The 3 Things You Need To Know About BABY Spit Up
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Whether you are formula-feeding or nursing your newborn, chances are that you have been covered in baby spit up once or twice. Or in my case, constantly! It can be really frustrating and sometimes really scary.
To add insult to injury, so many burp clothes aren’t worth anything and don’t help keep you or your baby clean.
I set out to learn everything I could about spit-up and to find the best burp cloth possible!
If you’re concerned about how much or how often your newborn is spitting up, and consistently covered in your newborn’s baby spit up, then find these tips helpful and discover the best burp cloth possible.
When I asked my doctor about it recently, I was told “spitting up is normal” and “you just need to push through this it”. What?!
I was looking for a solution and I sick of changing my son’s clothes countless times a day – not to mention my own. Okay, if I’m being honest, I eventually gave up changing our clothes… shh.
First, let me say that my first son had “projectile” spit up. It was impressive. Four years later, though, when I had my second, I somehow forgot all the tricks I’d learned!
So, I did some research and talked to my son’s pediatrician and nurses, and here’s what I learned:
1. Breast milk vs. Formula Can Cause Baby Spit Up
Some breastfed babies will spit up more, or have digestive issues, as a result of their mother’s diet. This is usually related to some form of dairy sensitivity.
Very often breastfeeding moms will try to alter their diet when they encounter this.
When that doesn’t work, some pediatricians or friends will recommend switching to formula.
The reality is that very few babies actually have this sensitivity and removing all dairy (and sometimes soy) from your diet will not only make breastfeeding very stressful on you, but also have little impact on your baby.
Before altering your diet or switching to formula, it’s definitely worth doing lots of research! One great resource is this article from KellyMom.com.
If you are considering switching to formula to reduce spit-up, there’s something you should know…
Since breast milk is digested more quickly than formula, babies often spit-up less when drinking it than they would if they were drinking formula. This, I guess, is because it’s digested before too much of it can be spit up!
I’m glad my doctor explained this to me because in an attempt to reduce the spit up, I was considering switching my son to formula! I guess it would have had the opposite effect I was looking for!
My breastfed son still spit up a lot, but would probably have spit up more if I had switched him to formula. Are you nursing and looking for some tips and advice? Check out my posts full of breastfeeding tips and information!
2. Diaper Cloths as Burp Cloths
My first son was a “projectile” spitter-uper! There was absolutely no way to contain it. In fact, sometimes he’d be leaning back in his swing, vomit, and none of it would touch him! (it has even BOUNCED off of me a few times!)
With my second baby, there was hope! He would spit up a ton, but it was still just ordinary spit up (meaning, it wouldn’t be able to go from one side of the room to the other!).
I worried, though, because it seemed like he was spitting up SO much. It would just run off the burp cloth and on to his and my clothes. Despite buying every basic and “specialty” burp cloth I could find, nothing worked.
Finally I found what I was looking for! Enter the Gerber Diaper Cloths… that’s right, DIAPER CLOTHS!!
If you’re looking for something organic that might be a bit softer, then these look great too! (But I used the Gerber ones…)
I’d heard that diaper cloths could be used as burp cloths but of course didn’t think that they’d be superior to products labeled as “burp cloths”. Boy was I wrong!
It makes sense that they’d work great though. Diaper cloths need to be able to hold the baby’s pee right?
Their job is to absorb liquid and they do such a great job! Better yet, these diaper cloths are cheaper than most burp cloths. That’s right, better AND cheaper!
If you’re looking for a good burp cloth, I definitely recommend trying them!
At under $20 for 10, it’s a great deal because 10-20 will be all you ever need! I wish I had purchased these first and not wasted money on all the other burp cloths I tried.
3. Waterproof Pocket Bib
Have you ever thought “he just spit up everything he ate!”? That’s what I thought for weeks.
I’d call my pediatrician multiple times a week saying that I thought he was spitting up “too much” and was concerned that he might have an issue and need medication even though he was gaining weight really well! (above average actually… yeah, he’s was chubby baby!)
The doctor reassured me multiple times that it probably looked like a lot more than it was because it was running vs being contained (this was before I discovered the diaper cloths).
He recommended that I take an ounce of milk and pour it on the counter to see how far it spreads. So I did… but I still wasn’t convinced.
Finally it occurred to me… Get a pocket bib! The great thing about using these occasionally is that the spit-up pools in the pocket and shows you just how much your baby is really spitting up!
It’s a little tricky to use if you are nursing but with a little trial and error, I made it work.
Once you see just how little you little one is REALLY spitting up, you’ll know whether it was all of his meal or not (and be able to better articulate how much it was to your doctor if you do feel like you need to call them!)
Once your newborn stops spitting up, and you don’t need these pocket bibs anymore, just put them away until they start eating solids.
If you are concerned about baby spit up then I hope you will find these tips helpful!
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Great tips! I am dealing with spit up particularly when I eat dairy or eggs, and I love your tip about using a pocket bib to see how much they’re throwing up. Brilliant. I’m also amazed that my diet makes such a difference in how much my baby spits up or throws up… when my diet is completely clean of his triggers, he usually has DRY burps. Oh, they are glorious! đŸ˜€
Hi Corina ! I’m glad you found this post helpful ! Diet definitely seems to have a huge impact. Best of luck working your way through this stage! These days food packaging is so detailed that it’s at least a bit easier to navigate through this. If dairy seems to be a trigger, keep an eye out for products with the U in a circle that has “Pareve” or a P next to it. That means that there is no dairy or meat in the product. Good luck and congrats on the little baby!
Thanks for this. My lo is a toddler now, but I remember these days. It’s nice to know I wasn’t the only mom freaking out about this. Also, I love the premise of your blog. I’m a very analytical mommy, too (I’m a lawyer).
Thank you for your post. I am expecting at the end of June and was just looking into using the waterproof bibs as burping cloths. Came across your article and glad to know you had the same idea. But I am still figuring out how to use the waterproof bib as burping cloth. Do we put it around the baby or do we lay it on our shoulder as if it’s a burping cloth?
Hi! For example, if you burp your baby by sitting them on your lap (my preferred way), then you put the bib on your baby and then put the hand that holds their head under the bib so that when they spit up it goes into the bib. If you haven’t ever burped a baby this way, give it a shot! It’s how they taught me when my first was in the NICU. Hope that helps!
Great post. I’ve been lucky as my son did not spit up much, only when was sick. But as a blogger mom that tries to help other moms with their parenting challenges got some good advice from your post. Thanks for sharing.
Loved your article! It completely captured my Kid’s current situation. Thanks a lot for the tips !
I’m so glad it helped you!