Baby spitting up alllllll the time?

[Itsychik]

My 4 month old spits up all the time. He's done this since birth. It seems worse when he's upright.

After a feed whenever we burp him he spits up a handful of milk, and then continues to do so sporadically (3 or 4 times?) until his next feed. Sometimes it's a little thick/curdled looking, and sometimes it looks fresh like what he just drank. Sometimes he spits up while nursing and gets milk all over both of us, but he continues to keep nursing without pause...

I try holding him more upright but that doesn't help. Burping doesn't help. Ironically the time he least spits up is at night in bed.

Sometimes he looks like he's going to spit up but the he gulps and swallows for a minute or two, then he coughs or gags...

Despite this, he doesn't seem bothered by it and he's slightly above average in weight/length, so he's growing fine.

I've thought about reflux but the HV didn't seem concerned and only suggested bottle feeding him and adding thickeners, which I'm reluctant to try.

Any ideas or advice??

 

[Taurus8484]

DS1 was the same. Doctors werenr concerned as he was putting on weight and seemed to be a happy chucker. He grew out of it all together around 12 months.

 

[minties]

Emma is the same! She doesn't spit up at night but does so all day. My other kids never spit up even once, so this is all new to me. I have spew on my shoulder and down my bra right now.

 

[AndiTTC]

That sounds a lot like my little guy, but he was diagnosed with acid reflux. Reflux symptoms seem to go away for some babies when they start eating solid foods (including oatmeal). Unfortunately, my baby was not one of those, but it may be worth a shot. My baby's doctor advised against adding rice cereal to milk since that causes a lot of babies to become constipated. Instead, he recommended that we give him oatmeal cereal, starting at four months. Good luck!

 

[BunnyN]

CMPA (cows milk protien allergy) can cause this but usually involves other symptoms like tummy upset too. Is it possible he is just getting too much milk? Babies have a kind of built in overflow valve and sick up if they have too much milk in their tummies, lol. Might be worth cutting down a little on milk or try slightly less and more often?

 

[minties]

That sounds a lot like my little guy, but he was diagnosed with acid reflux. Reflux symptoms seem to go away for some babies when they start eating solid foods (including oatmeal). Unfortunately, my baby was not one of those, but it may be worth a shot. My baby's doctor advised against adding rice cereal to milk since that causes a lot of babies to become constipated. Instead, he recommended that we give him oatmeal cereal, starting at four months. Good luck!

Gluten free though before 6 months (in case someone else reads this and I gives regular porridge/oats).

 

[noon_child]

I can imagine it is a pain in the bum for you, but if baby is happy and able to maintain weight gain then in medical terms there is nothing wrong, so nothing to fix.

The curdled look to the spit up just means it has been in his tummy longer and started to digest.

Do you seem to have lots of milk, does it overwhelm him when it lets down?As you are breastfeeding, I would probably suggest a few things that might help him take on less air when he nurses (as the less he needs to burp, the less he might bring up), like reclined feeding (when you can) and maybe block feeding.

However I don't think you HAVE to make any changes, it just depends how much the constant spit up is getting you down, as LO seems happy!

 

[lilmisscaviar]

It could simply be that he is getting too much at a time and you may need to feed smaller amounts more frequently, or that he could have a protein allergy (if you're formula feeding) or be allergic to something in your breastmilk if you're BFing. It could also be reflux in which putting cereal in the bottles should help greatly. If it doesn't, I would get a second opinion.

Not to scare you but my DS had these same symptoms. My doctor put him on reflux meds thinking that's what it was since he was still gaining weight. About 4 months old he was diagnosed with malrotation in which some of his organs weren't in the right quadrant of his body that they were supposed to be in. He had to have an upper GI done to make sure there wasn't anything wrong structurally. Unfortunately for us there was and he had to undergo surgery. The testing doesn't hurt them and at least you'd know for sure that there wasn't anything seriously wrong. The spitting up did stop afterwards.

 

[TTC First]

I was also going to mention cows milk protien allergy, my lo suffers from this. When I was BF she was throwing up because I was drinking milk. Once I changed to almond milk she stopped spitting up. Eventually, I was able to go back to milk and she was fine.

When she changed to a cup and I gave her milk, it started again. I changed her to almond milk and it resolved again. I plan to try her on milk every month or so, I hear that they can outgrow it.