Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Any tips?

The first 2.5 weeks of Grant's life he never spit up. We would feed, get a good burp, and he'd be good to go. This last week has been a different story. He spits up a lot and I would even go so far as to call it vomitting. Occaisionally it has been enough to drench his clothes requiring an outfit change. Between spitting up and diaper leaks, Grant goes through 3-4 outfits per day. He is not in pain at all and sometimes spits us while sleeping. Any tips from you seasoned mothers?

Am I feeding him too much?
Is he reacting to something that I'm eating?
Is this just normal newborn stuff?

And because a post is not complete without pictures...





(This is what we call the "baby bird face" with the mouth wide open looking for the mommy bird to give him a worm.) =)

8 comments:

Westphal Family said...

Hey Elizabeth... this is Amber Fleckner from nursing school. My little girl is now 3 months old, and she spits up all the time (if I remember right I don't think she spit up for the first few days or maybe a week or two after she was born). If spitting up doesn't seem to bother him then I wouldn't worry about it, but I do have a few tips for you that may help. After he eats, keep his head up for 30-45 min (don't lay him down... gravity seems to help keep the milk down). If he starts to get fussy or seem to be in pain when spitting up he may have acid reflux (Prevacid is often prescribed by pediatrics for this condition, and it usually resolves itself between 3 and 4 months of age). Hope this helps.

Lindsay Riggs said...

I wouldn't worry about him spitting up a lot. Annie has been a big spitter-upper and it has been a shock because Riley hardly ever spit up! It is shocking sometimes how much they spit up when they're so little and you think they just spit up everything they ate! But, if he's not fussing because of the spitting up, I wouldn't do anything different. Babies are meant to spit up what they don't need. If you start feeding him less and he starts feeling hungry more often then you will probably have a crabbier baby on your hands. :)

The Holts said...

Hi Elizabeth!! My little babe is 3 months and he was fine the first couple weeks. Then he started vomiting almost his whole feed, and I could tell that it was hurting him. So he is now on Prevacid, which has worked wonders. But, Grant probably doesn't need prevacid if he isn't fussy or hurting. One thing we did do for about a month was have him sleep in his little bouncy chair after his feeds so that he was upright instead of flat in the crib. Good luck with the guessing game. :) He is a CUTIE!!!

Sarah said...

Here is my simple answer - if he isn't in pain and isn't loosing weight. Don't worry about it. Just carry cloth diapers/burp rags with you -- everywhere! All babies spit up, I am pretty sure of that.

Jenni said...

I love that last picture of you kissing him. Too sweet. Sorry...no seasoned mother in this household, but I'm sure your doing everything just right!

Laura said...

I think you've got a lot of really good advice here. I think you're doing everything right and he's just entered the wonderful throwing up stage of life. As long as its not causing him any pain I wouldn't worry about it. I remember Craig constructed a sort of "ramp" for Elizabeth to sleep on so that she wasn't flat on her back and so that her food would stay down. His stomach opening will get stronger and stay closed better as he gets older. At least thats what I remember our pediatrician saying about Elizabeth. She was puking all of last night though, so maybe not. =) J/K

Karie said...

What everybody else said! When babies vomit, it's projectile and causes them distress. Spit up just makes them look surprised or relieved (in my opinion). I remember worrying about Afton because it seemed like she was always spitting up too much, but she was fine. I found out that terrycloth burp rags absorb the most, but you have to rotate through them fairly often and wash them often or they stink like nothing else....

The Woods said...

You are a super mom, Elizabeth! Just the fact that you are concerned enough about the spit up to blog about it shows that you are trying your best to do what's best for Grant and that's all you can do! I love the sweet pictures. More please! Also, I'd love to chat if you need to talk. Call me any time--I'm never doing anything! :)