4 month old “happy spitter”, stressed mum

[NewMum293]

My four-month-old spits up/vomits multiple times a day - always after feeds but often several times unexpectedly in between. My spitting up, I mean coming out with force, not possetting.

We’ve tried Gaviscon which just made her spit-up thicker and Ranitidine for a period when the spitting up seems to cause her discomfort but it didn’t do anything. At the moment, she’s a so-called happy spitter ie most of the time she doesn’t seem in any discomfort when she spits up or vomits.

I suspect it’s caused by an oversupply of milk (I exclusively breastfeed) as despite the endless sick, she’s gone from the 50th percentile at birth to between 91st and 98th(!). She sleeps well at night and mostly ok during the day, and is fine sleeping flat on her back.

It’s just... relentless. Everyday, I’m covered in vomit and constantly replacing bibs and muslins and cleaning sick from the carpet or sofa. I’m getting anxious going to classes and other people’s houses as I just know she’s going to vomit everywhere. I love playing with her but every activity is interspersed with vomit, especially Tummy Time. Other than the sick, she’s just perfect: smiley, good-natured, chilled - in theory, I know I just need to suck it up and count my blessings she’s happy and healthy but it’s so relentless. I’m going back to work at 7 months and worry that my whole time with her is going to have been impacted by the endless vomit and the stress it’s causing me.

Has anyone else dealt with a “happy spitter”? Did anything help? Did you wean early? Any advice or just shared experiences would be much appreciated. xx

Nah he learned to sit up and crawl and it went away. I also had a lot of milk and the GP said ‘look is he unhappy? No. Is he gaining weight? Yes. Then the rest is just about how much laundry you have to do.’ I stopped wearing black and carried a large muslin with me everywhere. DH would only cuddle him in work clothes with a large muslin or two over him.

And I went everywhere with him with lots of changes of clothes. I realised that other people cared far less about the vomiting than I did!

I did! I also exclusively BF and my boy had reflux till around 6 months. He (and I) would need up to 12 outfit changes a day.

As he was happy I never medicated it, but on advice from HV eliminates caffeine and dairy from my diet and this did improve it a lot. The change for him seemed to be learning to sit. I didn’t wean early, as I didn’t see the need as the reflux didn’t bother him, only me, and he was putting on weight fine. I wanted to make sure his gut only had solids when ready. I’m not going to lie, it was bloody awful going through it, and I can totally sympathise.

Ultimately for us it was a long ‘phase’ and I wouldn’t change how I managed it as it was just developmental, the sphincter at the top of his stomach just needed time to mature to be able to hold his milk down. There’s some research about caffeine making the sphincter work less efficiently hence why getting rid of caffeine (no fun with sleep regression though 😩) helps. I hope things improve for you soon!

I had an extremely unhappy puker, also suspect that it was largely too much milk (although first time mum and no professional ever suggested it might be reflux or anything else really, they all just seemed to think I was exaggerating... 2 children later, definitely wasn’t!)

I weaned at 18 weeks, within a few weeks he’d stopped completely and was happy. Might not work for you, but if you need to try weaning it might help - as long as he is past 17 weeks there is no evidence to suggest it isn’t safe. My son’s tongue thrust reflex was gone (ie he wasn’t spitting the food straight out), he was sitting (with help) and seemed to enjoy the food.
L

Oh OP I sympathise as I was in the exact situation with DS (I think I even started a thread about it too!). He would vom up all the time and cover me, the bed, the sofa, whoever, wherever in milky sick and my washing pile felt the brunt. He was also a 'happy' sicker and I too had an over supply of milk and he was a greedy boy!

In retrospect I wish I had slowed his feeds down by giving him regular breaks whilst feeding, I.e every 2 mins or something. He would only feed for about 7mins at a time as my supply was so fast so I think if I'd given his tummy some time to digest it by giving him a break he may have felt fuller quicker iyswim. I fed on demand so he was basically never off my boob and I think I would space out the feeds a bit more in retrospect.

It did pass, at about 6/7 months (sorry as I know that's not what you want to hear right now!) and now at 21 mos he's rarely sick and is still bf.

It used to get me down too as I'd be paranoid whenever anyone held him that they'd be vommed on and a bit embarrassed that he came with a warning of 'he's a bit sicky!' And as shallow as it is I felt a bit bummed that he could never wear nice things/cute outfits as they'd just get ruined straight away. And omg the muslins we got through...

Honestly though reading about babies who were just as sicky but we're also really upset with it too (colicy etc) helped me put it in to perspective and it did just get easier as time went on.

But sympathies OP, I remember how relentless it felt.

Dc2 did this until about 5 months. Health Visitors kept mentioning diets as they seemed horrified he would eat and eat until he was sick and then eat some more, while at the same time telling me that you can't overfeed a breastfed baby.

He's 13 months now and he's fine, stopped constantly vomiting and is 28lb! He and his brother are just naturally chunky though his brother never vomited anywhere near as much. You're over halfway to weaning, it should improve then.

My 6 month old is the same. It is frustrating so i feel your pain. No advise but seems like it does go away

Thank you all - it helps to know other people have been through the same. @MrBobLobLaw I know exactly what you mean about the paranoia when handing the baby to anyone to hold and the “sicky baby” disclaimer!

I’m telling myself this will be like clusterfeeding eg at the time it seems like it will go in forever and then one day things suddently start to get better.

My now 4 month old did this at 3 months old, for almost a month. Then it just stopped. She's also BF and has been piling the pounds on, dispite that she feeds infrequently (she's fed on demand so her choice). She's also amazingly chilled and happy. It's an irritating laundry problem, but it did stop.

I had a happy vomiter (he's about to be 13 on Saturday) I was covered in vomit from day one until about 15 months. It does get better eventually and the important thing is that baby is not bothered by it no matter how difficult it is to live with. Keeping baby upright as much as possible helps. But only advice is just bare with it and it will eventually stop!

@lumpy76 oh gosh, 15 months! Did weaning not help at all? x

I had a happy chucker, our sofa has never recovered from the experience! I seem to remember she started getting better around 5/6 months, and had definitely stopped by 7/8 months.

I have a happy spitter! Well, had, she's now almost six months and drastically reduced now. She was spitting up 20+ times a day before but was happy. gaining weight, etc. so I just went everywhere armed with muslins and a change of clothes! Doctor said if she was happy and not having weight issues then no need to medicate and she would grow out of it. Which she did.

Oh yes and be thankful you've got a happy spitter! A friend has an unhappy one and it's bloody awful.

I had one of those. Now I've got another baby who doesn't do it at all, I realise how stressed out it made me.
Mine stopped at 11 months. But she did stop. You don't see adults doing it, so you know it will stop.
And yes to what PP said, better this than silent reflux. That is awful.

Dd was a happy piker, sudden projectile vom and lots of it. I just started to know the signs and held her away from the carpet or sofa over a washable surface. Also cut up a big towel to catch it as muslins weren’t thick enough. She’s nearly 3 now and has been constipated and can also wretch when she’s crying a lot but very rarely sick.
It got a lot better when she sat up.

Thanks all - I definitely appreciate that my daughter is a happy spitter and not in pain or crying. She is a wonderful, smiley child and we really are so lucky. I just sometimes find the relentless vomiting gets me down a bit xx

It stressed me out too, especially out the house but hopefully it won’t last.

I kmow the feeling. I though we had started to get over it because he went a whole day in the same bib and only used one muslin, but the next day was back to his normal sicky self.

Interestingly he is also a very, happy, smiley and good baby! I guess it could be worse

This is exactly what my 4 month old is like. My health visitor said it’s a laundry problem not a medical problem as he is completely nonplussed by his constant vomiting. Lots of muslins all over the house. And I feel like I can’t really bounce him or anything as he will be sick!
My dd was reflux baby too, I weaned her about 22 weeks and it made no difference. So I’m just going to hold out to 6 months and hope it improves soon. FWIW, everything online suggests it peaks at 4 months. So hopefully an improvement soon!

Fingers crossed for you! I thought it would get better now he is weaning..and actually i guess it is as ive had 2 days (over a period of 5 weeks lol) that i only used 1 muslin as opposed to about 6! Lol