When do babies learn to burp!?

[Fayebo]

OK - so this is yet another wind thread but having had a pretty good couple of weeks with v. windy 21 week old dd, she seems all of a sudden to have forgotten how to burp again. This feels like such a huge step back - I almost wish she hadn't improved at all and then we wouldn't know any different. We haven't changed anything so just can't understand what's gone wrong. Whilst this is more demoralising than anything, it is causing some practical feeding problems, especially with solids - any advice or just reassurance would be really welcome. Am mainly following GF's routines but find that if I give milk before solids and dd doesn't burp well then she won't take any solids. Exception to this is 11am when I am giving solids before milk - she then takes solids fine and a reasonable milk feed (6-7oz) afterwards. Should I give solids before milk all the time? She's also puking for England for hours after a feed if she doesn't burp. Doesn't seem to interfere with sleep (thank goodness!), in fact she almost always brings up the elusive wind, or at least some of it, after a sleep but by then it's nearly time to start all over again! Does anyone else out there feel as though their life revolves around whether or not their baby burps!? Am due to return to work in just over three weeks and really keen to get proper mealtimes established before then - who am I trying to kid! I know this problem will sort itself out in the long term but any tips to help us enjoy our last few weeks together to the full would be brilliant - at the moment I'm pretty much counting the minutes until bedtime from around 10am and feel like I'm wishing poor dd's precious life away...

[mears]

I honestly think burping is over-rated. I really do not think that babies need to be encouraged to do it at every feed. There will be times when you know they are 'windy' and a burp is required. I really think that in the main, babies can burp on their own. Do you need to burp after every feed? I also personally would give solids before milk feeds if that works. Try and chill a bit. If you are getting wound, your baby will too. It might be that you have a bit of anxiety about going back to work which makes the slightest problem seem huge. She will be fine and so will you

[tiktok]

Eh? Fayebo.....lack of burps demoralising and your life revolving round them??? I am not sure why you feel she needs to. It doesn't matter if she doesn't take any solids at this age so if you think no burps means no solids, it doesn't matter....I would think no solids means not especially hungry!

I don't know how you begin to measure whether the burp is a good one or not - is there a burpometer out there

If she doesn't burp, it just means she didn't need to.

No one else in the world worries about burps like the Brits. Even the Americans with their gas obsession aren't as bad. Other countries even in Europe think we are all mad

[bobthebaby]

My dh still sits patting ds on the back after meals (he's 1 yo). I think he may have realised the error of his ways now, because ds has started hitting him on the arm at the same time.

Ignore what Gina reckons your kid should be eating and when and do what works for you. My ds hadn't even started solids when she said he should be on 3 meals a day.

[motherinferior]

My dd2 - rather to my surprise - was very windy when she was tiny; I knew this because she'd cry like mad with the trapped air, and then with a bit of help she'd belch like a bloke after 6 pints. But it's all stopped now; probably stopped around the same age your dd is now.

[aloha]

I agree, if she doesn't want her solid food, it probably means she isn't hungry and she doesn't 'need' solid food yet anyway, milk is fine for her at this age.

[Fayebo]

Thanks all - I must sound like a complete nutcase! I'm afraid I'm a bit of a control freak by nature which clearly doesn't sit comfortably with having a young baby - hope nobody will object to me saying that I'm not really a baby person as I have the most fantastic 2 1/2 year old ds who really does make it all worthwhile! However, my obsession with burping is not purely a control thing or even a feeding thing - I identify completely with Mother Inferior as dd seems intensely uncomfortable/unhappy if she doesn't bring her wind up (despite my best efforts) and is very far from a CLB at the mo. I can usually feel the huge air bubbles teetering on the verge of coming up but sometimes no amount of patting, stroking, laying flat and sitting up and gripe water will coax them out. I may well be wrong but I believe that when this happens, the air goes downwards - it has to go somewhere I guess - which is what's causing most of the discomfort - she rarely trumps and when I listen to her tummy, I can hear what sound like millions of tiny bubbles rumbling around. She also doesn't take milk feeds well when she's windy - only took 4 1/2 oz at 2.30pm yesterday, probably brought 1oz of this back up and was screaming with hunger by bathtime. It's not the lack of burps per se that is demoralising but the fact that having started to feel as if we were making some progress, all of a sudden we're back where we were two months ago. It's great to chat anyway - always gives me a boost