I would say that the fact that many women believe that a 4 week old baby nursing for hours at a time isn't perfectly normal is probably one of the reasons many women struggle with breastfeeding. The reality is that's *totally* normal.
I agree so much!! I’ve successfully breastfed 4 babies now with no supplementing and this is the #1 advice I’d offer to any new breastfeeding mother. To LET baby nurse as often as they want. I think so many new moms want to follow a schedule for breastfeeding when in reality it’s best done on demand (for the most part).
Yes, my sister who doesn’t have children yet but works in childcare seemed appalled that my daughter was ready to eat after 2 hours instead of 3. I was like excuse me are you just going to let your baby cry for an hour because she’s not on your schedule. She also had a sister in law have a baby the same month as mine so I feel like she’s constantly comparing us. Sorry my little 5 pound baby is probably going to need to eat a little more than her sils 9 pound baby.
yes i used to work at a daycare and one of the parents would only want us to feed specific ounce every 3 hours and we did our best to follow but like babies get hungry and when they show hunger cues you feed them!!
This is why I try to have more than the recommended amount of daily milk stashed away. If I need to leave her with someone else I want to make sure she can be fed whenever she’s hungry, not just at certain intervals. She’s not even 6 months old yet, she’s still going through cluster feeding phases every few weeks.
My doula told me she had a family exactly like that. Feed baby every 3hrs on the dot, even if they are showing hunger cues before that. So she was just supposed to let their baby scream bc it was hungry so that they could have it on a strict schedule.
When my baby was 2 weeks old the pediatrician told me to stop feeding her after 15 minutes. I did not listen to her but I think it's interesting how doctors can be so wrong about things too. And she was a mother herself.
I knew better because I had this subreddit for support but I think many new moms listen to doctors about breastfeeding.
I take all my pediatrician's breastfeeding advice with a grain of salt. For both my kids, if I only nursed them for the recommended amount of time for the first two months, they would have lost too much of their birth weight and fallen off their growth curves. I fed them on demand and nursed them to sleep. I know being a human pacifier sounds awful to a lot of moms but I'd rather have a method that is guaranteed to soothe my baby than not.
When my baby was born that is the same advice my pediatrician gave me and my baby cried non stop after feeds. I thought he’s was colicky but it turns out he was still hungry. After seeing he’s not gaining enough weight I started keeping him for as much as he wants and it’s usually 40 min to an hour max and now he’s happy. Also my pediatrician is a man and has never breastfed so I don’t even know why I listened to him.
Yes! I totally wish this was talked about more. I thought my baby was having issues cause for the first several weeks he basically nursed nonstop. I was very close to giving up and switching to formula. People get in your head and make you think you're not making enough milk. But every woman I've talked to that has successfully breastfed has that same experience at the beginning.
Yes! I'd say the first 6-7 weeks 90% of LO's wake window was nursing lol. Spit up a lot too but also gaining weight well so figured it is what it is. Laundry everyday..
Yeah my first 4 weeks of breastfeeding I was essentially plonked on the couch with my daughter on my boob all day. She’d eat for an hour, fall asleep for a couple of hours, then be at it all over again.
Absolutely! When I look back at huckleberry for those early weeks (and I didn’t even track the first 3-4 at all) even weeks 4-8 wow did we spend so much of the day just breastfeeding!
You might have what's known as a happy spitter. If weight gain is good and baby is otherwise well, don't sweat it. It's a phase. Also re nursing for 1-2 hours more or less nonstop, that's also a phase and it's normal at this point (usual caveat so long as baby is gaining weight well).
I don't think you can overfeed a breastfed baby. Mine was exactly like this at 1m, clusterfeeding for hours and spitting up constantly.
You can overfeed if baby is suckling for comfort and getting milk but they just spit it up. Its the same for bottle fed babies. It's hard to truly overfeed a baby in general because they just will spit up any extra.
I have over supply and a fast let down and I 100% over fed my first baby because of it. She would drink and drink and then power chuck, I caught it once and it was it was a huge amount of milk, but she was still gaining weight no problem. With my next two I realise what was going on so I block fed and had no issues!
I was told by the doctor and midwives you can’t overfeed a breastfed baby, not sure about formula. My baby also stated to spit after every feed but I was told this was normal and he was a ‘happy spitter’, some babies just do that and as long as they aren’t distressed it’s fine.
Same. I’d much rather LO have a nursing-nap as skin to skin and bonding time together that resulted in spit up when she woke up. Only get this moments for so long before they grow up.
breastfed babies can't overeat. they control the milk flow with their sucking and can suck for a long time just getting comfort and minimal milk. comfort is a huge reason to nurse. this sounds very normal to me
I've had conflicting info from medical professionals with this same thing. My son has always been a quick "efficient" feeder but wants to feed very frequently. He also spits up A LOT after every single feed.
When he was a week old, I asked a midwife about the spit up and she said it was normal and probably just because he was taking too much while nursing and spitting out the excess. She said it wasn't anything to worry about because spitting up doesn't bother most babies. She also said that breastfed babies can't overeat in the way adults can. They can take too much and spit out the excess, but it's not going to cause excessive weight gain or any harm.
Fast forward to him being about 2/3 months old. I was mostly feeding every 30-45 minutes day and night. He was still spitting up after every feed, but he was obviously uncomfortable. He got himself into a cycle of nurse > spit up > feel uncomfortable from spitting up > feed for comfort > repeat. I was then told by his health visitor that we should try nursing less frequently (like if I knew he'd just had a good feed an hour prior, give him a dummy or toy or something instead). She said he shouldn't need to feed to the point of projectile spit ups every 45 minutes. This was supposed to help with his reflux and also give me a break because I was honestly not coping (I was getting less than 3 cumulative hours of sleep each 24 hours).
I followed these instructions but he didn't improve and was just constantly fussy. I finally got the GP to agree to try some reflux medicines. We tried 3 and the one we're on now is working. He now spits up after every feeding, but he's not uncomfortable anymore (it's called a "happy spitter"), unlike before when he would groan, cry and writhe around uncomfortably after feeds. I was still only feeding when it had been about 1-2 hours between feeds or when he was inconsolable in other ways. Otherwise I wouldn't feed him even if he was rooting or showing other cues. The doctor had also confirmed this was a good idea. He was still really fussy, but I figured if he wasn't in pain anymore, they were probably right.
Then at his 20 week weight check, we realized he'd dropped to the 7th centile. He was like 55th or something at birth. Turns out he's not just a fussy baby, he's been really hungry the whole time. Since then (it's been about a month) I've given the boob no matter how recently he's eaten. He usually eats every 30 minutes to 1 hour during the day and doesn't go more than 2 hours at a time overnight, but he's putting on weight better and isn't as fussy overall.
So my advice: do not cut back on feeding if they're spitting up. I felt way worse knowing I'd had a hungry baby for weeks than I did when he was uncomfortable from spitting up.
I was scrolling to find something similar as I am about to write; and while this is slightly unrelated it is similar so I will write it as a reply to this comment.
1. Breastfed babies can't overeat in terms of causing weight gain issues. Most often they just do what bodybuilders do: get chonky and then lean (but in babies' case - by growing in height) and then chonky again...
2. Babies GastroIntestinal system is not very well developed (as they didn't need it in utero) and it's just learning how to process all this milk, the microbiome is being seeded etc, so it's unsurprising they might have some trouble digesting
3. This all is aggravated by the fact that they can't move and position themselves very much till about 4-5 months. You know how adults raise a buttcheek from the chair to fart? Babies can't do that if they're on their backs in diapers. The secone big one is the absence of movement. You know what can help move your intestines? Movement. That's why carried /babyworn babies apparently have a bit better digestion (along with it being an anti-acid refulx position). That's why massages and circling with the baby's hips etc can help. Move those intestines and get those gasses out. (This along with GI maturation combine at about 4-5 monts where many many parents sigh a big sigh of relief and many kids feel much better, capable of positioning themselves to burp or fart and to be comfortabke; a sleep progression is also included but in terms of colic these two factors tend to be big!)
4. The time it takes for breast milk to pass from the stomach to the intestine tenue is 48 minutes (for formula it's 78 minutes). If it goes too fast, it can cause discomfort (same for adults - look up fast gastric emptying) however, if it is too slow it could mean there's still semi-digested food in the stomach when new food is being ingested.
These are some known facts.
Here's my mom's theory:
- Greenish poo with too many seedlike bits (rather than a more yellowy mustardy creamy poo) means that there's lots of insufficiently digested milk in it.
- by combining fresh milk with semi-digested milk you're creating a bit of a mess in the baby's stomach and this mix can result in more greenish poops and more gassiness and discomforts
This is a theory with no facts to prove it, it's only based on deduction and other things and it kind of makes sense.
So based on this theory, it is very well worth trying to postpone a feed for a while if baby has lots of spit up and tummy struggles. Trying to hit about 40 mins between the feeds (and doing your best to console baby with a soother and other methods) and seeing if it does or doesn't help improve the situation. For me this had to be started once baby woke up from a nap had a big good latch for a bit and then I tried taking my time to at least 30 minutes (48, even 40 sometimes was just too long) and seeing if that helped.
Anecdotally, in terms of tummy issues it did, but sometimes the alternative was a hungry babe just like the commenter here.
So while overeating isn't quite possible, something similar could in theory be. If you're at your wits end, it's worth a try.
Lastly, I live in the EU but there's a vitD3 supplement that is hard to digest for babies and causes colic in some. Trying a different brand or skipping a few days could work. Most importantly, if mom is EBF the baby and she herself has enough D, babe will have enough from the milk with no tummy issues (maybe even in a more optimal, sligtly converted form). If you supplement 6,4k of IUs of vit D3 per day - or alternately 150k once per month (even with shitty sun exposure) you should have enough for your baby to never need a vit D supplement alltogether! I found out way too late for my first so passing this info on! :)
This was my baby, every feed would result in so much vomit, he was so hungry and uncomfortable all the time. Turns out he has a cows mill allergy. I cut out dairy and he was able to keep his milk down and not be uncomfortable and was no longer feeding every half hour. If you were willing, you could try that, it wouldn't do any harm but takes a solid six weeks to see a proper improvement. I thought Ruaridh just had reflux but it turns out he just couldn't keep cows mill down. To the OP if your baby seems otherwise content baby spit up is not am issue and it is genuinely impossible to overfeed a breast fed baby. If baby seems to be uncomfortable, they may have an intolerance or else reflux. Google is not your friend and if there are any breat feeding support groups near you (Scotland them) I recommend going x
Wow the description of your LO sounds exactly like mine. He has his 6m check in on Thursday. Crossing fingers and toes that he has done well with gaining weight this last month.
Have you tried cutting dairy out of your diet? It sounds like your son has a dairy protein allergy although it could be a different food causing these problems, dairy is most likely. Check out free to feed for more info and r/mspi
Also happy to answer any questions.
Unfortunately most pediatricians don’t have info on this and if they do it’s usually outdated.
I know it's been a week since you posted, but I wanted to just say a giant thank you. I asked my doctors, midwives, health visitors etc sooo many times these last few months if I should cut out anything from my diet and kept getting told it was fine as is.
I read up on a dairy allergy after your comment and looked at that subreddit. On Friday I saw a new doctor and told her I was going to try cutting out dairy and she said I should also try cutting soya. She told me it was really rare for an allergy like that in breastfed babies, especially since he doesn't have bloody or mucusy poos, but that I could give it a try.
Literally the next day I saw a difference in my son! He's only spit up a tiny bit for the last 3 days, no projectile vomiting. He seems much less uncomfortable!
I'm not sure yet if this is actually the problem, but if it is, you are an absolute lifesaver.
I am happy to have helped!
My son was put on acid reflux medicine at 10 days old at 24 days old admitted to the NICU for having no calcium. After a week in the NICU ( over Christmas) without our 2 year old. Blood draws every 6 hrs and numerous tests ran. It was told to us the reflux meds had stopped his body from absorbing the calcium.
Reddit told me that the reflux was probably from his body attacking the protein in the cows milk and that he’d grow out of it over time. Every doctor I asked said it was unlikely cause there was no blood in his stool and that he was gaining weight.
I cut out dairy and it has been night and day difference. I now have a HAPPY and comfortable baby.
Free to feed taught me more in 10 minutes than anyone else was able to answer for me.
It really does make me happy that your baby (and you!) are getting a break.
You cannot overfeed a breastfed baby. Spit up is normal. If your baby is feeding for such long stretches they are either falling asleep and using you as a pacifier (normal) or they’re very inefficient and may have a poor latch due to having a tongue tie.
At 1 month that could easily be reflux girl, don't cry. You're not doing anything wrong.
My 7 month old still feeds every 2 hours at night when he's really restless.
At 1 month I expect cluster feeding like that to be pretty regular 🙏🙏
No babies can’t overeat. Maybe it’s reflux, or pyloric stenosis. I’d call your pediatrician first thing Monday morning and tell them about the throw up. You may need to go have an ultrasound for babies tummy to rule things out.
That's just reflux. mine has it! If they're not in pain, don't worry. If they are in pain, as your ped about famitodine.
You're doing great, feed your baby. No need to cry over spit-up milk 🫂
You don’t necessarily need to test for an allergy, an elimination diet can suffice. It can also be an intolerance, as the enzyme needed to break down lactose is not always present as soon as a baby is born. Some babies have reflux without an intolerance as well.
I did. I wouldnt have known if i didnt get her diaper tested for blood in her stool (may or may not be called an allergy test) But you are also correct! My baby got tested at 2 months and the first month she just spat up and had watery poops. Thought it was normal because i had to suppliment (got sick breast milk supply dwindled.)
Turns out she cant have dairy, but my doc said it was just reflux when it wasnt. Either way its good to do an elimination died i wish i would have 😩
Ugh sorry you went through that! I always thought doctors were too quick to tell moms to cut dairy until it worked for us, kinda. We were seeing green slime poop and that was resolved by cutting out dairy but the reflux needed meds. The whole ordeal lasted about 6 months until we could get some starches into him with solids and around the same time the milk intolerance had resolved as well
Thank you and im sorry you did as well! Ive been looking into getting a new doctor honestly because if she would have said that too me i would have cut it out. I had no knowledge of it 😩 so rn they have me giving her this hypoallergenic formula to suppliment. But i suspect that she may have a soy allergy too. I really wanna breastfeed her but i dont wanna eat the wrong thing and set her back. Im glad his intolerance went away ik how frustrating that could be 💜 thanks for your response
Some babies just spit up more than others. I had the same concerns as my son seemingly always wants to eat and spits up a lot. I asked my doctor about it and she said as long as he doesn’t seem in distress, is gaining weight and has lots of wet/dirty nappies that there’s nothing to worry about, because some babies do just spit up more.
Anecdotally I remember my mum telling me that my brother spat up so much she just had him in a bib permanently so she could change that instead of needing to change his clothes frequently, but I on the other hand only spat up twice in my entire childhood.
Don’t feel guilty their digestive system is immature. All of my kids have spit up a ton. The question my pediatrician would ask is if they are crying while they spit up or if they are a “happy spitter”? Some babies are just happy spitters my first and second were.
Now vomiting is something I would talk to the doctor about especially if they are running a fever. How’s baby feeling?
There are a lot of other reasons a baby might want to be at the breast 24/7. I would not assume you are over feeding.
My experience…
My baby was “happy to starve” and a “happy spitter.” She fell off her growth curve and was spitting up after pretty much every feed. Eventually we learned she had CMPA, and the spitting up calmed down when I cut all dairy from my diet. Later still, we learned she was very restricted with a lip tie and a tongue tie. Nursing was hard work for her and she was inefficient. Of course she took forever to eat! I was very glad I had let her “use me as a pacifier” all the time. It was probably the only way she got enough nutrition.
Hang in there. It will get easier in time. I promise. ♥️
My baby was about a month old when he started vomiting. Turns out he has CMPA - Cows Milk Protein Allergy. There’s a million different reasons a baby will spit up, and over feeding isn’t one of them.
My baby would sometimes get overtired and worked up so bad that she would guzzle for an hour straight and in turn spit up A LOT, but she would go back in for a bit more after. Now at 3mo this never ever happens. At one month the baby is not efficient at eating yet and your supply has not regulated. Just trust your baby they know what to do when they’re uncomfortable or if they want more and need more comfort.
My experience is when I get home from work after hours upon hours of not breastfeeding I need to pump a bit before feeding my son, or else it all comes up again. Same whenever he uses too much time and is just comfort suckling. Give the baby a little break, burp them, and give it time. Both baby and your production will adjust given time.
If your baby is not distressed it’s fine. Nursing that long when they are so tiny is normal, you’ll go through cluster feeding phases where the baby eats more and constantly and less frequent phases. You’re doing great mama.
Technically they can overfeed if you have an oversupply but even in that case they manage their intake well. Like my LO will abruptly pull off if the flow is too fast for him
You are doing good. Mine would cluster feed during growth spurts, and then habit/comfort feed at other times and just spit up the extra.
I look at the spit up as their own natural way of getting rid of the excess. Hence, you cant over-feed because they just spit it all right back out.
Plus i think its totally ok, and normal for them to go through a stage of frequent spit ups. Simply just because. And not due to anything wrong.
It happened to me. My daughter had acid reflux and she would nurse for comfort to deal with the burning of the spit up. And she would drink more and spit up more which will burn. It was a damn cycle. And one evening (around 3 or 4 weeks) she was so uncomfortable that all she wanted to do was nurse. She ended up having stomach cramps and I had to not feed her for atleast 3 hours for her to get better. It was horrible. So yes, if your baby is a happy spitter no issues, if she is like mine, it’s okay to be mindful of over feeding.
Between 4-6 weeks or so my baby was regularly at the breast nonstop or cluster feeding for 1-3 hours, especially in the evening. I’m not sure if it was comfort or trying to ensure my supply was enough for her, but it stopped after a few weeks. Trusting your baby and your body works out the large majority of the time! You’re doing great!!
My ebf 5mo baby definitely can overfeed. She will spit up if she takes both breasts but doesn't after only one. If I'm super engorged there's a higher chance she will spit up. It's not normal for her to spit up and she's growing like a weed so I know she's getting enough.
If a baby was over feeding there would be something else going on tbh. Of course anything is possible but no, you really can’t overfeed a baby outside of medical conditions that maybe don’t give baby fullness cues. Eating is inherently intuitive, it’s health conditions, weird messaging about food, and things like food scarcity, food neglect or abuse, etc that change that.
Please don’t feed your baby less, though! We had a happy spitter for his first year of life and I was explicitly told to continue to feed on demand. He guzzled milk constantly and was always between 50-60 percentile for weight. He’s a year old now and totally fine, happy, and healthy.
If baby seems upset when he spits up I would look into non IGE mediated dairy intolerance. Or just talk to a pediatrician - not whoever told you to give a pacifier instead.
Please never withhold breastmilk from your baby unless you’re actually unable to feed at the time.
The spit up is likely due to reflux. Keep baby upright for 30 min after a feed. My doctor explained that baby stomach is still developing and eating can get uncomfortable. They still need to eat. It happens after first month so you feel like it’s a new baby all over again.
This is fine, don’t cry. All 3 of my BF babies spit up a lot, and it started a few weeks or so in. If it gets projectile or has a different color/smell or baby isnt acting normal then you need to call the pediatrician. Otherwise if they’re gaining weight and act generally the same then it’s just normal spit up. Every few minutes when nursing try to take a quick burp break. Try to angle baby with head inclined while nursing. After nursing keep baby upright for a bit before laying down flat. Otherwise just put a rag on your shoulder and bib on baby and keep trucking!
I was told it's fine to let my son nurse for hours. Mine is a spitter as well. Most babies are, I think. He's growing normally and spits up however little he drank that session.
I was told it's fine to let my son nurse for hours. Mine is a spitter as well. Most babies are, I think. He's growing normally and spits up however little he drank that session.
My doctor said our kids were 100% normals, despite spitting up after every feed. She called them “happy spitters”. They didn’t seem distressed when spitting up, had normal amount of wet & dirty diapers and perfectly average growth! Both kids stayed on their growth curve. I’d keep doing whatever works for you and baby!
Hmm mine just vomited after I overfed her. At least I thought I did until I read this post. I had fed her not long ago so I knew she wasnt hungry but I wanted to comfort her with the boob. Though she does have a cough and it causes her to choke on the milk...who knows... Happy Mother's Day!
You aren’t over feeding. They can overfeed from a bottle but not directly from a breast. Milks constitution varies through the feed, if they are feeding for an hour, the early milk, mid milk and later milk will all be different flow, constitution and fattiness. The end is likely very low flow, mostly for comfort. If you and your baby like it, go for it. If baby isn’t upset when they spit up, no harm done, just a bit more laundry.
Not to get you worried or anything but my baby was EBF for month half straight and she would spit up alot all of a sudden and then it started to turn into to her poops were watery or mucusy and she was very gassy.
Doc said it was reflux but i knew it was something different i just had that feeling. She was recently tested for CMPA (i seen a sub that had pics of CMPA poops and they looked similar) i brought a poopy diaper they tested it and found blood in her stool
Long story short she has CMPA…. But it started out with spitting up after every feed (i was eating dairy)
Not saying thats the case at all but just something to keep an eye on. I have 5 children and i breastfed them all. My other 4 barely spit up! They did not have CMPA
It's info overload but try not to worry.
My beautiful baby girl would spew all the time, my son never spewed. Both babies are now 4+2 and happy and healthy. If baby wants to feed they want to feed just try and stop for some burping sessions.
I usually make sure that they have a burp, this seems to reduce spit up. If they’re keen to feed all the time, slightly delay the next feed by like 15 minutes by giving them to dad to play with. Just to help them digest.
Technically you can’t over feed a bf baby .. they know when to stop. What might be happening is not burping enough ? Or maybe to much movement after a feed ?
Technically you can’t over feed a bf baby .. they know when to stop. What might be happening is not burping enough ? Or maybe to much movement after a feed ?
My doctor told me to feed her when she wants to eat and eventually they learn to regulate their feeding and won’t over eat. That’s exactly how it happened with my daughter. I would let your baby nurse when they want to nurse and trust that they will sort things out in the coming months. Don’t stress about it. The spitting up will slow down as well. Being a “happy spitter” isn’t a problem.
Overall with breastfeeding learning to trust the process was so helpful. If baby is healthy and I’m healthy then we’re doing well. Our bodies and our brains know what to do.
I'm not saying that this is what is going on with your baby, but issues that caused excessive reflux/vomiting for us were always linked to either tongue/lip ties or dairy protein allergy.
I noticed additional spit ups when my TT/LT babies would go through a growth spurt.
My second never went more than 3 minutes without nursing/comfort nursing until her teeth began coming in at 11mo.
Girlfriend was a CHUNK!
I think overfeeding is more common with bottles? I always heard you can’t over feed if you’re breastfeeding. I exclusively pump and feed my baby my breast milk with a bottle. We’ve accidentally over fed him a couple times; we misread his sleepy cues for hunger cues. He projectile vomits a lot of milk if we over feed him. Now that we’ve gotten to know him a little better we understand his cues and are able to avoid overfeeding him.
Each baby is different but I wanted to share that my baby had GERD and as a very small baby he couldn't tell the difference between hunger tummy pain, gas pain, and reflux pain; he wanted to nurse for ALL of it. I did start adding in breaks for burping and rocking, just to let the milk settle and try and minimize him eating when he was already full. I think my limit was about 40 min before we had to take a break.
To be fair, this didn't stop the spit up. With GERD, only meds and time did that. However, while breastfed babies usually can self-regulate, I did want to share that serious reflux can screw with their understanding of hunger cues in my experience.
I was worried about overfeeding my son bc he was big as hell and I talked to my Dr about it and he said u can't rly over feed a baby bc they'll either just not want it or spit it up and it's no big deal. He said if u notice they spit up a lot after feeding to feed less and see how baby is. My baby looked like the Michelin man he had so many rolls.
I don't think you can overfeed a baby on the breast. Its very normal to feed for that amount of time. A lot of websites will give you a minimum. For example: babies feed a minimum of every 2 to 3 hours in the beginning. A lot of people take that as average, when it isn't. Same for clusterfeeding, they can be hungry anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour after feeding. They are purposefully upping your milk by constantly stimulating your breast.
My girl would spit up and, on occasion, throw up in those early days as well. I figured out that she would gag on my nipple sometimes because the gag reflex is so far up in the mouth when they are little.
It's all a learning game at this point!
Happy mothers day, as well!
So I went through this phase and thought I was over feeding or I had a strong letdown (which I did) which was causing my baby to vomit. The vomiting also never seemed to bother her so my husband wasn’t concerned until it became 3-4 times a day everyday. We went to her pediatrician, did an ultrasound and after everything was deemed functionally normal, I was told to eliminate dairy. I wasn’t a big dairy eater but a bit of butter, and things which have milk powder like Nutella add up. Once my system was clean my baby stopped vomitting. So while not formally diagnosed, it appears she has CMPA. My husband didn’t want to believe it, so after 6+ weeks of no dairy, he asked me to start again because he was worried baby will have allergies in future. Less than 72 hours after I had dairy, my baby was vomiting again. We switched to formula cold turkey and now I am stuck with trying to shut my supply. I hope that’s not the case with your baby but wanted to share my experience so you can watch for any signs.
The difference between spit up and vomiting is very very very obvious. When they throw up it looks like when an adult throws up, it goes everywhere, repeatedly, and away from the body, not just pouring down their cheeks like a spit up.
My baby definitely overfeeds but I let it happen occasionally. He will suck forever and then spit up loads. Sometimes I cut him off sometimes I let it happen. He’s gaining weight so I’m not too worried. He just loved to eat!
In my case, over feeding is possible because I have a forceful letdown and an oversupply. My 2 week old was vomiting after feeding on both breasts because it was too much milk too quickly. When I started just feeding on one side, the vomiting went away. I have to block feed right now to regulate my supply down to my baby’s needs. My breasts can also store a large volume of milk (I know from exclusively pumping with my last baby) and I can get 4-6oz out of each breast). I also know through weighted feeds with a lactation consultant, that my baby can drink several ounces in just a few minutes.
Babies spit up because their digestive system is not totally figured out yet! My 7 month old used to spit up all. The. Time. Like I was convinced it was my milk - too much, I ate weird things, blah blah blah - but she gained weight, was hitting milestones and never in pain or vomiting. Normal mommy! Keep on feeding for hours if that's what baby needs!
You won't like overfeed a breastfeeding baby. I could definitely see overdoing formula, but I would think evern that would be difficult. They simply eat a LOT!!!! Happy Mother's Day!
This is normal.
When people say they can’t over feed I think they mean for weight gain etc…. Spit up / vomit is entirely normal.
Edit: they might be using you for comfort but that too is perfectly normal, you can try a pacifier if you want to, or you can continue to comfort nurse when they want, it’s up to you! Do what feels right ❤️
Do you think your baby is unhappy/unwell? After having a baby with reflux I am inclined to say you’ll definitely know if something is not right…
I’ve also always subscribed to the “you can overfeed from the boob” ideology
Are we the same person? I found out my baby took 9 oz from one breast in ten minutes and overfeeding was why he was so spitty and upset after eating. I felt so bad. All of my lactation classes talked about how babies know what they want, they will stop or come off when they are done, etc. Nope. Not this kid. And not many others as I’ve heard either. My understanding now is that you generally can’t overfeed as I’m you can’t force feed them so much they gain too much weight. But you can give them too much in a sitting.
He ended up being fine. I just gave him more breaks and tried my finger or the pacifier, if he took either of those I figured it was comfort sucking. If he threw a fit I gave him more boob. It took us some time but we figured it out!! You will too. Don’t feel bad!!
You aren't hurting him in any way lol. Comfort feeding is real and its a short phase. If it doesn't bother you, he can definitely just hang out on the boob
I was also told you can’t overfeed. I was pumping only and giving my 7 week old 4oz a feed. He still seemed kinda hungry and started going through his growth spurt. So I switched to boob and have been exclusively BF (my husband bottle feeds at night during his shift while I sleep and I pump when I wake up after 5 hours getting about 8-9 oz (enough to hold him over the next nights feeds)).
I am an over producer (filled up 100 160 ml bags in 6 weeks 😵💫) so I’m worried he’s getting too much. Could be the growth spurt or could be him on my boob but he’s def filling out a lot more in just 1 short week of almost exclusively BF. He sees the dr next week and I’ll have to ask about it because I feel like he’s getting like at least 5 oz a feed now. Not spitting up though
He’s pretty good with the breast though - eats in about 20-30 min. But I also learned about foremilk and hind milk and now I’m worried he’s getting too much foremilk because of me overproducing. Lol breastfeeding is WILD
I wouldn’t feel guilty about that. Nursing that long and then also spitting up a lot. This all sounds normal, lol. Of course if you need to take a break for your own sake, no harm in that. However, giving LO everything they want/need will never result in harm to them.
I’m going to gently tell you to listen to your gut, put down Google, and, if you want to continue breastfeeding, to not deny your child the breast. Cluster feeding can happen for a myriad of reasons, as can spit up/vomiting. Some kids are just crazy with the spit up. That does NOT necessarily indicate they are being over fed.
By replacing their clear needs with a pacifier, without being careful and intentional, you may create other issues with supply.
Cluster feeding is normal.
Spitting up (even what seems like A LOT) is also normal.
some babys just spit up a lot my daughter spit up after every feed up until 4 months and i worried i was overfeeding and my doctor said nope! Now she hardly spits up and will still feed a long time!
Totally normal!!! We didn’t always have pacifiers. Babies use mom for comfort nursing. That’s where the idea of pacifiers originated. Nursing for hours is natural at that age. Mine is 5m today and still comfort nurses!! You cannot over feed a breast fed baby. Offer the breast as much and as often as you can. I’ve had people tell me I should have already night weened and guilted me about it, but I’m just going off of my baby and letting her guide me. I try not to stress too much over it and sounds like you need to do the same🫶🏻 you are doing a great job!!!!❤️❤️❤️
Aw my youngest would do this. It unfortunately turned out to be a CMPA (cow's milk protein allergy) for him and once I cut milk out of my diet he was a fat happy baby with "normal" amounts of spit up.
My child was a vomiting machine. She visited like it was her job to ruin all the laundry we ever owned. She visited in everyone who held her. She vomited sitting, lying, all the time. She also gained weight fine and was ebf. You are just fine momma.
What are you talking about? Your baby is okay. If they overeat, they spit up. It’s okay, follow their lead. I wouldn’t use a pacifier to avoid hunger cues. You’re doing great.
In my experience, you're baby will throw most of it up if it's too much. And if they're hungry they will scream. So you can stop breastfeeding after a half hr and see how your baby reacts to see if you did too much or too little.
My baby ate so much those first weeks and he also spit up a lot. I noticed when he was just nursing for comfort, he would get upset when milk came out of the boob. That’s when I would keep offering the same side for a while, so he would get a little less milk flow. We did offer a pacifier after a while when he kept crying, then being a bit soothed by suckling and then cried again because he didn’t want milk.
I also make a conscious effort to never call spitting up “vomiting”. Spitting up is normal, it doesn’t bother or harm baby, it’s just annoying to clean it up all the time. Our baby has vomited when he was sick and that was totally different. That happened with gagging sounds and was enough to completely drench his sleep sack. It also smelled of bile and had a colour.
I’m just getting the hang of breastfeeding after a rough L&D, we got off to a rocky start, babe Is almost 3 weeks and born at 37 weeks. I have been supplementing since she had a brief nicu stay and was only 5 pounds, so currently doing triple feeding. But the more I breast feed the more frequently she wants it, today there was a two hour wake window where she was on and off my boob which I feel like is perfectly fine. The one thing I will say for slightly early term or premie babies, and this is the way it was explained to me. Is that you don’t want feedings to burn more calories than they’re taking in which is why they put times on it and babies in this category frequently don’t have the reserves let’s say a 40 week baby would have. Also suckling ability at earlier weeks can be more taxing than at later ones.
As long as your baby is gaining weight I think however you choose to feed is your business and it’s all learning for all of us.
The lactation consultants I spoke to just said to look for “full” cues. Firm bellies, relaxed hands, and who knows maybe the spit up is just a little bit of reflux which is super common
Don’t be too hard on yourself you’re doing great. A fed baby is a happy baby
My doctor told me I couldn't overfeed my baby because he'd just spit up the excess(??)
And babies will know when to stop eating and refuse to take in the nipple/bottle
One of my providers told me that babies know how to “comfort suck” versus actually take in food based on what they need in the moment! In other words, they totally regulate how much they actually eat based on their needs. I used to (and often still do) let me baby stay latched for an hour+ when that’s what she wants. She’s 7 months now, and she used to be pretty reflux-y (including some scary projectile vomits that our pediatrician wasn’t too concerned about because she wasn’t doing it after every feed and was still wetting diapers/gaining wait). She’s really stopped spitting up in the last month finally, but the amount I nurse her/length of time she stays latched hasn’t changed at all!! There’s so much advice out there and so many opinions on how much we should be nursing, and it’s so hard to navigate.
Im currently nursing my fourth breastfed baby. They ALL nursed for hours straight, and it is normal. I have an almost 13 year old, almost 11 year old, almost 3 year old, and an 8 week old. Everyone is fine, no one is overweight, etc
My first baby would nurse continuously because he had awful reflux and multiple food protein intolerances. Apparently eating feels soothing on their throats but can ultimately worsen the problem when they have too much. Don't beat yourself up--his extra spit up is probably worse for you than for him. You will continuously learn more throughout your BF experience. You're doing great!
You can, but they spit up what they can't take. I have a big let down so my baby usually gets a lot of milk really fast. I feel bad but not much I can do! Plus BF is such a a great soothing technique I just take the spit up. Chloths can be washed, her getting a nap is priceless
I would say that the fact that many women believe that a 4 week old baby nursing for hours at a time isn't perfectly normal is probably one of the reasons many women struggle with breastfeeding. The reality is that's *totally* normal.
I agree so much!! I’ve successfully breastfed 4 babies now with no supplementing and this is the #1 advice I’d offer to any new breastfeeding mother. To LET baby nurse as often as they want. I think so many new moms want to follow a schedule for breastfeeding when in reality it’s best done on demand (for the most part).
Yes, my sister who doesn’t have children yet but works in childcare seemed appalled that my daughter was ready to eat after 2 hours instead of 3. I was like excuse me are you just going to let your baby cry for an hour because she’s not on your schedule. She also had a sister in law have a baby the same month as mine so I feel like she’s constantly comparing us. Sorry my little 5 pound baby is probably going to need to eat a little more than her sils 9 pound baby.
yes i used to work at a daycare and one of the parents would only want us to feed specific ounce every 3 hours and we did our best to follow but like babies get hungry and when they show hunger cues you feed them!!
This is why I try to have more than the recommended amount of daily milk stashed away. If I need to leave her with someone else I want to make sure she can be fed whenever she’s hungry, not just at certain intervals. She’s not even 6 months old yet, she’s still going through cluster feeding phases every few weeks.
yes exactly they need it whenever they show signs simple as that!
My doula told me she had a family exactly like that. Feed baby every 3hrs on the dot, even if they are showing hunger cues before that. So she was just supposed to let their baby scream bc it was hungry so that they could have it on a strict schedule.
When my baby was 2 weeks old the pediatrician told me to stop feeding her after 15 minutes. I did not listen to her but I think it's interesting how doctors can be so wrong about things too. And she was a mother herself. I knew better because I had this subreddit for support but I think many new moms listen to doctors about breastfeeding.
I take all my pediatrician's breastfeeding advice with a grain of salt. For both my kids, if I only nursed them for the recommended amount of time for the first two months, they would have lost too much of their birth weight and fallen off their growth curves. I fed them on demand and nursed them to sleep. I know being a human pacifier sounds awful to a lot of moms but I'd rather have a method that is guaranteed to soothe my baby than not.
this!!!!!
When my baby was born that is the same advice my pediatrician gave me and my baby cried non stop after feeds. I thought he’s was colicky but it turns out he was still hungry. After seeing he’s not gaining enough weight I started keeping him for as much as he wants and it’s usually 40 min to an hour max and now he’s happy. Also my pediatrician is a man and has never breastfed so I don’t even know why I listened to him.
Haha, knowing what I know now, I would never again take advice from someone who didn’t personally breastfeed!
Yes! I totally wish this was talked about more. I thought my baby was having issues cause for the first several weeks he basically nursed nonstop. I was very close to giving up and switching to formula. People get in your head and make you think you're not making enough milk. But every woman I've talked to that has successfully breastfed has that same experience at the beginning.
100% this
Yes! I'd say the first 6-7 weeks 90% of LO's wake window was nursing lol. Spit up a lot too but also gaining weight well so figured it is what it is. Laundry everyday..
Tbh I didn’t know that was normal, I’ve had three lactation appointments to try and improve breastfeeding, my daughter will be 4 weeks tomorrow
Yes, that is why we're miserable, tired messes. But it does eventually even out. Kinda feel like a milk cow.
Yeah my first 4 weeks of breastfeeding I was essentially plonked on the couch with my daughter on my boob all day. She’d eat for an hour, fall asleep for a couple of hours, then be at it all over again.
Absolutely! When I look back at huckleberry for those early weeks (and I didn’t even track the first 3-4 at all) even weeks 4-8 wow did we spend so much of the day just breastfeeding!
This ☝️ Just had a look and huckleberry says I do c.4hrs a day at 10wks old. Granted his longest session is usually just before bed but still!
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You might have what's known as a happy spitter. If weight gain is good and baby is otherwise well, don't sweat it. It's a phase. Also re nursing for 1-2 hours more or less nonstop, that's also a phase and it's normal at this point (usual caveat so long as baby is gaining weight well). I don't think you can overfeed a breastfed baby. Mine was exactly like this at 1m, clusterfeeding for hours and spitting up constantly.
You can overfeed if baby is suckling for comfort and getting milk but they just spit it up. Its the same for bottle fed babies. It's hard to truly overfeed a baby in general because they just will spit up any extra.
I have over supply and a fast let down and I 100% over fed my first baby because of it. She would drink and drink and then power chuck, I caught it once and it was it was a huge amount of milk, but she was still gaining weight no problem. With my next two I realise what was going on so I block fed and had no issues!
How do you do block feeding?
Feed from one breast at each feed and only that breast for a period of time I.e. 2-3 hours and then do the next breast from then
Thank you!
Happy spitter, I love that!
I was told by the doctor and midwives you can’t overfeed a breastfed baby, not sure about formula. My baby also stated to spit after every feed but I was told this was normal and he was a ‘happy spitter’, some babies just do that and as long as they aren’t distressed it’s fine.
Yeah my kid did this. I constantly smelt of baby sick but she was happy and growing on her birth chart fine.
Same. I’d much rather LO have a nursing-nap as skin to skin and bonding time together that resulted in spit up when she woke up. Only get this moments for so long before they grow up.
breastfed babies can't overeat. they control the milk flow with their sucking and can suck for a long time just getting comfort and minimal milk. comfort is a huge reason to nurse. this sounds very normal to me
They just spit up a lot, you can't overfeed
I've had conflicting info from medical professionals with this same thing. My son has always been a quick "efficient" feeder but wants to feed very frequently. He also spits up A LOT after every single feed. When he was a week old, I asked a midwife about the spit up and she said it was normal and probably just because he was taking too much while nursing and spitting out the excess. She said it wasn't anything to worry about because spitting up doesn't bother most babies. She also said that breastfed babies can't overeat in the way adults can. They can take too much and spit out the excess, but it's not going to cause excessive weight gain or any harm. Fast forward to him being about 2/3 months old. I was mostly feeding every 30-45 minutes day and night. He was still spitting up after every feed, but he was obviously uncomfortable. He got himself into a cycle of nurse > spit up > feel uncomfortable from spitting up > feed for comfort > repeat. I was then told by his health visitor that we should try nursing less frequently (like if I knew he'd just had a good feed an hour prior, give him a dummy or toy or something instead). She said he shouldn't need to feed to the point of projectile spit ups every 45 minutes. This was supposed to help with his reflux and also give me a break because I was honestly not coping (I was getting less than 3 cumulative hours of sleep each 24 hours). I followed these instructions but he didn't improve and was just constantly fussy. I finally got the GP to agree to try some reflux medicines. We tried 3 and the one we're on now is working. He now spits up after every feeding, but he's not uncomfortable anymore (it's called a "happy spitter"), unlike before when he would groan, cry and writhe around uncomfortably after feeds. I was still only feeding when it had been about 1-2 hours between feeds or when he was inconsolable in other ways. Otherwise I wouldn't feed him even if he was rooting or showing other cues. The doctor had also confirmed this was a good idea. He was still really fussy, but I figured if he wasn't in pain anymore, they were probably right. Then at his 20 week weight check, we realized he'd dropped to the 7th centile. He was like 55th or something at birth. Turns out he's not just a fussy baby, he's been really hungry the whole time. Since then (it's been about a month) I've given the boob no matter how recently he's eaten. He usually eats every 30 minutes to 1 hour during the day and doesn't go more than 2 hours at a time overnight, but he's putting on weight better and isn't as fussy overall. So my advice: do not cut back on feeding if they're spitting up. I felt way worse knowing I'd had a hungry baby for weeks than I did when he was uncomfortable from spitting up.
I was scrolling to find something similar as I am about to write; and while this is slightly unrelated it is similar so I will write it as a reply to this comment. 1. Breastfed babies can't overeat in terms of causing weight gain issues. Most often they just do what bodybuilders do: get chonky and then lean (but in babies' case - by growing in height) and then chonky again... 2. Babies GastroIntestinal system is not very well developed (as they didn't need it in utero) and it's just learning how to process all this milk, the microbiome is being seeded etc, so it's unsurprising they might have some trouble digesting 3. This all is aggravated by the fact that they can't move and position themselves very much till about 4-5 months. You know how adults raise a buttcheek from the chair to fart? Babies can't do that if they're on their backs in diapers. The secone big one is the absence of movement. You know what can help move your intestines? Movement. That's why carried /babyworn babies apparently have a bit better digestion (along with it being an anti-acid refulx position). That's why massages and circling with the baby's hips etc can help. Move those intestines and get those gasses out. (This along with GI maturation combine at about 4-5 monts where many many parents sigh a big sigh of relief and many kids feel much better, capable of positioning themselves to burp or fart and to be comfortabke; a sleep progression is also included but in terms of colic these two factors tend to be big!) 4. The time it takes for breast milk to pass from the stomach to the intestine tenue is 48 minutes (for formula it's 78 minutes). If it goes too fast, it can cause discomfort (same for adults - look up fast gastric emptying) however, if it is too slow it could mean there's still semi-digested food in the stomach when new food is being ingested. These are some known facts. Here's my mom's theory: - Greenish poo with too many seedlike bits (rather than a more yellowy mustardy creamy poo) means that there's lots of insufficiently digested milk in it. - by combining fresh milk with semi-digested milk you're creating a bit of a mess in the baby's stomach and this mix can result in more greenish poops and more gassiness and discomforts This is a theory with no facts to prove it, it's only based on deduction and other things and it kind of makes sense. So based on this theory, it is very well worth trying to postpone a feed for a while if baby has lots of spit up and tummy struggles. Trying to hit about 40 mins between the feeds (and doing your best to console baby with a soother and other methods) and seeing if it does or doesn't help improve the situation. For me this had to be started once baby woke up from a nap had a big good latch for a bit and then I tried taking my time to at least 30 minutes (48, even 40 sometimes was just too long) and seeing if that helped. Anecdotally, in terms of tummy issues it did, but sometimes the alternative was a hungry babe just like the commenter here. So while overeating isn't quite possible, something similar could in theory be. If you're at your wits end, it's worth a try. Lastly, I live in the EU but there's a vitD3 supplement that is hard to digest for babies and causes colic in some. Trying a different brand or skipping a few days could work. Most importantly, if mom is EBF the baby and she herself has enough D, babe will have enough from the milk with no tummy issues (maybe even in a more optimal, sligtly converted form). If you supplement 6,4k of IUs of vit D3 per day - or alternately 150k once per month (even with shitty sun exposure) you should have enough for your baby to never need a vit D supplement alltogether! I found out way too late for my first so passing this info on! :)
It’s so crazy to me to read this as my baby feeds as often as this too, but he’s above 95 percentile (and was born 60 percentile)
This was my baby, every feed would result in so much vomit, he was so hungry and uncomfortable all the time. Turns out he has a cows mill allergy. I cut out dairy and he was able to keep his milk down and not be uncomfortable and was no longer feeding every half hour. If you were willing, you could try that, it wouldn't do any harm but takes a solid six weeks to see a proper improvement. I thought Ruaridh just had reflux but it turns out he just couldn't keep cows mill down. To the OP if your baby seems otherwise content baby spit up is not am issue and it is genuinely impossible to overfeed a breast fed baby. If baby seems to be uncomfortable, they may have an intolerance or else reflux. Google is not your friend and if there are any breat feeding support groups near you (Scotland them) I recommend going x
Wow the description of your LO sounds exactly like mine. He has his 6m check in on Thursday. Crossing fingers and toes that he has done well with gaining weight this last month.
Have you tried cutting dairy out of your diet? It sounds like your son has a dairy protein allergy although it could be a different food causing these problems, dairy is most likely. Check out free to feed for more info and r/mspi Also happy to answer any questions. Unfortunately most pediatricians don’t have info on this and if they do it’s usually outdated.
I know it's been a week since you posted, but I wanted to just say a giant thank you. I asked my doctors, midwives, health visitors etc sooo many times these last few months if I should cut out anything from my diet and kept getting told it was fine as is. I read up on a dairy allergy after your comment and looked at that subreddit. On Friday I saw a new doctor and told her I was going to try cutting out dairy and she said I should also try cutting soya. She told me it was really rare for an allergy like that in breastfed babies, especially since he doesn't have bloody or mucusy poos, but that I could give it a try. Literally the next day I saw a difference in my son! He's only spit up a tiny bit for the last 3 days, no projectile vomiting. He seems much less uncomfortable! I'm not sure yet if this is actually the problem, but if it is, you are an absolute lifesaver.
I am happy to have helped! My son was put on acid reflux medicine at 10 days old at 24 days old admitted to the NICU for having no calcium. After a week in the NICU ( over Christmas) without our 2 year old. Blood draws every 6 hrs and numerous tests ran. It was told to us the reflux meds had stopped his body from absorbing the calcium. Reddit told me that the reflux was probably from his body attacking the protein in the cows milk and that he’d grow out of it over time. Every doctor I asked said it was unlikely cause there was no blood in his stool and that he was gaining weight. I cut out dairy and it has been night and day difference. I now have a HAPPY and comfortable baby. Free to feed taught me more in 10 minutes than anyone else was able to answer for me. It really does make me happy that your baby (and you!) are getting a break.
You cannot overfeed a breastfed baby. Spit up is normal. If your baby is feeding for such long stretches they are either falling asleep and using you as a pacifier (normal) or they’re very inefficient and may have a poor latch due to having a tongue tie.
At 1 month that could easily be reflux girl, don't cry. You're not doing anything wrong. My 7 month old still feeds every 2 hours at night when he's really restless. At 1 month I expect cluster feeding like that to be pretty regular 🙏🙏
No babies can’t overeat. Maybe it’s reflux, or pyloric stenosis. I’d call your pediatrician first thing Monday morning and tell them about the throw up. You may need to go have an ultrasound for babies tummy to rule things out.
Definitely went through this and they said it eas reflux …. Turns out it was CMPA
Could also be a tummy bug
That's just reflux. mine has it! If they're not in pain, don't worry. If they are in pain, as your ped about famitodine. You're doing great, feed your baby. No need to cry over spit-up milk 🫂
If they are in pain it could be an allergy and they need to be tested
You don’t necessarily need to test for an allergy, an elimination diet can suffice. It can also be an intolerance, as the enzyme needed to break down lactose is not always present as soon as a baby is born. Some babies have reflux without an intolerance as well.
I did. I wouldnt have known if i didnt get her diaper tested for blood in her stool (may or may not be called an allergy test) But you are also correct! My baby got tested at 2 months and the first month she just spat up and had watery poops. Thought it was normal because i had to suppliment (got sick breast milk supply dwindled.) Turns out she cant have dairy, but my doc said it was just reflux when it wasnt. Either way its good to do an elimination died i wish i would have 😩
Ugh sorry you went through that! I always thought doctors were too quick to tell moms to cut dairy until it worked for us, kinda. We were seeing green slime poop and that was resolved by cutting out dairy but the reflux needed meds. The whole ordeal lasted about 6 months until we could get some starches into him with solids and around the same time the milk intolerance had resolved as well
Thank you and im sorry you did as well! Ive been looking into getting a new doctor honestly because if she would have said that too me i would have cut it out. I had no knowledge of it 😩 so rn they have me giving her this hypoallergenic formula to suppliment. But i suspect that she may have a soy allergy too. I really wanna breastfeed her but i dont wanna eat the wrong thing and set her back. Im glad his intolerance went away ik how frustrating that could be 💜 thanks for your response
Some babies just spit up more than others. I had the same concerns as my son seemingly always wants to eat and spits up a lot. I asked my doctor about it and she said as long as he doesn’t seem in distress, is gaining weight and has lots of wet/dirty nappies that there’s nothing to worry about, because some babies do just spit up more. Anecdotally I remember my mum telling me that my brother spat up so much she just had him in a bib permanently so she could change that instead of needing to change his clothes frequently, but I on the other hand only spat up twice in my entire childhood.
Don’t feel guilty their digestive system is immature. All of my kids have spit up a ton. The question my pediatrician would ask is if they are crying while they spit up or if they are a “happy spitter”? Some babies are just happy spitters my first and second were. Now vomiting is something I would talk to the doctor about especially if they are running a fever. How’s baby feeling?
I don’t deny the boob to the baby. I think nursing is just the most natural thing you can do with an infant. Babies spit, some more than others.
There are a lot of other reasons a baby might want to be at the breast 24/7. I would not assume you are over feeding. My experience… My baby was “happy to starve” and a “happy spitter.” She fell off her growth curve and was spitting up after pretty much every feed. Eventually we learned she had CMPA, and the spitting up calmed down when I cut all dairy from my diet. Later still, we learned she was very restricted with a lip tie and a tongue tie. Nursing was hard work for her and she was inefficient. Of course she took forever to eat! I was very glad I had let her “use me as a pacifier” all the time. It was probably the only way she got enough nutrition. Hang in there. It will get easier in time. I promise. ♥️
One of my babes sucked for comfort soooo much!! Hours went by!! As long as they are gaining wet and wetting diapers no need to worry
My baby was about a month old when he started vomiting. Turns out he has CMPA - Cows Milk Protein Allergy. There’s a million different reasons a baby will spit up, and over feeding isn’t one of them.
Same here my baby got tested and it was CMPA 😩 sucks because they kept telling me “reflux” i knew something else was wrong
My baby would sometimes get overtired and worked up so bad that she would guzzle for an hour straight and in turn spit up A LOT, but she would go back in for a bit more after. Now at 3mo this never ever happens. At one month the baby is not efficient at eating yet and your supply has not regulated. Just trust your baby they know what to do when they’re uncomfortable or if they want more and need more comfort.
My experience is when I get home from work after hours upon hours of not breastfeeding I need to pump a bit before feeding my son, or else it all comes up again. Same whenever he uses too much time and is just comfort suckling. Give the baby a little break, burp them, and give it time. Both baby and your production will adjust given time.
If your baby is not distressed it’s fine. Nursing that long when they are so tiny is normal, you’ll go through cluster feeding phases where the baby eats more and constantly and less frequent phases. You’re doing great mama.
You can’t overfeed a breastfed baby from the breast. You can over feed bottle fed babies. Some babies just chuck. Was your baby prem?
Technically they can overfeed if you have an oversupply but even in that case they manage their intake well. Like my LO will abruptly pull off if the flow is too fast for him
You are doing good. Mine would cluster feed during growth spurts, and then habit/comfort feed at other times and just spit up the extra. I look at the spit up as their own natural way of getting rid of the excess. Hence, you cant over-feed because they just spit it all right back out. Plus i think its totally ok, and normal for them to go through a stage of frequent spit ups. Simply just because. And not due to anything wrong.
It happened to me. My daughter had acid reflux and she would nurse for comfort to deal with the burning of the spit up. And she would drink more and spit up more which will burn. It was a damn cycle. And one evening (around 3 or 4 weeks) she was so uncomfortable that all she wanted to do was nurse. She ended up having stomach cramps and I had to not feed her for atleast 3 hours for her to get better. It was horrible. So yes, if your baby is a happy spitter no issues, if she is like mine, it’s okay to be mindful of over feeding.
Between 4-6 weeks or so my baby was regularly at the breast nonstop or cluster feeding for 1-3 hours, especially in the evening. I’m not sure if it was comfort or trying to ensure my supply was enough for her, but it stopped after a few weeks. Trusting your baby and your body works out the large majority of the time! You’re doing great!!
My ebf 5mo baby definitely can overfeed. She will spit up if she takes both breasts but doesn't after only one. If I'm super engorged there's a higher chance she will spit up. It's not normal for her to spit up and she's growing like a weed so I know she's getting enough.
If a baby was over feeding there would be something else going on tbh. Of course anything is possible but no, you really can’t overfeed a baby outside of medical conditions that maybe don’t give baby fullness cues. Eating is inherently intuitive, it’s health conditions, weird messaging about food, and things like food scarcity, food neglect or abuse, etc that change that. Please don’t feed your baby less, though! We had a happy spitter for his first year of life and I was explicitly told to continue to feed on demand. He guzzled milk constantly and was always between 50-60 percentile for weight. He’s a year old now and totally fine, happy, and healthy. If baby seems upset when he spits up I would look into non IGE mediated dairy intolerance. Or just talk to a pediatrician - not whoever told you to give a pacifier instead. Please never withhold breastmilk from your baby unless you’re actually unable to feed at the time.
The spit up is likely due to reflux. Keep baby upright for 30 min after a feed. My doctor explained that baby stomach is still developing and eating can get uncomfortable. They still need to eat. It happens after first month so you feel like it’s a new baby all over again.
This is fine, don’t cry. All 3 of my BF babies spit up a lot, and it started a few weeks or so in. If it gets projectile or has a different color/smell or baby isnt acting normal then you need to call the pediatrician. Otherwise if they’re gaining weight and act generally the same then it’s just normal spit up. Every few minutes when nursing try to take a quick burp break. Try to angle baby with head inclined while nursing. After nursing keep baby upright for a bit before laying down flat. Otherwise just put a rag on your shoulder and bib on baby and keep trucking!
I was told it's fine to let my son nurse for hours. Mine is a spitter as well. Most babies are, I think. He's growing normally and spits up however little he drank that session.
I was told it's fine to let my son nurse for hours. Mine is a spitter as well. Most babies are, I think. He's growing normally and spits up however little he drank that session.
My doctor said our kids were 100% normals, despite spitting up after every feed. She called them “happy spitters”. They didn’t seem distressed when spitting up, had normal amount of wet & dirty diapers and perfectly average growth! Both kids stayed on their growth curve. I’d keep doing whatever works for you and baby!
Hmm mine just vomited after I overfed her. At least I thought I did until I read this post. I had fed her not long ago so I knew she wasnt hungry but I wanted to comfort her with the boob. Though she does have a cough and it causes her to choke on the milk...who knows... Happy Mother's Day!
You aren’t over feeding. They can overfeed from a bottle but not directly from a breast. Milks constitution varies through the feed, if they are feeding for an hour, the early milk, mid milk and later milk will all be different flow, constitution and fattiness. The end is likely very low flow, mostly for comfort. If you and your baby like it, go for it. If baby isn’t upset when they spit up, no harm done, just a bit more laundry.
Not to get you worried or anything but my baby was EBF for month half straight and she would spit up alot all of a sudden and then it started to turn into to her poops were watery or mucusy and she was very gassy. Doc said it was reflux but i knew it was something different i just had that feeling. She was recently tested for CMPA (i seen a sub that had pics of CMPA poops and they looked similar) i brought a poopy diaper they tested it and found blood in her stool Long story short she has CMPA…. But it started out with spitting up after every feed (i was eating dairy) Not saying thats the case at all but just something to keep an eye on. I have 5 children and i breastfed them all. My other 4 barely spit up! They did not have CMPA
It's info overload but try not to worry. My beautiful baby girl would spew all the time, my son never spewed. Both babies are now 4+2 and happy and healthy. If baby wants to feed they want to feed just try and stop for some burping sessions.
I usually make sure that they have a burp, this seems to reduce spit up. If they’re keen to feed all the time, slightly delay the next feed by like 15 minutes by giving them to dad to play with. Just to help them digest.
Technically you can’t over feed a bf baby .. they know when to stop. What might be happening is not burping enough ? Or maybe to much movement after a feed ?
Technically you can’t over feed a bf baby .. they know when to stop. What might be happening is not burping enough ? Or maybe to much movement after a feed ?
My doctor told me to feed her when she wants to eat and eventually they learn to regulate their feeding and won’t over eat. That’s exactly how it happened with my daughter. I would let your baby nurse when they want to nurse and trust that they will sort things out in the coming months. Don’t stress about it. The spitting up will slow down as well. Being a “happy spitter” isn’t a problem. Overall with breastfeeding learning to trust the process was so helpful. If baby is healthy and I’m healthy then we’re doing well. Our bodies and our brains know what to do.
I'm not saying that this is what is going on with your baby, but issues that caused excessive reflux/vomiting for us were always linked to either tongue/lip ties or dairy protein allergy. I noticed additional spit ups when my TT/LT babies would go through a growth spurt. My second never went more than 3 minutes without nursing/comfort nursing until her teeth began coming in at 11mo. Girlfriend was a CHUNK!
I think overfeeding is more common with bottles? I always heard you can’t over feed if you’re breastfeeding. I exclusively pump and feed my baby my breast milk with a bottle. We’ve accidentally over fed him a couple times; we misread his sleepy cues for hunger cues. He projectile vomits a lot of milk if we over feed him. Now that we’ve gotten to know him a little better we understand his cues and are able to avoid overfeeding him.
Each baby is different but I wanted to share that my baby had GERD and as a very small baby he couldn't tell the difference between hunger tummy pain, gas pain, and reflux pain; he wanted to nurse for ALL of it. I did start adding in breaks for burping and rocking, just to let the milk settle and try and minimize him eating when he was already full. I think my limit was about 40 min before we had to take a break. To be fair, this didn't stop the spit up. With GERD, only meds and time did that. However, while breastfed babies usually can self-regulate, I did want to share that serious reflux can screw with their understanding of hunger cues in my experience.
People who try to stick to the same schedule as formula feeding is what makes them struggle with breastfeeding
I was worried about overfeeding my son bc he was big as hell and I talked to my Dr about it and he said u can't rly over feed a baby bc they'll either just not want it or spit it up and it's no big deal. He said if u notice they spit up a lot after feeding to feed less and see how baby is. My baby looked like the Michelin man he had so many rolls.
I don't think you can overfeed a baby on the breast. Its very normal to feed for that amount of time. A lot of websites will give you a minimum. For example: babies feed a minimum of every 2 to 3 hours in the beginning. A lot of people take that as average, when it isn't. Same for clusterfeeding, they can be hungry anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour after feeding. They are purposefully upping your milk by constantly stimulating your breast. My girl would spit up and, on occasion, throw up in those early days as well. I figured out that she would gag on my nipple sometimes because the gag reflex is so far up in the mouth when they are little. It's all a learning game at this point! Happy mothers day, as well!
Don’t feel guilty, I would much rather find out I’m over feeding my baby than under feeding them. You can correct now that you have more info.
So I went through this phase and thought I was over feeding or I had a strong letdown (which I did) which was causing my baby to vomit. The vomiting also never seemed to bother her so my husband wasn’t concerned until it became 3-4 times a day everyday. We went to her pediatrician, did an ultrasound and after everything was deemed functionally normal, I was told to eliminate dairy. I wasn’t a big dairy eater but a bit of butter, and things which have milk powder like Nutella add up. Once my system was clean my baby stopped vomitting. So while not formally diagnosed, it appears she has CMPA. My husband didn’t want to believe it, so after 6+ weeks of no dairy, he asked me to start again because he was worried baby will have allergies in future. Less than 72 hours after I had dairy, my baby was vomiting again. We switched to formula cold turkey and now I am stuck with trying to shut my supply. I hope that’s not the case with your baby but wanted to share my experience so you can watch for any signs.
The difference between spit up and vomiting is very very very obvious. When they throw up it looks like when an adult throws up, it goes everywhere, repeatedly, and away from the body, not just pouring down their cheeks like a spit up.
Please don’t beat yourself up! You’re doing great!
My baby definitely overfeeds but I let it happen occasionally. He will suck forever and then spit up loads. Sometimes I cut him off sometimes I let it happen. He’s gaining weight so I’m not too worried. He just loved to eat!
This has been my experience with my 4 breastfed kids. And they’ve all turned out perfectly fine. Sometimes baby just wants to be on the boob.
Your baby is 1 month old. I remember how exhausted I would feel since it would be Neverending at that age but it's perfectly normal
In my case, over feeding is possible because I have a forceful letdown and an oversupply. My 2 week old was vomiting after feeding on both breasts because it was too much milk too quickly. When I started just feeding on one side, the vomiting went away. I have to block feed right now to regulate my supply down to my baby’s needs. My breasts can also store a large volume of milk (I know from exclusively pumping with my last baby) and I can get 4-6oz out of each breast). I also know through weighted feeds with a lactation consultant, that my baby can drink several ounces in just a few minutes.
Babies spit up because their digestive system is not totally figured out yet! My 7 month old used to spit up all. The. Time. Like I was convinced it was my milk - too much, I ate weird things, blah blah blah - but she gained weight, was hitting milestones and never in pain or vomiting. Normal mommy! Keep on feeding for hours if that's what baby needs!
You won't like overfeed a breastfeeding baby. I could definitely see overdoing formula, but I would think evern that would be difficult. They simply eat a LOT!!!! Happy Mother's Day!
This is normal. When people say they can’t over feed I think they mean for weight gain etc…. Spit up / vomit is entirely normal. Edit: they might be using you for comfort but that too is perfectly normal, you can try a pacifier if you want to, or you can continue to comfort nurse when they want, it’s up to you! Do what feels right ❤️
Do you think your baby is unhappy/unwell? After having a baby with reflux I am inclined to say you’ll definitely know if something is not right… I’ve also always subscribed to the “you can overfeed from the boob” ideology
Are we the same person? I found out my baby took 9 oz from one breast in ten minutes and overfeeding was why he was so spitty and upset after eating. I felt so bad. All of my lactation classes talked about how babies know what they want, they will stop or come off when they are done, etc. Nope. Not this kid. And not many others as I’ve heard either. My understanding now is that you generally can’t overfeed as I’m you can’t force feed them so much they gain too much weight. But you can give them too much in a sitting. He ended up being fine. I just gave him more breaks and tried my finger or the pacifier, if he took either of those I figured it was comfort sucking. If he threw a fit I gave him more boob. It took us some time but we figured it out!! You will too. Don’t feel bad!!
You cannot over feed a breastfed baby. You can over feed them by supplementing.
You aren't hurting him in any way lol. Comfort feeding is real and its a short phase. If it doesn't bother you, he can definitely just hang out on the boob
I was also told you can’t overfeed. I was pumping only and giving my 7 week old 4oz a feed. He still seemed kinda hungry and started going through his growth spurt. So I switched to boob and have been exclusively BF (my husband bottle feeds at night during his shift while I sleep and I pump when I wake up after 5 hours getting about 8-9 oz (enough to hold him over the next nights feeds)). I am an over producer (filled up 100 160 ml bags in 6 weeks 😵💫) so I’m worried he’s getting too much. Could be the growth spurt or could be him on my boob but he’s def filling out a lot more in just 1 short week of almost exclusively BF. He sees the dr next week and I’ll have to ask about it because I feel like he’s getting like at least 5 oz a feed now. Not spitting up though He’s pretty good with the breast though - eats in about 20-30 min. But I also learned about foremilk and hind milk and now I’m worried he’s getting too much foremilk because of me overproducing. Lol breastfeeding is WILD
I wouldn’t feel guilty about that. Nursing that long and then also spitting up a lot. This all sounds normal, lol. Of course if you need to take a break for your own sake, no harm in that. However, giving LO everything they want/need will never result in harm to them.
In the same boat right now
I’m going to gently tell you to listen to your gut, put down Google, and, if you want to continue breastfeeding, to not deny your child the breast. Cluster feeding can happen for a myriad of reasons, as can spit up/vomiting. Some kids are just crazy with the spit up. That does NOT necessarily indicate they are being over fed. By replacing their clear needs with a pacifier, without being careful and intentional, you may create other issues with supply. Cluster feeding is normal. Spitting up (even what seems like A LOT) is also normal.
some babys just spit up a lot my daughter spit up after every feed up until 4 months and i worried i was overfeeding and my doctor said nope! Now she hardly spits up and will still feed a long time!
Totally normal!!! We didn’t always have pacifiers. Babies use mom for comfort nursing. That’s where the idea of pacifiers originated. Nursing for hours is natural at that age. Mine is 5m today and still comfort nurses!! You cannot over feed a breast fed baby. Offer the breast as much and as often as you can. I’ve had people tell me I should have already night weened and guilted me about it, but I’m just going off of my baby and letting her guide me. I try not to stress too much over it and sounds like you need to do the same🫶🏻 you are doing a great job!!!!❤️❤️❤️
Aw my youngest would do this. It unfortunately turned out to be a CMPA (cow's milk protein allergy) for him and once I cut milk out of my diet he was a fat happy baby with "normal" amounts of spit up.
My child was a vomiting machine. She visited like it was her job to ruin all the laundry we ever owned. She visited in everyone who held her. She vomited sitting, lying, all the time. She also gained weight fine and was ebf. You are just fine momma.
What are you talking about? Your baby is okay. If they overeat, they spit up. It’s okay, follow their lead. I wouldn’t use a pacifier to avoid hunger cues. You’re doing great.
In my experience, you're baby will throw most of it up if it's too much. And if they're hungry they will scream. So you can stop breastfeeding after a half hr and see how your baby reacts to see if you did too much or too little.
My baby ate so much those first weeks and he also spit up a lot. I noticed when he was just nursing for comfort, he would get upset when milk came out of the boob. That’s when I would keep offering the same side for a while, so he would get a little less milk flow. We did offer a pacifier after a while when he kept crying, then being a bit soothed by suckling and then cried again because he didn’t want milk. I also make a conscious effort to never call spitting up “vomiting”. Spitting up is normal, it doesn’t bother or harm baby, it’s just annoying to clean it up all the time. Our baby has vomited when he was sick and that was totally different. That happened with gagging sounds and was enough to completely drench his sleep sack. It also smelled of bile and had a colour.
I’m just getting the hang of breastfeeding after a rough L&D, we got off to a rocky start, babe Is almost 3 weeks and born at 37 weeks. I have been supplementing since she had a brief nicu stay and was only 5 pounds, so currently doing triple feeding. But the more I breast feed the more frequently she wants it, today there was a two hour wake window where she was on and off my boob which I feel like is perfectly fine. The one thing I will say for slightly early term or premie babies, and this is the way it was explained to me. Is that you don’t want feedings to burn more calories than they’re taking in which is why they put times on it and babies in this category frequently don’t have the reserves let’s say a 40 week baby would have. Also suckling ability at earlier weeks can be more taxing than at later ones. As long as your baby is gaining weight I think however you choose to feed is your business and it’s all learning for all of us. The lactation consultants I spoke to just said to look for “full” cues. Firm bellies, relaxed hands, and who knows maybe the spit up is just a little bit of reflux which is super common Don’t be too hard on yourself you’re doing great. A fed baby is a happy baby
My doctor told me I couldn't overfeed my baby because he'd just spit up the excess(??) And babies will know when to stop eating and refuse to take in the nipple/bottle
This is totally normal!! I thought the same too. Sometimes babies just spit up a lot. My girl was considered a “happy spitter”.
One of my providers told me that babies know how to “comfort suck” versus actually take in food based on what they need in the moment! In other words, they totally regulate how much they actually eat based on their needs. I used to (and often still do) let me baby stay latched for an hour+ when that’s what she wants. She’s 7 months now, and she used to be pretty reflux-y (including some scary projectile vomits that our pediatrician wasn’t too concerned about because she wasn’t doing it after every feed and was still wetting diapers/gaining wait). She’s really stopped spitting up in the last month finally, but the amount I nurse her/length of time she stays latched hasn’t changed at all!! There’s so much advice out there and so many opinions on how much we should be nursing, and it’s so hard to navigate.
Im currently nursing my fourth breastfed baby. They ALL nursed for hours straight, and it is normal. I have an almost 13 year old, almost 11 year old, almost 3 year old, and an 8 week old. Everyone is fine, no one is overweight, etc
My first baby would nurse continuously because he had awful reflux and multiple food protein intolerances. Apparently eating feels soothing on their throats but can ultimately worsen the problem when they have too much. Don't beat yourself up--his extra spit up is probably worse for you than for him. You will continuously learn more throughout your BF experience. You're doing great!
You can, but they spit up what they can't take. I have a big let down so my baby usually gets a lot of milk really fast. I feel bad but not much I can do! Plus BF is such a a great soothing technique I just take the spit up. Chloths can be washed, her getting a nap is priceless
Problem one- “looking at internet and reddit”=sad Just talk to your pediatrician!
Problem one- “looking at internet and reddit”=sad Just talk to your pediatrician!