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Infant feeding

What's your best burping technique?

220 replies

rumtumtugger · 01/10/2013 08:13

I'd like to try out some new tried and tested techniques for getting those last stubborn pockets of air out!

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tiktok · 01/10/2013 09:14

But how do you know, how does anyone know, there are 'stubborn pockets of air'? :)

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Sunflower1985 · 01/10/2013 22:46

I learnt this today with an osteopath. It's a posture/ tummy time technique but if a bubble is there it will come up too. DC facing away from you straddling one thigh.
Hold under the arms with both hands with thumbs resting under the shoulder blades. Rotate alternate shoulders forward like they're swimming front crawl, lifting slightly to elongate their torso. Then do back crawl for a bit.

I also like sitting them on your lap and rotating their torso like doing a hula.

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hettienne · 01/10/2013 22:49

I just sat DS up - if he needed to burp, he did!

I don't understand all this jiggling and patting babies tbh Confused

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notwoo · 01/10/2013 22:55

I liked the hula hoop type one where you sit the baby on your knee and move them round in a little circle if that makes sense.

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rumtumtugger · 03/10/2013 01:38

Tiktok, I can hear and feel air bubbles moving along her body. She's in windy agony and wakes up farting a lot.

What's the hula hoop one? Sounds intriguing! I can't quite picture how to do it!

OP posts:
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mykingdomforasleep · 03/10/2013 01:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AdoraBell · 03/10/2013 01:58

With one of mine I had to do a circular movement covering the whole of her back from her waist to her shoulders.

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ZingWantsCake · 03/10/2013 02:24

imagine a bottle of fizzy drink.

if you rub the bottle gently nothing happens.
if you tap it little bubbles will be released - more if you start from the bottom and work your way up, tapping it all the time.

keep that in my mind.
baby upright, your hand on back just above nappy line and with your fingers start tapping the back, going up with each tap.
then repeat.
keep going for 5-10 mins, baby should burp!

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UrethraFranklin · 03/10/2013 14:49

I just sit her up and she does it herself. Worked better than anything else I've tried.

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tasmaniandevilchaser · 03/10/2013 20:32

my favourite is the corkscrew (it sounds like the hula hoop one people mentioned upthread)

also lying baby down for a few minutes, when you pick them up again they burp

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Rowanred · 03/10/2013 20:45

I don't think babies need "burping" ever. I have bad 2 babies and never "winded" or burped them. If they have gas holding them upright for a while may help but I don't think most babies do ( if they are bf anyway, not sure if bottle feeding introduces more air?)

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ZingWantsCake · 03/10/2013 21:10

rowan

most babies need burping or the trapped air wil travel down the gut and either make them a bit sick or give them painful wind.

bf babies need it just as much as ff, especially if they have tongue tie or other feeding issues.

some may not need burping or don't swallow that much air, but most do.

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hettienne · 03/10/2013 21:20

I don't think "most" do tbh. We have a bit of a cultural obsession with burping babies!

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ZingWantsCake · 03/10/2013 21:25

hetienne

sorry, but swallowing air while feeding is not a "cultural" thing!Confused

babies all round the world have a reflex that helps them expel air, it's only natural to aid this!

I know people from many different countries/nationalities (if I must count, at least 20!), they all burp/ed their kids. it's nothing new.

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hettienne · 03/10/2013 21:47

Babies burp. The cultural thing is that we feel babies must be jiggled, patted etc after every feed to produce burps on demand.

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FavoriteThings · 03/10/2013 21:55

I could have done with this thread years ago! Mine were terrible. Projectile voomiters. If they werent burped or not enough or there was some air left, up came most of their milk, and we would have to start again.
Any hints or tips? Sorry not op. We really struggled. NOthing anybody did was better than anything else anyone tried.

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tiktok · 03/10/2013 22:39

"most babies need burping or the trapped air wil travel down the gut and either make them a bit sick or give them painful wind."

Oh dear.....where is the evidence for this???

Most babies need assistance with the natural process of getting rid of air?? And this involves complicated manoevres and handling....for most babies??

For a few, maybe. For most, no.

The jiggling, patting and goodness-knows-whatting we do with our babies is cultural.There's no harm in it, and as long as it's not overdone, babies may well like it.

But for most, it's not really like to be necessary :)

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FavoriteThings · 03/10/2013 22:44

tiktok, are you a medical person?

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FavoriteThings · 03/10/2013 22:47

Oh no. Just realised I am on the breast and bottle feeding topic Shock. This topic doesnt have a good MN reputation as far as I know. Grin

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cogitosum · 03/10/2013 22:56

I don't know about most but some certainly do. My ds really does and just sitting him up doesn't cut it. If I don't burp him he'll writhe and cry for ages.

I think the cultural thing comes from some cultures wearing their babies. I put ds in the sling loads and don't need to burp him as they just come up in there do cultures where they use slings a lot don't tend to burp their babies.

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Patilla · 03/10/2013 23:11

Ok getting back to the original question, I find the act of getting up from the sofa often worked.

DD who Is still a baby doesn't seem to need winding much she farts like a trooper instead much to her big brother's delight

DS on the other hand really needed help with burping as part of the management of his reflux. In desperation I would hold him upright looking over my shoulder behind me and walk up the stairs. Seemed to help, just a bit tiring as a regular method!

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cogitosum · 03/10/2013 23:24

I put ds on my shoulder and pat for about 10 seconds then put him on my knee and lean him forward with the palm of my hand on left hand side at the front. For some reason the combination seems to work.

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tiktok · 03/10/2013 23:43

I don't know why people get annoyed at the idea that burping is largely cultural! Or annoyed when people pose the notion that for many babies, all the jiggling etc is not essential (it's not harmful, and as I say, most babies won't mind).

Why are you annoyed, favouritethings?

It does seem that some babies are troubled by pains in the digestive tract, and that some babies are a lot happier after a good burp :)

But there is no real evidence that most babies need help with this...or if there is (not just anecdotes, because that's not 'most') evidence, share it.

I'm not medical but I do have a science background (I don't work as a scientist).

This folder is one where a lot of people get a lot of help - I don't know what you mean about it not having a good reputation.

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AdoraBell · 04/10/2013 00:31

Mine were born in Latin America and I saw loads of local people burping their babies. Maybe they have the same culture as the UKConfused

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FavoriteThings · 04/10/2013 07:55

You have misquoted me tiktok. In fact, it isnt even my quote at all!

I also now understand your personality a bit better.

Do you work in labs tiktok? Have you or did you have babies yourself? Do you or have you worked in childcare?

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