Spit ups- how much is too much?

purtz

DS is 2 weeks old and exclusively breast fed. After some feedings, he is great, no real burbs or spit ups. After some feedings, he spits ups a lot of fresh milk; did he just eat too much? And them after some feedings, he'll spit up regergutated milk an hour or more later or will get really bad hiccups. Not sure what is normal or acceptable? We don't have our next pediatrician appt until monday. Would love any opinions or perspectives! TY!

PaoPao820

My lil guy was doing the same thing.... more often than not though he was spitting up more than he wasn't.  He was also grunting a lot.  The pediatrician just offered that he was a happy spitter.  Oh and he's 5 weeks today.  In speaking with my doula about this when she checked in, she offered that he was probably being overfed since we were doing on demand feeding and my guy like to nurse to soothe.  

From what I understand and from what I've noticed from my own guy (and I'm a first time mom who is also exclusively breastfeeding, no bottles and no formula) if I can spread his feedings out over 3 hours or as close to 3 hours as possible, his grunting goes down because he has better bowel movements, less gassy and the spitting up happens less frequently and at a smaller amount.  I've been feeding on a schedule like this for the past few days (at night he tends to eat every 2-2.5 hours but he eats slower too.  I also have an overactive letdown and over supply that seems to play a role for him so bc of that I need to burp more often.  I burp him halfway through the feeding or whenever he stops for longer or unlatches for a second.  

Some spit up is totally normal so there's no reason to get alarmed with that.  Sometimes they take in too much and more comes up.  As long as your LO is not bothered by it when it happens then it's fine.  That's what everyone told me.  My guy doesn't cough or gasp or anything else when it happens... usually it's when he burps.  When he does cough it's usually on the boob because he got a spray of milk.  Hope this all helps.  

Avion22

Some spit up is normal.  The valve/sphincter at the top of their stomach isn't fully formed yet, and it allows stuff to flow up and down pretty freely.  Even reflux is babies isn't like reflux in adults -- it's not acidic or painful/burning, it's usually just regular liquid.   

I generally judge it based on how my baby is acting.  If he's acting normally and seems happy or satisfied, I just clean up the spit up.   I'll watch for hunger cues, because I figure he might get hungry sooner if less milk stayed down.   Though usually spit up LOOKS like it's a lot more milk than it really is.  But if your baby can't keep anything down or seems really fussy, then you might want to follow up with your pedi.  

purtz

Thanks ladies! Helpful!