Why does my daughter always spit up?

Question

I decided to breastfeed my daughter, but it's not enough. So I added formula, along with breastfeeding, but that was not enough. So I added cereal to her formula, and sometimes thats not enough. But thats not the problem. No matter what I do she always spits up. The doctor told me to burp her every 1/2 ounce, but she still spits up. After I told my doctor this her answer was that she is getting too full and to stop feeding her formula, but I can't do that because she is constantly hungry. Can anyone tell me why she keeps spitting up? I don't know what to do, she spits up almost everything she eats after she eats her formula. I even changed fromula, and tried soy formula, nothing helps. And if I don't burp her every 1/2 ounce or ounce she will spit up everything she just ate, but she screams everytime I try to burp her. Some one please help me!

Answer 1

It is possible that something you are eating is upsetting her tummy. You might want to look up the local La Leche league and talk to a breast feeding expert there. She may have some great tips!

I had that with my first born. She was always hungry and spit up when she'd had too much.

Now I can look back and see she was colicky and wanted to SUCK for comfort, but didn't need more food.

Also if your baby is too young for a spoon (usually less than 4 months) feeding cereal in her bottle is a bad idea. I understand though that you are just trying to help her feel good.

Think about hunger..and yourself. You don't have to be full, to not be hungry. If you have breastfed, she's not on empty, she's not really hungry, she's looking for some sort of comfort.

If you continue to feed her everytime she needs comfort, you will set her up for a pattern of eating and comfort that will likely lead to obesity (and yes...this has been an issue with the one daughter I had that did this..so I speak from experience.)

What to do -
1. Contact La Leche as mentioned above and see if you are eating something that is upsetting her tummy.

2. Try to get her to take a pacifier. This will let her suck without food. It may take some serious effort on your part.

3. Learn other ways to comfort her, like the football hold (over your forearm with head near elbow, babies tummy in your palm). You can rock her side to side in a football hold and it's a big help for an upset tummy.

4. Vacuum. Yeah, you read that right. A vacuum or a hair dryer will make a sound that can put a baby right to sleep. Try it, you may be surprised!

5. This too will pass. The first couple of months with a new baby can be very stressful. Join a new mom's group (many are free) near you. It's a great way to make friends and get more tips.

6. There is a small chance there is something up with her digestive process or stomach valves. If you think this may be, ask for a full checkup.

Quite frankly if you are breastfeeding, she should be getting all the nutrition you are needing so there should be no need to supplement with formula. Like I said, she is just seeking comfort and you may have a fussy baby. Overfeeding won't help, just creates bigger problems down the road.

Answer 2

I just asked a similar question not long ago. My 5 month old spits up almost constantly, same with my first daughter. My baby is growing normally despite the spitting up. Unfortunaltyi dont think there is much we can do. Some say to burp her often and others say try not to move her around too much which is it? It's almost like my daughter can never be neat and clean, i cant leave the house without several changes of clothes and bibs, i have to buy more they ar all stained by now. Now I just give her solids during the day, cereal made with formula and friuts and vegatables, and give her bottles for her first and last feeding of the day. She cant really spit up the solids because they are thicker.

Answer 3

Babies scream when you try to burp them because they want to keep eating .... you still need to make them burp. Sometimes they cry and act like they are starving because they have gas pain in their tummy and they just dont know the difference so they keep trying to eat. If this is the case then feeding them makes it worse. As far as breast feeding. If you are doing it then expect to do it any where from ever 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours apart. That is just normal. Formula is harder on their stomachs and they will spit up more from it. I doubt she is spitting up everything she eats , it just looks and feels like it. You will know if she loses weight or stops having wet diapers that she is not drinking enough and needs medical attention. Over feeding will cause spitting up .... they can only hold so much.
So....
If you know she can not be hungry try gas drops , burping and let her suck on a pacifier while you try.
If you are nursing and it has been over an hour then yes she may be hungy again.
Try to avoid formula as it causes more gas.
If you want to nurse but make sure she is getting enough that you can go 3 or 4 hours between feedings , then rent a hospital qualility breast pump and express so that you can measure how much she is getting.
Keep burping every 1/2 ounce to 1 ounce.
Good Luck.

Answer 4

my daughter spit up a lot when she was a newborn. it scared me because it seemed like she spit up everything, but the doctor told me that as long as she was having 6-8 wet diapers a day she was getting enough. my opinion on your situation is that the doctor is probably right, she is eating too much. when babies cry it doesnt always mean that she is hungry. maybe she has colic, which would make her more fussy than other babies. try just breast feeding her and see how many wet diapers she produces, any where between 6-8 wet diapers means that she is getting plenty. the spitting up will stop after a few months. good luck.

Answer 5

My first son would spit up alot and he was allergic to the milk, there is a formula especially for babies that spit up. Can't think of the name but it made by enfamil. My other solution would be to try gas drops (I use Mylicon & my sis used Gerber) they have been a godsend for baby # 3 who is 1 month old, your baby may not be hungry at all and just have gas.

Answer 6

First, she probably is overfull as your doctor said. Second, the reason she screams when you try to burp her is because of the gas, she really needs to burp. It hurts, so she screams.

When a baby gets gas it acts like he/she 's hungry. A lot of her problem maybe gas on her belly.

You can ask your local pharmacist what he would recommend. They're usually pretty helpful with things like this.

Answer 7

My daughter did the same thing. I kept asking her pediatrician and received the same answers you are, until one day she spit up blood and I found it tore her stomach. They finally did an upper GI test and put her on some medicine. It did not stop until she was sitting up all the time, but it did get much better. After that, I found that if I "bugged" the pediatrician by calling all the time, they will run the testing much sooner.

Answer 8

You sound exactly like me. My son spits up so much, I feel like I need to call an exorcist! It's driving me insane. People say it's normal for babies to spit up, but where you cross the line? It's so hard to tell, especially for new moms. We've tried Zantac for reflux and switching formulas, and it seems to work for a couple of days, then it goes right back to vomit city. I don't get it either. If you hear of any good advice, please contact me!

Answer 9

The reason she is spitting up is because you giving her to many things at one feeding. She only needs breast milk to start with. If that's not enough, do not add anything give it separate because her stomach can not handle everything thing at once. She needs little bits of things, but not all together.

Answer 10

I'm curious if she screams alot with or with out food. My daughter would scream and scream, and spit up ALL the time. we found out she had GERD,,,like acid reflux. She had to be put on prevacid and other medicines. But it could only be that she's sinsetive to dairy. Keep bugging your doc about it, he'll eventually do something about it.

But babies do spit up alot anyway.