Why is the baby spitting up? The reasons can be tritely simple: swallowed air while sucking, overate, moved too actively, laid out on the tummy after feeding, etc. However, there are cases when profuse and frequent regurgitation are symptoms of serious diseases. It is important to recognize them and consult a doctor in time.

Regurgitation is a reflex ejection of a small amount of stomach contents into the esophagus, and then through the pharynx into the oral cavity. When it comes to regurgitation, infants are always meant. About 70% of babies up to six months of age spit up at least once a day. These statistics should reassure those parents who believe that something is wrong with their baby. Something else may worry: the baby's anxiety and poor weight gain with persistent regurgitation.

Causes of regurgitation associated with care

Why does the child often spit up? As a rule, regurgitation is functional in nature and is explained by the immaturity of the digestive system, the anatomical features of the digestive organs - the esophagus in infants is short and wide. But the principles of infant care also play an important role.

The question arises: how to help the baby so that he burps less? To do everything in your power - to exclude provocative factors during care and feeding, and also to be patient. It takes time for the digestive organs of the baby to mature and perform their functions fully.

More serious reasons

Persistent regurgitation can indicate various disorders and pathologies. Which ones?

Neurology

• premature babies. The cardiac sphincter, which separates the esophagus and stomach, is less developed in such babies than in children born at term. Therefore, premature babies often spit up. This will last up to about six months, until the child catches up with his peers in physiological development.
• Deviations in intrauterine development and perinatal pathologies. These can be various degrees of intrauterine hypoxia, disorders of the central nervous system, anxiety, poor sleep, increased intracranial pressure, chin tremor, asphyxia during childbirth, muscle tone, high excitability of the vomiting center, dysregulation of the esophageal sphincter.
• Injury to the cervical spine. His child can get with difficult childbirth. Regurgitation in this case will be abundant, vomiting is possible, painful reactions when turning the head, torticollis. Treatment is prescribed by a neurologist: massage, neck immobilization, physiotherapy, medication.

It is important to distinguish the nature of regurgitation in infants. In the physiological process: no urge to vomit; there is a single regurgitation 10–15 minutes after feeding with a small amount of liquid (up to 2 tablespoons); no special treatment required; normal weight gain. If there is repeated vomiting, a large amount of rejected food, bile impurities, this indicates pathological regurgitation. The child needs to be seen by a doctor.

Digestive system disorders

• Dysbacteriosis. Changes in the qualitative and quantitative composition of the intestinal microflora affect all digestive processes. Dysbacteriosis is more common in artificial infants and children who have taken antibiotics.
• Infectious diseases. These can be meningitis, acute intestinal infections, toxic infections, hepatitis. In these cases, additional symptoms appear: fever, lethargy, anxiety or drowsiness, diarrhea, colic. In regurgitation, impurities of mucus or bile can be detected.
• Flatulence. When a child is bloated, intra-abdominal pressure rises, which helps push fluid out of the stomach. Therefore, it is important to eliminate this factor: exclude gas-producing foods and sweets from the diet of a nursing mother.
• Frequent constipation. They also lead to an increase in intra-abdominal pressure and poor movement of food through the gastrointestinal tract (GIT).
• lactase deficiency. Due to a deficiency of the enzyme lactase, infants often experience eating disorders, including regurgitation. Undigested milk sugar (lactose) leads to a constant fermentation process in the intestines, which provokes the appearance of these symptoms. Lactase deficiency is determined by analysis, to alleviate the condition of the baby, the doctor prescribes low-lactose mixtures, taking the lactase enzyme.
• food allergy. A formula-fed infant may have an allergy to cow's milk protein, which manifests itself in the form of frequent spitting up. It is necessary to change the mixture on the recommendation of a pediatrician. A breastfed baby may have an allergic reaction to the foods eaten by the mother. In this case, she needs to adjust her diet.

Congenital pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract

FAQ

• Why does my baby spit up after every feed? This is physiological and completely normal. Belching is the air that got in during feeding. Naturally, a small amount of formula or milk comes out with the burp. Regurgitation in newborns and infants up to 3–4 months old is observed after each feeding after 5–10 minutes. Then it becomes more rare, after 4 months during the day the baby can burp 1-2 times. Sometimes it seems to the mother that the baby has burped up too much when she sees the remaining mark on clothes or a diaper. It is recommended to conduct an experiment: pour two tablespoons of water on clothes and look at the size of the wet spot.
• Why does the baby not spit up after feeding? In rare cases, mothers have this opposite question. This fact should only please, not disturb. There are several assumptions about this: during suckling or bottle feeding, the baby hardly swallows air and never overeats. There is one more, fantastic and encouraging, assumption: an intellectual, and that says it all ... According to the observations of many mothers, most babies who do not spit up have hiccups after feeding. By the way, it can be associated with swallowing air and overeating.
• Until what age do babies burp? Babies usually stop spitting up at 6-7 months when they start sitting up and become more upright when they are awake. Also, the introduction of complementary foods and the use of thick foods in the diet leads to a decrease in the frequency of regurgitation. If the baby is older than six months, and regurgitation is frequent and does not stop, you need to see a doctor. The child may have a neurological disorder. You also need to know that regurgitation is associated with underdeveloped muscles of the cardia of the stomach. This deviation is not considered a pathology and is observed in all infants. But these muscles develop in each baby in different ways. The final functional maturity of the cardia (lower esophageal sphincter) occurs only by 8 years. That is why children are much easier and faster to pull out than adults.
• Why does a child spit up a fountain? The danger of profuse regurgitation is that the child loses a lot of fluid and weight. And this is a vital indicator in infants. There is also a danger of choking in a dream. If weight gain is normal, diapers are filled regularly, and the child feels great, it is unlikely that he has dehydration, any digestive problems, neurological disorders. If regurgitation with a fountain is repeated several times daily and resembles vomiting, an urgent need to contact a pediatrician. You may need the help of narrow specialists - a neurologist, a gastroenterologist, an infectious disease specialist, a surgeon. The doctor will recommend switching to antireflux nutrition, prescribing drugs to regulate intestinal motility.
• Why does the baby spit up cottage cheese? Because the milk has been digested. This usually happens 30-40 minutes after feeding. Often this happens after moving the child, active games. If the baby spits up no more than 2 tablespoons of curdled milk, this is normal. With abundant curdled regurgitation, with a change in its color, the appearance of an unpleasant odor, you should definitely consult a doctor.
• If the child burped yellow? This indicates the presence of bile. A single case usually does not pose any threat to the health of the baby, but it is better to tell the pediatrician about it. If yellow spitting up is repeated, and the child behaves restlessly, an urgent need to see a doctor. Bile can talk about the pathologies of the digestive system.

regurgitation

regurgitation is a kind of vomiting, but occurs easily, without effort. When spitting up, a small amount (5 - 30 ml) of milk is released in a child after a short period of time after feeding in the form of runoff or a weak eruption of semi-digested milk. Do not be alarmed, in most cases, spitting up in a child is a natural process. Spitting up in a baby can occur when he is changed, turned over, and even during feeding: he sucks, turns away, spit up and takes the breast again. Regurgitation is the result of the immaturity of the nervous system baby and weakness of the muscular valve, which is located in the upper part of the stomach. Regurgitation does not lead to a significant change in the general condition of the child.

Reasons for spitting up:

• overfeeding, which leads to distension of the stomach;
• swallowing air (aerophagia) during feeding, which occurs when the baby is not properly attached to the chest or if the baby has a short frenulum of the tongue or upper lip. The air bubble, standing out from the stomach, pushes the milk out. This is accompanied by belching of air and regurgitation of a small amount of milk. Due to the distension of the stomach, the child may spit up, scream, or be restless;
• flatulence (accumulation of gases in the intestines of a child);
• a quick change in the horizontal position of the child's body after feeding to a vertical one;
• inhibition of the child immediately after feeding;
• tight swaddling.

Noticeable regurgitation in a child appears after the arrival of mature milk - by about 14 - 30 days after birth. Regurgitation becomes more abundant and frequent from the 20th to the 30th day of the child's life. As a rule, by 6 months regurgitation stops or greatly decreases.

When a child often spit up, count how many times a day he pees. If 12 or more times, then the baby has enough milk and he spits up the excess. The norm for the age of 1-4 months is spitting up after each feeding up to 2 tablespoons of milk or spitting up once a day more than 3 tablespoons. It is not dangerous for the child. To check how much milk your baby has spit up, pour 1 tablespoon of water onto a diaper and compare the water stain to the size of the spit up stain.

Too much and frequent regurgitation can be a sign of improperly organized breastfeeding (incorrect attachment to the breast; rare feedings - agree that everything will be absorbed better if you eat little and often; any others that do not coincide with the basic rules of breastfeeding - see above) .

An increase in the volume and frequency of regurgitation is directly affected by increased stress on the baby’s psyche, such as: early swimming, prolonged crying, frequent trips to the city, visits by a large number of people to your home, family quarrels and other gross shortcomings in caring for the baby.“

A baby who catches air during feeding should be held upright after feeding so that he burps the swallowed air. If your baby is properly attached to the breast, does not make any sounds when sucking and does not capture air, you can not put it in a "column" after each feeding. If your baby is spitting up while in your arms, just turn him over onto his stomach. It is better to put such a baby on the side in the bed.

It is not necessary to hold the child upright after each application, especially if the child has fallen asleep. Most of the time the baby lies on its side. If he burps a little, then the diaper just changes under his cheek. It is necessary to hold the artificial man vertically so that he does not spill the 120g poured into him. And we are talking about babies who are fed on demand and receive small portions of mother's milk. In addition, the cardiac sphincter of the stomach needs training, which it can only receive if the child is lying down.

If your baby is spitting up frequently, with poor weight gain and infrequent urination, or if every spitting up is a gushing vomit, get your child to the doctor right away.

Questions regarding spitting up in babies are among the most common among young parents and experienced moms and dads. And all because there are practically no newborns who would not do this. According to medical statistics, 8 out of 10 toddlers do this. The difference is only in the frequency, volume and intensity of the process. The famous doctor Yevgeny Komarovsky tells what to do if the baby regularly “throws out” part of what he has eaten, whether it needs treatment.

About the problem

In medicine, regurgitation has a scientific name - gas esophageal reflux. For the first time, as a medical phenomenon, it was described in the 19th century. Reflux develops mainly after eating. It manifests itself in the fact that part of the contents of the stomach is passively thrown back into the esophagus, into the pharynx and into the mouth. As a result, the baby “pleases” the mother by giving back what was eaten recently, sometimes quite plentifully.

In an adult, food most often cannot go back, as a whole barrier mechanism of various sphincters of the esophagus is triggered. In newborns, especially premature babies, these "locking devices" are poorly developed. As they improve, episodes of regurgitation occur less frequently, and then completely disappear. The underdevelopment of the digestive organs is considered the main cause of gasoesophageal reflux.

In the first months of life, such a phenomenon is considered physiologically justified, normal. In a third of babies, digestion normalizes at the age of 4 months, most of the little ones stop spitting up at 5-6 months. Only in a small part of babies this is observed after 7 months, but by the year such a “late” child completely stops spitting up.

If the general condition of the child is normal: the baby is gaining weight well, the pediatrician does not see any abnormalities, and the neurologist has not made a serious neurological diagnosis, then regurgitation does not cause any harm to babies.

Treatment

There is no magic pill for this phenomenon, says Yevgeny Komarovsky. Therefore, the treatment of reflux is always a complex of psychological and pedagogical measures aimed primarily at parents. They, alarmed and panicking, need to be explained in an accessible and understandable way that there is nothing pathological in this process, the child is not sick, does not starve, does not suffer and does not need hospitalization.

If this succeeded, then mom and dad explain another important point. Spitting up is not vomiting. You should urgently consult a doctor if vomiting has opened, because this symptom is very dangerous for infants. With vomiting, in addition to the food thrown out of the stomach (its large volume), the baby will have other symptoms. With reflux, nothing else happens to the baby other than a small amount of milk or formula that has come out.

There are children with increased activity of the vomiting center, which can react with vomiting even to a slight overeating. Such crumbs need to be underfed, says Yevgeny Komarovsky, that is, limit the time they spend at the breast. And if the baby eats an adapted milk formula, then dilute it in a smaller amount than the age norm requires.

The main treatment for any regurgitation should be to ensure that the child does not overeat, because he will “throw out” the excess anyway. In especially severe cases, drugs are prescribed to reduce gas formation - "Diflatil" or "Espumizan". Often and abundantly spitting up a baby, especially if his reflux does not appear immediately, but half an hour or even an hour after eating, Komarovsky advises to swaddle and put to sleep on his side so that the baby does not choke in a dream.

If the baby is outraged by the need to sleep on his side (and this is not uncommon at all!), Then you can put an adult pillow under the mattress of the crib. On this elevation should be the back, but not the head of the baby. It can be laid on the back at an angle of about 30 degrees, in this position the risk of choking is minimized.

When you need a doctor

If the child is not gaining weight well, noticeably lags behind in development, then regurgitation needs to be corrected, which the specialist will think over after the examination. It is also necessary to consult a doctor if, after an episode of reflux, the baby behaves uneasily - it starts to cry piercingly, tighten its legs, and writhe. This can occur when the esophagus is irritated by gastric juice. As a rule, this becomes possible with some pathologies of the digestive system, with neurological problems.

Mom needs to see a doctor as soon as possible if the baby burps not just milk or a mixture, but a brownish or greenish liquid, as this can be a sign of a serious pathology - intestinal obstruction. Yellow masses from the stomach should also be the basis for a visit to the doctor, as they can indicate disorders in the work of the stomach or pancreas.

Be sure to visit the pediatrician should be mothers whose babies did not burp until six months, and after 6 months this problem has just begun. Spitting up a fountain is also a reason to seek help from a qualified specialist.

If the child often spits up, parents should heed a few simple tips:

• during feeding, babies can swallow air - this is also one of the reasons for spitting up. After eating, the baby should be held vertically, leaning against your shoulder and lightly tapping the back with your palm until the excess air leaves;
• if the child is bottle-fed, after a preliminary consultation with a doctor, you should buy him not just an adapted mixture, but a product marked "antireflux". It contains special safe thickeners such as rice starch;
• after spitting up, do not try to feed the baby, his digestive tract needs to be given a little rest;
• if the baby spits up through the mouth and through the nose, it is imperative to clean the nasal passages from the remnants of the contents of the stomach in order to prevent the development of bacterial inflammation;
• do not entertain the baby immediately after eating, but you need to leave it alone - so the likelihood of regurgitation is reduced.

Regurgitation is a problem that affects all breastfeeding mothers and their babies. What to do and how to behave mom in this situation? Tips from Dr. Komarovsky from the video below will help you figure it out.

anonymously

Hello ... I feel that there will soon be a nervous breakdown, because I just don’t know what to do anymore ... My daughter is 2 months and 1 week old. On breastfeeding. I have already asked you questions. But now I'm at a dead end and I don't know what to do anymore. I'll start from the very beginning. From the very first hours of life, the daughter eats as if she had not been fed for a day ... She eats a lot, for a long time ... Sometimes she swallows a lot of air, no matter how you put her to bed. Already in the hospital, regurgitation began. There were also yellow ones and curd ones. They watched and said everything was fine. I ate a lot for the first month. In half an hour, an hour. There were burps. Sometimes a fountain sometimes curds. In a month we had fun 4620 (born 3130) The doctors began to scold very much and said that I was overfeeding the child. From this these abundant regurgitation. The neurologist said that the girl was just very active (for a month she already tried to walk and held her head for 5-10 seconds) They said that I could harm the gastrointestinal tract ... I obeyed. I started feeding every 3 hours. Over time, my daughter seemed to get used to it. I endured it myself for 3 hours. Sometimes the truth could not stand it and I fed her before. I fell asleep at 21:00-22:00 and slept 5-6 hours without food. then woke up every 3 hours to eat. There seems to be less spitting up. But tantrums began to happen in the evenings. So I fed her for almost a month. But another hysteria really got me and I decided to feed the baby on demand. She became calmer in the evenings. (I don’t know if this is due to the fact that I began to eat more often or not) Eats every 2-2.5 hours. Breaks at night for 3 hours. But she stopped sleeping. During the day she stays awake for an hour, sleeps for an hour and eats right away (she used to sleep for 1.5-2 hours). Then we took AquaDetrim, which finally finished us off. The child began to have diarrhea, tantrums, and she completely stopped sleeping in the evenings. They stopped drinking it. The child returned to normal. At 2 months, my daughter gained only 680g. They said that below the norm, but excellent. So I don’t understand ... in 1 month 1490g in the second 680g ... I overfed in the first month or did not supplement in the second. Or is it okay. The last week regurgitation began ... My daughter eats every 2-2.5 hours. She can burp with cottage cheese before eating ... then she eats for 10-15-20 minutes ... I put it in a column and it starts ... The air comes out (even if I feed her very carefully and she catches very little air) and behind the air there is a stream of just eaten milk ... If you count in tablespoons, then 2 for sure. Then I lay it on the barrels and put a small pillow under the head so that the head is higher than the legs. In this position (twitches or just lies), she again spits up 2-3 times 1-2 tablespoons. .. Then I put her in the crib and there again she spits up 1-2 tablespoons in the same way ... I'm already afraid that nothing remains inside. Temperature 36.6 - 37. But there are no signs of illness, thank God. Immediately after spitting up, the daughter begins to smile, babble and "talk" a lot, it is clear that the child is not bothered by these troubles ... I also noticed that at night she does not spit up at all. Eat and bainki. But during the day, even if she eats calmly, rivers flow ... Sometimes, if she starts to act up an hour after eating, I give her weak Plantex children's tea. He drinks a little and calms down. Here. Now I don't know what to do. Feed by the hour or on demand. Maybe she's overeating. Can feed often but less. Am I doing the right thing by giving tea? And I also read that if regurgitation does not stop by 3 months, then this is a reason for excitement. And she starts spitting up more and more at 2 months. Tired of these experiments. Sorry for the child. Sorry for such a rambling and long question. I just really have no idea what to do. Our doctors have only one answer. Feed every 3 hours. Spitting up due to overfeeding.

Hello! You know, it's possible that your doctors are right - and then we have absolutely nothing to worry about. The chest, thank God, produces milk, and if part of it regurgitates and is wasted, it’s not scary. In this case, I would feed the girl on demand - which does not contradict the observance of the regime at all. The baby has already developed it for herself. I would follow the weight gain (in the first half of the year - about 800 g per month). But, it seems to me, it is necessary to show the girl to a child in order to exclude the possibility of pylorospasm or pyloric stenosis (spasm or narrowing of the pylorus, the sphincter of the exit from the stomach, which can be manifested by profuse regurgitation, up to a fountain, and worsening weight gain). Your task is also to tell him in detail about your regurgitation. Maybe he will just look at the baby, or maybe he will prescribe an examination - the same x-ray. If the surgeon does not find any signs of this pathology, calm down, relax and enjoy your daughter and life. If you worry like that, you won’t lose milk for long - and then you won’t see peace for sure ... Every day the period of sleep will become shorter and shorter, and wakefulness will be longer; This is fine. One of the daytime dreams can be 40 minutes to an hour. "", like other preparations based on fennel (pharmaceutical dill), reduces bloating and helps digestion of food. For the same purpose, you can use chamomile tea or a decoction of chamomile flowers. True, both fennel and chamomile have some antispasmodic effect (in chamomile it is less than in pharmacy dill). If you do not give plantex, does the girl spit up no less? maybe she has a special sensitivity to him, and he relaxes the sphincter of the entrance to the stomach too much, contributing to spitting up? (This should not be, but why don't we check this assumption just in case? Do not give Plantex for a day and look at the reaction. If it suddenly burps less, replace Plantex with chamomile.) "Akvadetrim" how many drops did you take? by 1? 2? In fact, the prevention of rickets should be carried out; but many children tolerate oil solutions better. D - the same vigantol, for example. Don't get sick and grow big!

Why does a child spit up and should I be worried about it? In most cases, no. However, there are a number of situations when regurgitation in newborns may indicate a disease or malfunction of the gastrointestinal tract.

Spitting up after feeding is normal

Causes of spitting up in babies

A child can spit up for one reason, or for several at once. Up to six months, regurgitation in children is considered the norm, and it is due to the peculiar structure of the gastrointestinal tract. The causes of regurgitation in infants up to six months are called physiological. These include:

• short esophagus;
• insufficiently pronounced narrowing of the esophagus;
• the muscular sphincter (part of the body that regulates the passage of food from one organ to another) is not sufficiently developed;
• insufficiently formed system for moving food along the gastrointestinal tract.

When a baby spit up after each breastfeed, this is also the norm, from the age of two months to one year.

From the age of four months, the child should spit up no more than once a day. There are a number of reasons that are caused by mistakes in child care. In these cases, you need to quickly correct the mistakes and then the regurgitation will stop. These reasons include:

1. Swallowing air with food. It happens when a child suckles incorrectly: does not completely wrap his lips around the nipple or breast, eats in the wrong position, a bad nipple is picked up, the bottle cap is not screwed enough. To avoid these causes, you need to make sure that the baby completely wraps around the mother's nipple, so that his bottle is always tightly closed, and there is nothing but formula in it.
2. Binge eating. Another common reason. This can lead to feeding the baby on demand, and not on schedule. Such experiments should be curtailed immediately.
3. Colic and gas. Gas bubbles press on the walls of the stomach and intestines, causing rejection of food.
4. Intolerance to breast milk. A rare cause caused by maternal malnutrition. In this case, you need to go to the doctor, they are assigned a suitable mixture.
5. Excessive activity. Do not touch the child immediately after he has eaten.

Physiological regurgitation after feeding

Types of regurgitation

There are several of them. All of them are caused by different reasons, some indicate the danger of diseases, and some are natural for the body of the baby. Each of them is better to know in more detail, because a nursing baby can go from one type to another. Such a transition can be caused by both natural and dangerous changes in the digestive tract.

Vomiting "fountain"

This type of regurgitation is very dangerous. If a mother notices this in her baby, she should immediately consult a doctor. It is believed that the baby can suffer up to death (he can simply choke). By the way, Komarovsky denies the danger of even such types of regurgitation, arguing that a child is able to choke only if he lies on his back. One way or another, only a specialist can help in such cases. Causes of regurgitation by the fountain include:

• serious problems with the gastrointestinal tract;
• birth trauma;
• poisoning or infection.
• dysphagia (indigestion).

Fountain spitting is dangerous for the baby

Spitting up through the nose

It also happens that a newborn burps through the nose. This is also not the norm. This type of regurgitation leads to the development of polyps. Violated the integrity of the mucous membranes of the nose. In order to help the newborn, you need to consult a doctor.

The cause of regurgitation through the nose often lies in improper feeding. It is necessary to ensure that the child eats in the correct position and exactly on the clock, correctly clasping the nipple. In order to help the baby, you can put him on your stomach, or make a special massage. This will help the baby stop hiccuping.

How to reduce spitting up in a child after eating

The easiest thing to do is just wait. A newborn should stop burping at six months of age. There is no way to stop this process artificially - there are no universal cures for regurgitation. All that a mother can do for her child is to try to reduce this process, to make it painless. To do this, there are a number of specific measures, especially them, should be taken into account by mothers whose children behave restlessly both day and night.

• You don't need to feed your baby too much. Nutrition should be balanced and consistent with the schedule.
• It is not recommended to feed the baby in a horizontal position. The ideal position would be at an angle of sixty degrees.
• You need to make sure that the baby is completely clasping the nipple. With IV, it is important to monitor the quality of the mixture and the correct filling of the bottle.
• When eating, it is necessary to monitor the posture of the baby, his head should be located above the body.
• Before feeding, you can give the child a light massage of the abdomen. You can let the child lie down on his stomach a little, this will reduce gas formation and colic.
• After feeding, the child is carried in the arms in an upright position until he burps.
• You can put several diapers under the baby's head during sleep, thereby raising his head and facilitating spitting up.
• Milk mixture should be warm. You need to feed the baby at the same time. It is necessary to ensure that the mixture does not turn out to be curtailed, do not heat it for too long.
• Don't feed a crying baby. Avoid activity after eating.
• You can give your baby a pacifier before bedtime, this relieves colic a little, stimulating the bowels.

Correct posture while feeding

Massage before feeding

Light massage should be done before meals constantly. This takes about five minutes. First, the stomach is stroked with light soothing movements, while during the massage the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe right hypochondrium should not be touched, there, the baby has a liver. Then make slightly pressing movements with your hands from right to left. The following movements are made from top to bottom along the central part of the abdomen. Then one hand is left on the stomach, and the second is stroked first on the left, then on the right side.

Now stroking with one hand down and the other up at the same time. Then the baby's tummy is stroked in a circle. First with one hand, then with two hands. You can massage the child and "P" figurative movements. First left from bottom to top, then corner left to right, then top to bottom, and so on.

The massage itself should be done in a clockwise direction. For each movement you need to spend about 1.5 minutes.

Massage before feeding - lie on the tummy

How to behave after feeding

The fact that the child will burp after eating is completely inevitable. So you gave the child food. The regurgitation should occur after about twenty minutes. After this happens, change your baby's clothes. Reassure the child, let him lie down on his side for a while. If hiccups have begun, boiled water in a small amount will help. If there is an increase in temperature or the rejected milk has a strange color, you need to call a doctor.

Hold baby upright after feeding

Causes of pathological regurgitation

These include diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, infections, poisoning, injuries and others. In general, the causes of pathological regurgitation are presented in a list based on the ICD:

• developmental delay;
• pathology of the gastrointestinal tract;
• colic or flatulence;
• constipation, dysbacteriosis;
• abnormal development of the stomach;
• neurological abnormalities.

It is about such pathologies that we can talk about when it comes to frequent, profuse, and strong regurgitation in children. Now in more detail.

Digestive disorders

• Dysbacteriosis can cause regurgitation at an early age. It can be caused by antibiotics, or malnutrition of the baby. As a result, the intestinal microflora is disturbed, an imbalance of beneficial and harmful microorganisms occurs.
• Various infections are accompanied by fever, lethargy, anxiety, diarrhea, severe colic. Mucus impurities may be observed in the rejected masses.
• Food allergy, when it comes to IV, occurs on cow's milk protein. In this case, the baby serum must be replaced with another one. If the baby is breastfeeding, then the mother needs to better monitor her diet.
• Lactase deficiency is caused by a deficiency of lactase in the child's body. In such a situation, doctors prescribe special mixtures and vitamins to the child.
• Flatulence and constipation. Can be avoided when it comes to GW. Mothers simply need to exclude everything sweet and gas-forming from their diet.

Digestive disorders - causes of regurgitation

Congenital pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract

• Pyloric stenosis. Narrowing of the passage between the stomach and part of the intestine, leading to stagnation of food. As a result, the child begins to burp profusely for the first two weeks, then with a fountain, and after another time, vomiting begins. The mass regurgitated by the child often has a curd-like consistency. Pathology belongs to the group of dangerous and the child needs inpatient treatment.
• Pylorospasm. The same narrowing as in pyloric stenosis, but caused by spasm of the pyloric muscles. In this case, you need to consult a doctor, switch to the mixtures and additional drugs prescribed by him.
• Sphincter expansion. Too wide opening between stomach and esophagus. The doctor prescribes vitamins and calcium, additional drugs. Food is taken in fractional portions. It is acceptable to eat a small amount of cottage cheese.

The structure of the esophagus and stomach in a baby

Neurology

• The child was born prematurely. In such children, the sphincter is less developed, in this case the child will continue to burp up to six months, until he catches up with his peers in the development of the gastrointestinal tract.
• Pathologies formed during fetal development. These are disorders of the central nervous system, and sleep disturbances, increased intracranial pressure, high excitability of the vomiting center, and more.
• Injuries in the cervical spine. The child could be injured during childbirth, proceeding with complications. Treatment here is prescribed by a neurologist, it is a special massage, physiotherapy, medications.

What examinations are needed if there is concern?

In order to make sure that spitting up is not dangerous, it is necessary to undergo the following examinations: X-ray, ultrasound, blood test and stool test. All these procedures are prescribed by a neurologist or pediatrician. In some cases, other tests may be needed.