It’s no surprise that parents might need help understanding their children’s diet and nutrition. Some may have trouble feeding their infants and don’t know how to solve them.
One of the most common problems is spit-ups. Does your baby spit up 3 hours after eating?
Is it normal for a baby to spit up 3 hours after eating? If you are asking yourself such a query and being beset by worries over your child’s child, this blog is for you.
In this article, we’ll make an in-depth discussion about this case and recommend some viable solutions to help avoid spit-up.
What Is Spitting Up In Babies?
Spitting up refers to a situation where food in a baby’s stomach is propelled through the esophagus, then finally comes out of the mouth.
Baby spit up hours after eating is most common in newborns in their first months of age. Physiological regurgitation among infants is usually harmless to the child’s health.
Why Does Baby Spit Up 3 Hours After Eating?
It is a normal case for newborns to spit up, so don’t worry, mamas! In fact, 50% of babies from 0 to 3 months old do spit up once a day (at least).
You will witness spit-ups more often during their 2nd to 4th month. For some, the situation might last until they are 7 or 8 months old.
Here are the common causes behind it.
Physiological Cause
The physiological causes of newborn spit up after feeding are the immature digestive system, horizontal stomach, and weak cardiac sphincter.
According to UW Health, babies need a high-calorie diet to have enough energy to support their rapid growth.
This amount may triple or quadruple the calories needed for an adult (in a unit of pound/bodyweight).
Furthermore, infants are likely to swallow air while sucking. As a result, their stomachs get full, and they frequently throw up what they consume.
In addition, it may be because the mother’s care is not appropriate, such as:
- Feeding the baby too much, especially for a bottle-fed baby
- Adding too many dairy products to your child’s diet
- Letting them lie down a few minutes after eating
- Using tight diapers
- Not recognizing cow milk allergy in infants
Pathological Cause
If your baby spits up an hour after eating and yet still seems happy, they probably have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Weak esophageal muscle can also lead to acid reflux in babies with GERD. Acid reflux can happen at any age, but babies with reflux are more prevalent.
GERD is diagnosed in babies with the following common symptoms:
- Fussiness after feeding
- Refusing to feed or constantly feeding
- Difficulty in swallowing
- Vomiting yellow fluid or green color
- Irritated soft spot
- Chronic cough
- Bad breath
- Weight loss
- Baby latching and unlatching repeatedly is also a sign of silent reflux.
What Can You Do When A Baby Spits Up 3 Hours After Eating?
- Keep your baby in the upright position. Try to keep your baby upright, semi-upright, or sitting position when feeding the child. You should do some activities with your children and let them stand upright instead of lying down 20 to 30 minutes after feeding. This would help stabilize stomach contents and reduce reflux in babies.
- Avoid overfeeding. Feeding too much is not good for children. More frequent feedings with small chunks make them easier to digest. You can check whether your baby gets enough milk by looking at wet diapers. The moderate number of wet diapers a day is 6.
- Take time to burp your baby. After breastfeeding, the mother needs to hold the baby with her head high for about 15-20 minutes and not let the baby lie down. Gently pat the back to push air out of the stomach, helping the baby burp well.
- Consider the amount and the formula. There’s nothing to say if you’re breastfeeding your baby. But in the case of formula feeding, there remains a chance that the formula is the recipe for constant spitting up in newborns. Try another alternative if your little one is allergic or can’t adapt to that formula. When babies can hold their bottles, and you start bottle-feeding, you should reduce the milk amount each time.
- Try oatmeal. During the first six months of life, breast milk is advisable, while cereal is not suggested. However, there are some exceptions. Babies with acid reflux, for instance, would require thicker food to swallow easily or to lessen reflux discomfort. To begin, add 1 level spoonful of rice cereal to each ounce of formula.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is The Difference Between Baby Spit Up And Baby Vomiting?
Spitting up and baby vomiting have some things in common. They both involve your baby’s stomach contents ending up on your clothing.
While happy spitting may not be a concern, frequent projectile vomiting might indicate health problems.
Vomit is more powerful and dangerous. It can also be caused by a virus, bacterium, food poisoning, or other health problems.
Other potential causes of infant vomit include motion sickness, certain prescription drugs, and upsetting sights or noises.
True vomiting may show that your baby has pyloric stenosis, a condition in which a muscle’s thickness in the stomach increases, blocking food from reaching the small intestine.
This might result in projectile vomiting and dehydration and must be addressed right away.
Can Baby Spitting Up Be A Sign Of A Problem?
We have the term called happy spitter, which means that normal spitting up doesn’t affect a baby’s well-being.
A happy spitter can eat well and develop with normal weight gain, so there’s no need to worry.
But in some circumstances, the “baby spit up hours after eating” issue can lead to poor weight gain, weight loss, or health problems if they have GERD.
When Do Babies Stop Spitting Up?
Normal reflux occurs in most infants, especially first weeks of life. Babies spit up until they are about 12 months old.
As they grow, reflux in children is lessened, and there won’t be any long-term problems at all.
Spitting up should happen more often until the infant is around three months old, and then its frequency decreases when breastfed babies become stronger and can sit up by themselves.
If your baby’s spitting up turns to forceful vomiting or painful reflux, this might tell you something more severe.
Conclusion
Does your baby spit up 3 hours after eating? Why does my baby spit up hours after eating? With the information we reveal here, now you can answer these questions.
Newborn spit up after feeding is a common developmental milestone.
If the baby just spits up normally, you should not be too worried but calm down and handle it according to our advised treatment for reflux.
But suppose the baby spits up with unusual symptoms such as abdominal pain, weight loss, or excessive crying.
In that case, you need to take the baby to the hospital for a physical exam immediately because it is likely that the baby is suffering from a dangerous disease.