Nursing to Sleep Q: Are you Burping your Baby?

[evall]

FTM, baby is almost 4 months. She’s outgrowing the reflux period, so I’m able to lay her down sooner after feeds (Yayyy to sleeping more)

Wondering if other breastfeeding mamas are burping their LO after sleep feeds? I can usually get away with a quick over-the-shoulder burping session, as long as she burps soon and I hold her afterwards with a pacifier in.

But sometimes the burps don’t come as easily, and the longer she’s upright over my shoulder, the more she wakes up.

Hoping to hear what others have experienced

 

[lindalmusic]

@evall I honestly don’t think I ever really burped my baby at night and she’s about 6 months old now and I haven’t burped her in general for a while. I started to notice she was getting harder to burp and that it wouldn’t make much difference so I stopped.

 

[evall]

@lindalmusic Oh that’s good to know! Thank you!

 

[jconder]

@evall I've never burped my bub overnight... he wasn't a gassy baby so I got lucky but yeah I'm all for putting them straight down. If she gets gassy she will tell you.

 

[evall]

@jconder Haha she definitely will. Thank you!

 

[partylinelimo]

@evall For some reason with side lying nursing i never needed to burp! Both my babies were pretty gassy as well.

 

[evall]

@partylinelimo Good to know! Thanks! I think subconsciously I avoided side lying, in the early days at least, just in case the horizontal position triggered her reflux. But I really need to remember to use this position now! It’s perfect for two sleepy girls

 

[deficitdemolition]

@evall Yeah side lying was definitely tricky the first few months. My baby was super gassy and I felt like it would make things worse. He’s 4 mos now and it really feels like in the past month everything has really changed and his digestion has really matured. I dont really burp him that much anymore. Maybe at this point every few days? And never after side lying. It makes such a difference now to be able to sleep while he’s feeding!!

 

[janel1]

@evall My baby was super gassy and refluxy and I did burp her at night for the first 3ish months I think. Her gas and reflux was due to my heavy letdown/flow though so as she got older and able to handle it better I stopped burping her! Probably around 4 months but even at that age if she seemed uncomfortable or unable to go back to sleep I would burp her as needed

 

[evall]

@janel1 This sounds a lot like us! Thanks!

 

[san76]

@janel1 I’m curious, how did you find out out that you had a heavy letdown/flow?

 

[janel1]

@san76 Well we saw a lactation consultant who told me that was why she had some gas issues. Also, whenever I would feel my letdown and she would pull off, milk was spraying everywhere very forcefully. I also have an oversupply so those seem to be a common problem together

 

[san76]

@janel1 Ok, that sounds quite obvious then with it spraying like that. Thanks for describing that!

 

[kansasfarmer]

@evall I did not burp either.

 

[evall]

@kansasfarmer Thank you!

 

[stephenso]

@evall Yeah I never burped at night once I started sleeping in the c curl with one of my boobs out (about 2.5 months). Just didn't need to. And I rarely ever did the over the shoulder pat.. I just proped baby up on my knee and gently straightened her back cradling her chin/ face/head in my other hand.
In the first month and a bit I would be up and down so often with diaper changes and day night confusion that I would burp her if I was holding her sideways to feed.. but there's some countries that don't even know what burping is because they always feed upright/ while carrying/laying down.
We also had bad reflux but we found that for us it had more to do with the duration of feeds and the force of my let down.

 

[evall]

@stephenso Thank you for your comment! Interesting about the other cultures…always enjoy learning different ways. I’ve gone back & forth between more upright positions (for reflux/burping) and laid back (to help control my let down too.) However, those days seem to be behind us now…fingers crossed! And my little jumping bean would never sit still long enough to let me do the knee hold, even as a tiny newborn. So I’d end up taking her “around the world” and side to side, etc. with me on a yoga ball instead. Thanks again!

 

[stephenso]

@evall Haha love the yoga ball! Good luck

 

[dvidxpsyko]

@evall I've never burped my baby and she doesn't have reflux. I nurse sidelying a lot of the night and she seems fine.

 

[markum1972]

@evall It depends on the baby, mine didn't get reflux but if I put him down without burping him he would always wake up crying after about 10 minutes and IMMEDIATELY burp when I picked him up. Sometimes he went right back to sleep, other times I had to start settling him all over again. So I always had to try to at least hold him upright for a bit. my favourite burping position was where you sit baby on one of your thighs with his legs across your other thigh and lean him slightly forward, obviously with loads of support. It usually wrangled a burp out of him within a few seconds. I also did lots of walking up and down stairs to get burps up. Those were tiring days, one of the best things about him being older is that he can burp on his own now