Any new parent will eventually have to learn how to burp their baby. What a life to be a baby, eh? Burp as much as you want and people are happy! If I did that at home continuously Mummy A would have strong words with me. It’s very important that he does burp though – they get very agitated if they don’t….trust me when i say you don’t want an unburped baby nearby….
There seem to be no pattern as to when Baby A will burp – some feeds he does and some feeds he doesn’t. When he does, it’s the most satisfying thing ever (for him as well as us)…when he doesn’t we convince ourselves he will throw up at any moment. And again, sometimes he vomits, sometimes he doesn’t. Luckily he is not too bad – we know one baby which vomits at every other feed!
We’ve had to use a few techniques to burp Baby A, which seem to work most of the time:
Sit down, straight back
This was the one they taught us at the hospital and to be fair it is still the best way, as Baby A demonstrates in the picture.* I’ve found it helps to make sure Baby A’s back is straight when i burp him this way.
I have a habit of rubbing his back whilst sitting him up to help the burp. Apparently I rub his back a little bit too hard as Mummy A complained that all his sleepsuits are bobbling on the back!
Over the shoulder
This is quite a common one to use – you put his body against yours with his head resting on your shoulder, facing backwards.
I sometimes lift him higher so his stomach is on my shoulder, but be warned, he’s thrown up over a few t-shirts when I’ve done this (Actually I’ve noticed recently that a lot of my t-shirts have small white milk stains where he’s drooled on my right shoulder).
On the back
We sometimes put him on his back on the changing mat. This doesn’t really make him burp but sometimes when you pick him up after a while he lets rip very quickly.
….I have to say my son’s standard of burping puts mine to shame – imagine drinking fizzy water all the time and you get an idea! I never knew babies could burp so loudly.
*We don’t normally sit him on a table to burp him – although it always seems to work for my mother-in-law! Also, if he pukes, at least it won’t go over your clothes….
Incidentally for those that are interested, here are a few resources for burping techniques
