Why does the baby suck milk?

Infant milk regurgitation refers to the baby spitting out one or two mouthfuls of milk after drinking it. This happens to almost every child. In fact, mothers don’t need to worry when encountering this situation. This is a very normal physiological phenomenon and is not a sign of physical problems with the child. This phenomenon often occurs half a year after the child is born, and as the child grows up, milk regurgitation will eventually disappear. So what causes children to regurgitate milk?

1. Due to physiological structure

The stomach volume of a newborn is small and the stomach is horizontal. The pyloric muscles are well-developed and tightly closed, making it difficult for food to pass into the stomach. The cardia muscles are underdeveloped and loosely closed. If the baby swallows air while feeding. After the air enters the stomach, because the gas is lighter than the liquid and is located at the top, it can easily break through the cardia and come out, and it will also bring out some milk, which will cause milk regurgitation.

2. Caused by changes in body position

In some cases, milk regurgitation is caused by changes in body position, such as when the mother changes the baby's diaper shortly after feeding.

Milk regurgitation usually occurs in artificially fed babies, mainly due to the following two reasons:

1. Crying before feeding or feeding too quickly can easily cause the baby to inhale air.

2. Lay the baby flat or turn the baby too much after feeding.

How to prevent baby milk regurgitation

1. Change the diaper before feeding and try to move the baby as little as possible after feeding.

2. Adopt a suitable feeding posture: try to hold the baby while feeding, so that the baby's body is tilted at about 45 degrees, and the milk in the stomach will naturally flow into the small intestine. This will reduce the chance of vomiting compared to feeding while lying down.

3. For babies who use pacifiers to feed, choose the pacifier of the most appropriate size.

4. Pay attention to the feeding posture, do not overfeed, do not rush to feed when the baby is crying, and do not suck from an empty bottle.

5. Be sure to let the baby burp after feeding: hold the baby upright against your shoulder, pat the baby's back gently, and let him burp to expel the air inhaled into the stomach while sucking milk.

6. After each feeding, when putting the baby to sleep, you can raise the baby's head slightly and lie the body on the right side, so that the milk can easily enter the duodenum through the stomach, making it less likely to regurgitate the milk.

7. It is not advisable to let the baby lie on his back immediately after feeding. Instead, he should lie on his side for a while and then change to lying on his back.

8. Do not feed too much milk, feed small meals frequently and do not feed too closely.