Burping

As the ever-wise Shrek once said, “Better out than in!” Truer words have never been spoken. 

Burping is something everyone does, often at the least respectable times. But we do pay a bit more attention to burping and love to see and witness a burp when you have a baby that has just been fed. When feeding a baby whether by breast or bottle, they will always take a bit of extra air in whether the air comes in from bubbles in the milk stuff or enters through the sides of the mouth. 

Air is both helpful and not so helpful. We want a bit of air in the GI (gastrointestinal) tract for babies, because when you’re really little and don’t know how to control your anal sphincters yet to let a poop go through, you rely on air to push it out often with quite the spectacle and auditory accompaniment. 

But if there is too much air, then this can be quite uncomfortable for babies to work through their tummies. So to get the extra air out, it is always a good idea to hold baby upright for 2-5 minutes (or longer if there is a lot of air) after a feed to help get the air out. I know, as parents, we love to get that burp out of baby—an immediate sense of validity and self-accomplishment. But the real secret of the matter is as long as you hold baby upright, the air will get out, even if you don’t do that elaborate patting baby-bouncing burp move you have trademarked and You-Tubed. Don’t worry if you don’t feel or hear an audible burp every time you burp your baby; gravity is still helping us get air out and push fluid down in the tummy. 

But what if it is a night feed and baby is otherwise sleeping comfortably after the feed? If that is the case, then they probably didn’t swallow a lot of extra air and don’t need to be held upright after. If they did swallow a bit of extra air, their tummies will help push it out with some fun nighttime toots while they smile and sleep away.