Since I first fed Emily at the hospital, the midwives made it very clear that burping my baby after each feed was vital. All the books tell you to do it and all healthcare professionals insist on it too. The thing is for some reason Emily just isn’t keen on it. She’ll fart to her hearts content but burping seems more likely to be a game with her. She’ll burp for Granny and on the odd occasion Sam and I may give us a burp or two but this is rare. Burping indicates that a baby’s feed has been taken in and there is no gastro-oesophageal reflux that throws up the food.
At first I was worried, I mean the health visitor makes it a big deal to tell you when something isn’t right in what you’re doing. But upon speaking to many other mum’s, it seems Emily isn’t the only baby that doesn’t want to burp after feeding. Some babies may vomit, some may spit and others will pass wind as their equivalent to burping. It’s not like she’s uncomfortable, she just doesn’t want to do it. We’ve tried rubbing her back or patting her back over our shoulder, or lying her down on her tummy and patting her back, or sitting her up and doing the same, but she couldn’t care less for it.
The thing is, I did stress about this, but seeing as she’s gassy, stubborn and refuses to burp, I shouldn’t really worry about it. She hasn’t got a fever, doesn’t bring up her milk and most of the time spends ages sucking the crap out of her hand after. If it bothered her as much as it does me, I think we’d know about it. If she were uncomfortable, I’d give her gripe water, but up until this weekend, I gave her Dentinox for her colic and that ceased that up within a week but made her so gassy, maybe that’s all that she needs.
Her digestive system is changing and growing as she grows. All part of her development so what once was her need to burp a few times after each feed has now turned into a thing of the past. There’s plenty of other things to worry about rather than this. She’s a little lady and the last I recalled, ladies do not burp!
Missy, Me & Him 