Burping baby - tips please

[Mishee]

I'm rubbish at burping my 5 week old. I've tried various methods, but they just succeed in making me burp (honestly!, but not DD. In fact, what often happens is, after a lot of leg thrashing, she does some man-sized farts! Any tips on burping will be greatly received.

hi - press LO against your chest and rub back - this usually produces tremendous burps!!! Make sure their head is over your shoulder in case of spit ups. Also gripe water is good as is infacol. Farting is also getting rid of air just from the other end IYKWIM.

I'm sure you know these:

patting on back
rubbing back in upwards strokes

My own ones that work on our dd:

• keep upright, lift and bring down again.
• lie dd over knees on tummy, maybe on cushion if dd happy about it - can sometimes release the burp when you right them again!
• gently rocking forward and back leaning dd slightly forward

try the lap roll: lie baby on your lap on her side with her head by your knees and her feet by your tummy. Put one hand behind her head and your forearm along her back, and the other gently cupping her face and the forearm along her tummy. Now roll her gently from side to side, as far over as you can. From tummy one way right over onto tummy the other way if poss. Theory is that air bubbles attach themselves onto the sides of the stomach and this gently encourages them to break free and come to the surface little by little. You might get lots of little burps or one big one, depending. Really works though!

Also try lying her along your arm with her head in your hand, sort of on her tummy but kind of like a cross between the recovery position and a tiger lying on a tree branch, with legs hanging down either side. This opens up the airways and lets wind come up, especially if you gently rock or rub her back at the same time. This one is good for night feeds as they more relaxed and you can do it with a sleepy baby.

If she's farty, try cycling her legs around while lying on her back for a few mins, or gently pushing her knees up to her chest a few times, this gets the digestive system moving and might help the wind to move! Also helps with constipated tiny ones.

good luck! these all worked for us!

Can I also ask a (maybe stupid) question please?

How do you know that all the burps have come out? We have the problem that that our ds will burp (sometimes several times) and then about half an hour to an hour later again, often waking up so that we have to pick him up for a loud burp to come out.

Any suggestions would be great.

ummm, I suppose you don't really know, except that when he seems happy and "done" then stop but I think that's probably practise at knowing when all the wind is up! erm, sorry not much help. We used to stop when ds seemed to have had enough as this was his signal that he was finished. Sometimes another one bubbled up later and sometimes not. If he didn't seem fidgety or distressed by wind then we left him in peace!

Guess you don't know when they are done - if they are not in stress, then I leave it. My burping tip is to sit the baby on your lap facing you and just gently pull their body towards yours a few times - always works with my DS when the over-the-shoulder one hasn't worked.

in the baby whisper there is a technique which my dc all loved. involved placing baby so stomach is on back of left shoulder and then using the heel of your right hand to massage upward in a gently but firm upward stroke. If someone has the book borrow it to get the exact positioning. it simple but very effective. I used to that and then a bit of rubbing. also used the knees to the chest which was very effective especially for producing wind.

Thanks for all those. I have been using Kitbit's rolling method and tiger on a tree and have been having some success. The tiger one is a good way of toning up your muscles as well!