Rubbing baby's spine

[clare787]

Hi all,

Is it okay to rub a baby's spine when winding/burping them?

Someone advised me to do this, I'm just not sure whether it's okay or not?

Your help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Clare xxx

Well, you know, don't lean on it or anything. Just rub their back generally.

There is a school of thought, though, that says wind is going to come up when it pleases and nothing you do helps, it just makes you feel like you're doing something useful.

well... you need to rub their back yes, and that will generally involve rubbing their spine...

not sure if i've got the wrong end of the stick though!

how old is your baby?

She's one week old. I know that it's normal to rub their backs, I was just wondering whether it's okay to rub their actual spine. Sorry, just worrying whether this is okay or not. Thanks.

Why wouldn't it be okay to rub their spine? How can you avoid rubbing their spine when rubbing their back? Am I being thick?

like Tee says, i don't think you can rub their back without rubbing their spine.

do you mean like specifically putting pressure just along their spine?

someone advised you to rub the spine specifically to wind a baby? huh. scientifically it can surely have no basis for success in winding at all, save for giving you something to concentrate on whilst you prop them up, i suppose...

weird. it won't hurt them, but it's pretty pointless, i'd have thought. rubbing the back generally, or tapping gently, all fine. (dd2 (dcs) used to only burp if i prodded a particular part of her abdomen whilst leaning her over... but she was tube fed and a differnet kettle of fish altogether! the other 2 were just prop 'em on your shoulder and pat/ sit 'em up and cup their chin standard issue babies.) have never heard the spine thing before...

i wouldn't have thought the spine would help produce a burp from the stomach. my babies burped better after a little jiggle and moving their upper body around in circles.