remain calm so we'd clean him up and offer to feed him.

-Try not to overfeed. Observe baby and get to know his cues. Baby will let you know when enough is enough. For example, I would think that DS was still hungry and try to b/f him. He'd gag once I tried to to feed him more and then he'd spit up what he already ate.

-In Baby Bargains, page 147, to paraphrase, sometimes babies take in a lot of air when they eat and when they burp, the milk comes back up with it. "Unlike adults, babies often throw up and then want to eat again. The only time to worry is when the whole feeding gets thrown up at every feeding."

-Monitor how many urine/stool diapers you go through. (I used to keep a chart) Should be 3 or more stools and 5-6 wet diapers. If this is the case, baby should be getting enough to eat.

-Ask your pediatrician. Mine said that I was probably overfeeding him. My DS was gaining weight, growing fine, & wet/soiled diapers were normal so he told me not to worry.

Again, this is from personal experience and reading a lot of books. But always, if in doubt consult your baby's doctor.

[LoveMyBug]

To me it sounds like he is going through a growth spurt, and unless the spit up is coming out with FORCE, then it is fine. Usually when a baby goes through a growth spurt they nurse a WHOLE lot and they usually get so full they have to spit up what their stomach can't hold anymore. My DS has done this at EVERY one of his growth spurts.

Also, how much do you think he is spitting up? If he is spitting up ALL of his meal, then he DOES need to be seen by a doctor. To know if he is spitting up ALL of his meal, fill a cup up with about 3-4oz of water and spill it on the table, if it looks like the same amount then he may have a problem. But most of the time it just LOOKS like a lot, and isn't.