Spitting up, or regurgitation, is a common problem that babies and mothers may face. As long as your baby is gaining weight, not having forceful vomiting and does not seem to be in pain, your little one is probably fine. However, if he is not gaining weight, rejects feeding, is forcibly vomiting or seems to be in pain, call your pediatrician immediately. These symptoms can indicate more serious gastric problems in your child.
Spitting Up and the LES
Spitting up, or regurgitation, is the backflow of mucus, saliva and food through the lower esophageal sphincter, or LES, a muscular area between your esophagus and stomach. In contrast to vomiting, which involves muscular spasm of the stomach and esophagus and the forcible ejection of stomach contents, regurgitation does not involve spasm. In regurgitation, a large air bubble forms in the area of the upper stomach and sphincter, causing pressure. The LES opens and the mucus, saliva and milk flows through the LES, up through the esophagus and out of the mouth.
Causes of Spitting Up
Spitting up can be caused by an immature digestive system and LES, which does not close off efficiently when food enters the baby's stomach. This is not uncommon and usually corrects itself during babyhood. Failure to burp your baby adequately during feeding can aggravate spitting up, as can overfeeding or feeding the infant too quickly. In addition, feeding the infant in a car seat or similar apparatus can also produce spitting up when the baby slumps down in the seat, putting pressure on the upper stomach and lower esophagus.
Preventing Spitting Up
To lessen regurgitation, hold the infant in a sitting position to feed. Be sure to burp the baby at least once during feeding and more often if need be. This allows the baby to expel the air he swallows during feeding and slows the rate of ingestion. If you are bottle-feeding, make sure that the baby is swallowing milk or formula, not air, by using of nursers and nipples that lessen air ingestion or by simply holding the bottle so that air cannot enter the nipple from the bottle. If these suggestions do not help or you are anxious for any reason about the baby's condition, call your physician for advice
Weathering the Storm
It can seem that your baby will never outgrow spitting up. But he will. Once your infant is sitting up well -- at around 7 months -- and eating solid food, problems with spitting up decrease . Spitting up usually stops entirely once the child has been walking for a few months. Until then, stock up on baby wipes, take extra baby clothes and a nice big burping towel with you when you leave the house with your baby and know that this too will pass.
