- Most new parents spend a lot of time
and effort burping their baby during and after a feed.
And they do this because that's what their parents did,
or they're being told, "You just need to do it."
But is burping a baby really needed?
Does it provide them with any benefit?
The answer to those questions might actually surprise you.
Before we answer those questions,
make sure you click on that free PDF document
to get the developmental checklist
for your baby's first year of life.
So let's talk about why parents burp their baby.
The idea behind burping is that when babies are nursing,
so they might be bottle feeding or breastfeeding,
they are inhaling air,
and this air becomes trapped in their stomach.
And unless you help the little one burp
that air out of their stomach,
then they are going to be in pain
and become more fussy and irritable.
And they are also at higher risk of spitting up the milk.
I mean, this makes sense, right,
or does it?
We now know that there's a number of reasons
why these beliefs might not be accurate.
Firstly, it's based on the idea
that babies don't know how to burp.
Babies will automatically burp
when you change their position.
So it doesn't have to be a loud burp,
but air will escape.
So when you move them from lying up into sitting,
they will naturally burp.
Also, they have an extremely floppy sphincter
between the esophagus and the stomach,
which generally opens and closes regularly
throughout the day because it's really quite weak
at this point.
So that air is technically being able to escape
all the time.
If you follow this theory,
you also believe that spitting up is painful for a baby,
and burping a baby will reduce the incidents
of a baby spitting up.
Now, babies will spit up.
The majority will actually regurgitate their food
all the time, their milk all the time.
And that is because the sphincter
between the stomach is really floppy.
The esophagus is quite small.
And milk is a liquid, so it's hard to keep in the stomach.
And lastly, they spend a lot of their time lying down.
So the majority of babies do regurgitate their milk,
and it might stay in their mouth,
or they might actually spit it out.
And these babies are not uncomfortable
when they are regurgitating the milk.
Also, the theory that helping a baby burp will reduce
the incidents of them spitting up milk was proven
to be incorrect.
In a study that was completed in India,
where 71 mothers and babies were followed for three months,
and one group of the parents were told
to burp their baby religiously,
and the other group were told not to burp their baby.
And what that study found is that the ones
who didn't burp their baby were less likely to spit up.
And the ones that did burp their baby were two times
as more likely to spit up their milk.
So instead of burping,
reducing the incidents of a baby spitting up,
it actually increased the likelihood of that happening.
Parents are also encouraged to burp a baby
because there is a belief that burping a baby will reduce
the intensity of crying that the baby experiences
or their overall fussiness.
Now, the study that was completed in India
with those 71 mothers and newborns actually showed
that there was no difference in the level
of fussiness a baby was or that intensity of crying
that they had if they were burped or not burped.
So this essentially disproves that theory
that burping a baby will actually mean
that they're more settled.
I would actually argue that burping a newborn
might not actually be helpful.
It might be unhelpful.
And that is because that pressure to ensure
that the baby is burped after or during a feed means
that parents will often need to wake their little one up.
And that is because when babies are feeding,
their bodies automatically producing a hormone,
which means that they get that sense of fullness,
and they become sleepy and will fall asleep.
Now, in the newborn phase,
that isn't such a big deal,
and it makes it a lot easier for parents.
But if they feel that they need
to wake the baby up to burp them,
then the baby is going to be awake
for longer periods of time.
It means the parents are going to have to resettle
that baby to sleep.
And it just disrupts the natural sleep progress
that babies will go through.
So it might not actually be helpful.
So it might be worth just seeing
if your baby actually needs to be burped.
Now, if you are noticing your little one is fussy,
what you might actually be seeing is the period
of PURPLE crying or that witching hour.
And I have lots of strategies that you can use,
which will help you get through this period.
And that's right here.
Make sure you click on that free PDF document
in the description box below.
And I will see you next week,
where I'll share more parenting tips and tricks.
(bouncy music)