What Should I Do, My Baby Keeps On Spitting Out Breast-milk

I’m a first-time mum and my baby is just 3 weeks old. Last week I noticed that he brings out a lot of breastmilk from his mouth few minutes after breastfeeding so I decided to watch. I noticed that the breast milk comes out with ease and he doesn’t seem to be in pain.

But today after feeding him, he not only brought out breast milk from his mouth but also from his nose and I got really scared. I don’t know why he is vomiting, please is this normal and what can I do to stop it?

Spitting up is the regurgitation of food, milk, and saliva that can occur in infants. Spitting up is not forceful and does not contain large amounts of food and fluids. Spitting up is common in healthy babies and about half of all babies during their first three months experience their stomach contents coming back up into the esophagus, a condition known as gastroesophageal reflux or infant reflux.

It usually occurs right after feeding or burping and the spit up fluid may look just like the formula or milk that was just fed or may appear slightly curdled. The amount of fluid spit-up is usually just a small portion of the feeding but it often appears to be much more.

Spitting up is quite different from Vomiting. Spitting up is the easy flow of a baby's stomach contents through his or her mouth or nose (because your baby’s nose like yours is connected to the back of his throat), possibly with a burp but Vomiting occurs when the flow is forceful and shoots out inches rather than dribbling from the mouth.

Spitting up happens because an infant’s digestive system is not fully developed. There is a valve between the esophagus and the stomach which prevents food from coming back up and out of the stomach but in infants, this valve is not well developed and can more easily allow food to go back up the feeding tube and cause spitting up.

Also, because the infant's stomach is small, feeding too much or swallowing too much air can help push food past the valve. As the infant grows and the valve develops, food is less likely to pass this valve and travel up the esophagus.

Most babies usually stop spitting up by the time they are 12 months old. But consider the following tips to reduce spitting up;

• Keep your baby upright. Try feeding your baby in a more upright position and also put the baby in an upright position after each feeding. Also avoid immediate active play immediately after feeding.
• Avoid overfeeding. Try to feed your baby smaller amounts of milk but more frequently.
• Take time to burp your baby. Burping your baby frequently during and after each feeding can keep air from building up in your baby's stomach.
• Keep pressure off your baby’s stomach. Avoid tight clothing and diaper to prevent pressure on the stomach.
• Put baby to sleep on his or her back. To reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), it's important to place your baby to sleep on his or her back. Placing a baby to sleep on his or her tummy to prevent spitting up isn't recommended.

However, spitting up could be a sign of a problem if your baby isn’t gaining weight, spitting up forcefully, spits up a greenish or yellowish fluid, spits up material that resembles coffee grounds, or refuses to feed repeatedly.

Source: Mayoclinic, Emedicinehealth

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