Hi everyone,
I have a baby who is 1 month and 3 weeks old. She is very active. After feed when I try to burp her she constantly tries to fall back, doesn't stay straight. this makes me holding her very difficult and I give up burping her. I have the following concerns:

1. How important is burping the baby? 50% of the time I give up unable to hold her.
2. How can I burp her in another pose without holding her on my shoulder?
3. My baby usually dozes off to sleep while feeding. I'm not burping her with a fear of waking her up. How can I burp her without disturbing sleep?
4. I sometimes feed her in sleeping position. is it advisable..

I appreciate if experienced mothers reply and help me.
thanks in advance

akhila Hetal replied. babies upto 3months are often not able to master the sucking skills,may it be from breasts or from bottles...this makes them swallow air...this same air makes them feel full or heavy or to say gassy..and thus they will eventually stop taking feeds..in case where this air fillsup the stomach...now this happens mostly when baby is not latched properly or he has not been able to adjust to mothers breast well !other reason is,mostly this reflux is more often is the result of weak esophageal sphincter(valve connecting the esophagus to the stomach),,,mostly most infants have this until 3months of their age, because of their immature muscles in the stomach or the bottom of esophagus...and whenever he feeds, the air enters with bm or formula, and its gets trapped between liquid and sometimes thats y babies spit up along with burp !!burping releases this air and makes him feel comfortable on tummy and further prevents your baby from further feeding problems..also, best to avoid too much of stress on burping is feeding more often with less bm,,say some 2oz,...than one whole feed of 3oz every 3 hours,,its tiring as it sounds but it has worked perfectly fine with many babies including mine.also, making your baby calm and preparing for his feeds 5min earlier than he gets wild to ask for feeds,,helps you to struggle less in burp !keeeping presure off his stomach,,and that babies pant or diaper is not tight..somtimes just giving them ride in carseat in your car or making him sit in pappassan/cradle or light swing, helps in burping !!after feeds, making your baby play a lil while on upright position settles the air and them it comes out on its own sometimes,,may prevent you from struggling to burp !!!making your baby sleep elevated,,after feeding(incase your baby sleeps while feeding bottle/not breastfeed),,will help you to struggle with burping !! just put a thick cotton blanket with 4-5neat folds,,best is to put the wedge under the mattress,,and let your baby sleep on it...there are many different styles of burping a baby,,these aremostly based on mothers health condition and ability to hold baby properly.one is the shoulder one which is becoming difficult for you,,the other is making your baby sit upright and leaning slightly forward on your lap..make sure to give him good support on his back with your stomach/chest,,and support his head as well...gently rub or pat his back until he burps..,,rub in the direction from down to up,,,this is how i used to do, because i had extremely sore shoulders carrying my heavy baby!!so for me, this was easier...the other way, lay your baby in your lap/bed and make his legs relaxed, and then hold both the legs from the feed, and slowly take towards his head,,its a good exercise too,,this has helped colicky babies too ! when you do that, dont force, some babies become alert and make their legs stiffs,,when so, dont do this,,it will hurt them..the other is laying your baby with his face down,,turn his face to one side and support it with your hand,,rub his back,gently or pat his back until he burps...this also you have to be very careful,,,so the best easier way is the making him sit on lap and burping him and the shoulder one...other than that, still if baby doesnt burp, and if you feel that he is having gas(which you will often feel when you are burping on your palms when you are holding him),,just lay him on his stomach//tummy time for few minutes and then try again after a while..breastfeed babies dont burp easily and then in that case, leave it and try to burp him before the feed,,sometimes it releases air by that way,,which makes them ready for the feed of milk in stomach.mostly, breastfeed babies are not expected to be burped regularly, esp if the mother is good in diet and often struggling to burp your baby for more than 10min is not worth...other than this,,unless your baby is really fuss during or after/before feeds,,its not needed to practise more than 1 burp during feeding,,or at the most, 1 before and then after feeding, 1 more,,thats more than enough..however, bottlefed babies need to be burped for every 2-3oz of milk intake,,if your baby is colicky, babies are expected to burped at every 1 oz !!!! and in that case,breastfeed babies are expected to be burped at every change of breast...after and during the burping process, make sure to handle your baby as gently as possible,,,to make him active or lively soon after burping sometimes makes them vomit along with bigger burp..and in that sometimes,,babies choke !!so be careful..and go by your motherly instincts,,most of the times i personally observed that my baby was just fine without burping,,at that time, dont put efforts in burping,,like disturbing in her sleep and burping her,,babies go mental stress when their sleep is disturbed,,esp babies upto 3months !if you are having fear that he needs burp(only coz he had showed of need of burping at every feed),,dont burp her, but just take him to shoulder and rub his back from down to up and along with it, sing something to soothe him ! this will help you burp him and he will stay calm and will burp only if he has swallowed air..also, sometimes just cycling your baby legs gives him alot of activity time/playtime and he may release air without your efforts,,thats y they say give lots of tummy time and activity time.right now sleeping position is ok to feed because mothers body upto 2-3months are in post delivery depression and they need rest ! esp if you had done vaginal delivery with stiches or like me lying in labour for 22hours,and then going for csection ,,,but make sure after 3rdmonth onwards you slowly stop that sleeping position so that your baby does not get into habit of drinking milk to make himself sleep..in longer run you will avoid ear infection and also this will prevent you further in weaning, down the line, by the end of 1 year,,babies from 3months onwards start getting habituated so after that, avoid it..slowly reduce his habit of making him sleep while breastfeeding...this will also prevent further toothdecay and promises healthy gums and teeth in coming 7-8months down the line ! also, if you see some babies have smell of milk in their mouth,,,avoiding this position, wil not let this happen !!so take care and congratulations on having a beautiful angel..welcome to motherhood.take care,hp this helps.

Hetal replied. babies upto 3months are not often are not able to master the sucking skills,may it be from breasts or from bottles...this makes them swallow air...this same air makes them feel full or heavy or to say gassy..and thus they will eventually stop taking feeds..in case where this air fillsup the stomach...now this happens mostly when baby is not latched properly or he has not been able to adjust to mothers breast well !
other reason is,mostly this reflux is more often is the result of weak esophageal sphincter(valve connecting the esophagus to the stomach),,,mostly most infants have this until 3months of their age, because of their immature muscles in the stomach or the bottom of esophagus...and whenever he feeds, the air enters with bm or formula, and its gets trapped between liquid and sometimes thats y babies spit up along with burp !!
burping releases this air and makes him feel comfortable on tummy and further prevents your baby from further feeding problems..
also, best to avoid too much of stress on burping is feeding more often with less bm,,say some 2oz,...than one whole feed of 3oz every 3 hours,,its tiring as it sounds but it has worked perfectly fine with many babies including mine.
also, making your baby calm and preparing for his feeds 5min earlier than he gets wild to ask for feeds,,helps you to struggle less in burp !
keeeping presure off his stomach,,and that babies pant or diaper is not tight..somtimes just giving them ride in carseat in your car or making him sit in pappassan/cradle or light swing, helps in burping !!
after feeds, making your baby play a lil while on upright position settles the air and them it comes out on its own sometimes,,may prevent you from struggling to burp !!!
making your baby sleep elevated,,after feeding(incase your baby sleeps while feeding bottle/not breastfeed),,will help you to struggle with burping !! just put a thick cotton blanket with 4-5neat folds,,best is to put the wedge under the mattress,,and let your baby sleep on it...
there are many different styles of burping a baby,,these aremostly based on mothers health condition and ability to hold baby properly.
one is the shoulder one which is becoming difficult for you,,the other is making your baby sit upright and leaning slightly forward on your lap..make sure to give him good support on his back with your stomach/chest,,and support his head as well...gently rub or pat his back until he burps..,,rub in the direction from down to up,,,this is how i used to do, because i had extremely sore shoulders carrying my heavy baby!!so for me, this was easier...
the other way, lay your baby in your lap/bed and make his legs relaxed, and then hold both the legs from the feed, and slowly take towards his head,,its a good exercise too,,this has helped colicky babies too ! when you do that, dont force, some babies become alert and make their legs stiffs,,when so, dont do this,,it will hurt them..
the other is laying your baby with his face down,,turn his face to one side and support it with your hand,,rub his back,gently or pat his back until he burps...this also you have to be very careful,,,so the best easier way is the making him sit on lap and burping him and the shoulder one...
other than that, still if baby doesnt burp, and if you feel that he is having gas(which you will often feel when you are burping on your palms when you are holding him),,just lay him on his stomach//tummy time for few minutes and then try again after a while..breastfeed babies dont burp easily and then in that case, leave it and try to burp him before the feed,,sometimes it releases air by that way,,which makes them ready for the feed of milk in stomach.
mostly, breastfeed babies are not expected to be burped regularly, esp if the mother is good in diet and often struggling to burp your baby for more than 10min is not worth...
other than this,,unless your baby is really fuss during or after/before feeds,,its not needed to practise more than 1 burp during feeding,,or at the most, 1 before and then after feeding, 1 more,,thats more than enough..however, bottlefed babies need to be burped for every 2-3oz of milk intake,,if your baby is colicky, babies are expected to burped at every 1 oz !!!! and in that case,breastfeed babies are expected to be burped at every change of breast...
after and during the burping process, make sure to handle your baby as gently as possible,,,to make him active or lively soon after burping sometimes makes them vomit along with bigger burp..and in that sometimes,,babies choke !!so be careful..and go by your motherly instincts,,most of the times i personally observed that my baby was just fine without burping,,at that time, dont put efforts in burping,,like disturbing in her sleep and burping her,,babies go mental stress when their sleep is disturbed,,esp babies upto 3months !
if you are having fear that he needs burp(only coz he had showed of need of burping at every feed),,dont burp her, but just take him to shoulder and rub his back from down to up and along with it, sing something to soothe him ! this will help you burp him and he will stay calm and will burp only if he has swallowed air..
also, sometimes just cycling your baby legs gives him alot of activity time/playtime and he may release air without your efforts,,thats y they say give lots of tummy time and activity time.
right now sleeping position is ok to feed because mothers body upto 2-3months are in post delivery depression and they need rest ! esp if you had done vaginal delivery with stiches or like me lying in labour for 22hours,and then going for csection ,,,but make sure after 3rdmonth onwards you slowly stop that sleeping position so that your baby does not get into habit of drinking milk to make himself sleep..in longer run you will avoid ear infection and also this will prevent you further in weaning, down the line, by the end of 1 year,,babies from 3months onwards start getting habituated so after that, avoid it..slowly reduce his habit of making him sleep while breastfeeding...this will also prevent further toothdecay and promises healthy gums and teeth in coming 7-8months down the line ! also, if you see some babies have smell of milk in their mouth,,,avoiding this position, wil not let this happen !!
so take care and congratulations on having a beautiful angel..welcome to motherhood.
take care,hp this helps.
Hetal