Regurgitation after feeding in children

Regurgitation is the process of ejecting a small amount of saliva or food from the stomach. In newborns and infants, regurgitation after feeding is especially frequent, and is an absolutely normal phenomenon that does not require special treatment. An exception are some cases, which we will consider in more detail below.

Regurgitation occurs in 85% of newborns. By 3-4 months of life they become more rare, and when the baby turns 10 months, disappear almost completely, without treatment.

If the general condition of the baby does not deteriorate with regurgitation, the stool is normal, the well being is good, then there is no cause for concern. However, regurgitation after feeding can also be a symptom of various diseases that need to be recognized and cured in time.

Why does the baby spit after feeding? Let's consider the main reasons.

1. The stomach is full of food and air. Often the baby immediately regurgitates after eating, with air coming out (belching arises). In this situation, the excess food is ejected from the baby's stomach.

2. When feeding, there is a swallowing of air (aerophagia). Overflow of air is collected in the stomach, and can cause regurgitation.

3. With the weakness of the muscles of the valve, it blocks the passage to the stomach from the esophagus. In adults, this passage is blocked by a muscle valve that passes food from the esophagus to the stomach, and does not let it pass back. In children, he is poorly developed and normally starts to work by the end of the first year of life. Because of this, food can flow from the baby's stomach into the esophagus, from where it is then ejected as a regurgitation.

4. Less often the reason of plentiful regurgitation can be an allergy to some food products and congenital pathologies of digestive system development (for example, narrowing the passage of the stomach into the intestine).

What can be done to reduce regurgitation?

The problem usually resolves without consulting the doctor. To do this, follow the simple rules related to feeding:

- The most important rule: a child after feeding should be held in a column (in a vertical position) for about 10 minutes. Wait until the air in the stomach comes out. Before meals, by the way, you can hold the baby upright - then the air will come out, which got into the stomach before that.

- Try not to overfeed your child - feed a little better, but more often.

"Check his bottle." The reason for swallowing a baby with a large amount of air may be an excessively large opening in the nipple.

- Feed the baby better in a semi-vertical position, so that his head is above the abdomen.

- During feeding, you need to take breaks every 5 minutes.

- Before feeding, it is advisable to spread the baby to the tummy.

- Make sure that the baby grabs the breast correctly (and the nipple and areola).

- Try not to put on clothes, do not undress a baby, do not slow it down, refrain from active games for at least 20 minutes.

If, after following the above recommendations, regurgitation does not go away after feeding, try changing the diet.

It helps to thicken the mixture or breast milk with rice powder or rice powder (from 3 months).

When to call a doctor

1. A baby with frequent feeding does not gain weight or lose weight.
2. Repetition of the fountain, too abundant and frequent.
3. Due to frequent regurgitation, signs of dehydration appeared.
4. The rejected milk is not white, but green, with impurities of bile.
5. The regurgitation is accompanied by pain, the child cries, arches and cries.
6. The baby after a plentiful regurgitation is hungry again and eats greedily.
7. Regurgitation after feeding manifests in a baby who has reached 10-12 months.

Please note that almost all children face such a problem. By the age of 6 months, the problem of regurgitation usually disappears: the sphincter situated between the esophagus and the stomach will be able to keep the contents of the stomach by this time.