Symptoms of pathological spitting up in babies

In fact, babies will encounter many small problems in the process of physical growth and development. These small problems seem simple, but they are actually quite troublesome. First of all, many babies often have pathological spitting up. Most of the pathological spitting up is of the jetting type, and the spitted out milk will be found to have indigestion, which is different from ordinary spitting up. Moreover, it is very frequent and is not caused by drinking too much milk.

Spitting up is a common phenomenon in infancy, mostly because the cardia between the baby's esophagus and stomach is not yet fully developed, and sometimes it is related to improper feeding by parents. Parents do not need to provide special care for physiological spitting up, but they should be aware that if the baby spitting up is severe, it may be caused by an illness and the baby should be sent to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment in time.

1. What is pathological spitting up?

If the baby starts spitting up milk within 24 hours after birth, and the amount is large, or even in the form of jets, or if there are other abnormal symptoms and signs in addition to spitting up milk, this indicates that the baby's spitting up is caused by illness, which is pathological spitting up. Parents should take the baby to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible. Common causes of pathological vomiting are congenital digestive tract malformations such as esophageal atresia, gastroesophageal reflux, hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, and intestinal malrotation, which should be treated surgically after diagnosis.

If your baby loses weight rapidly due to spitting up, or coughs while spitting up, or the vomit is brown or green, or it shoots out 70-80 cm away, these are likely signs of a disease. Most babies are happy vomiters. If the baby vomits very uncomfortably, it is very likely that the esophagus is inflamed, and parents need to take the baby to the hospital for treatment in time.

2. What is physiological spitting up?

The stomach of a newborn baby, viewed from the front, is lying horizontally and is in an unstable state, while the cardia (the entrance to the stomach) is relatively loose. That is to say, when adults eat, after food enters the stomach, the cardia will contract to prevent food from flowing back into the esophagus; but because the cardia of infants' stomach cannot contract well, the milk that enters the stomach can flow back into the esophagus more easily. In addition, compared with adults, the larynx of newborns is higher, and their way of sucking the nipple is clumsy, which makes it easy for air to be inhaled into the stomach along with the milk when feeding. Therefore, when the child burps or shakes his body, the milk he eats is more likely to be spit out.

In general, vomiting caused by physiological causes is more common. This is because the cardia between the baby's esophagus and stomach has not yet matured. As the baby grows older, physiological vomiting will gradually improve.

Of course, the baby may also eat too much and lie down immediately after feeding, which can easily lead to spitting up. These are all physiological spitting up, and parents don’t need to be too nervous.

3. How to take care of the baby when he spits up milk?

1. Keep your upper body elevated, as vomitus entering the trachea may cause suffocation. Therefore, when letting your child lie down, it is best to put a bath towel under the child's body and keep the upper body elevated. If your baby spits up while lying down, turn your baby's face to one side.

2. After spitting up, pay more attention to the child's condition. When the baby is lying down, raise his head, or simply hold the baby upright. After spitting up, your baby may look unhappy, but this is fine as long as he or she recovers later. In addition, you can give him some water according to the situation.

3. Replenish water 30 minutes after vomiting. If you replenish water immediately after the baby vomits, it may cause vomiting again. Therefore, it is best to try to feed your baby some plain water little by little with a spoon about 30 minutes after vomiting.

4. After spitting up milk, the amount of milk fed each time should be reduced to half of the usual amount. When the baby recovers and wants to breastfeed again, you can feed the baby some milk. However, the amount of milk each time should be reduced to about half of the usual amount, but the number of feedings can be increased. During the period of continuous vomiting, the baby can only be fed with milk and no other food, including complementary food.