My 11 week old throwing up a lot

Recently my 11 week old boy throws up a lot. I am breastfeeding him and he gets 3 times per day express milk (when I am at work). He is fed with the Avent with the teat with 1 hole. He is a fast drinker and easily drinks 160 ml in 10 minutes.


The problem is this: when I breastfeed him, he drinks very fast (as usual) and then when I stop him to burp, I sit him up. Then he will throw up a lot of milk. Sometimes without me patting on his back. It is not that he has eaten too much, because he is still hungry. If I stop him more often for burping, it is hard, as he get fussy when I pull him from my breast and then it is anyway not possible to burp him while he he so actively moving around.


I get the feeling the flow of my breast is faster then the teat with 1 hole, can that be? Can it be that now he get the bottle 3 times a day that the flow of my breast is too fast for him?


He does not just throw up a bit, that is normal, but he throws up a lot. Sometimes, milk comes flowing out of him mouth (such a waste!).


Oh, he does not throw up that way, when he is bottle fed.


Any advise?

Both of my kids did this. With my son, I ended up only feeding him on one side at a time, but feeding him a bit more often [every 2.5 hrs instead of 3 or 3 hrs instead of 4] until he was a bit bigger and it made the problem virtually vanish. The other thing that I did was to make sure that he was sitting up pretty straight when he ate, not laying down on his back. If you think it is a too fast flow issue, you can also lay down on your back and set him on top of you to drink -- that will slow things down a bit.

I experienced the same with my son who is three months old now but only a few times. I noticed that if he throws up a lot, almost to the point of emptying what he just drank, it would be due to drinking to quickly especially when there is a long gap between feedings. I was told that babies' stomachs are positioned higher up and hence any strong movement may cause the baby to throw up. Because of the stomach's position, my son didn't look the least uncomfortable when he threw up. You can try unlatching your baby every 5 mins for the milk to settle.

if he is doing it all the time ask your doctor if he may have reflux

You are doing a very good job of breast feeding your little boy ! It would seem that you have correctly identified a fast milk supply that causes your baby to "gulp" the milk along with a lot of air so that when he burps he also brings up a lot of milk . This can seem quite disheartening I am sure. It would be worth while changing feeding positions so that you are not sitting upright when you feed the baby as gravity may help the milk flow forcibly try leaning backwards or lying down

to feed and see if this helps .You could also change baby's postion so that instead of lying down on his back to feed he is in a more upright position.


To reassure yourself I would also have the baby weighed and measure so you know that he is gaining weight appropiately . You would be most welcome to bring your little one to Well Baby clinic where we could do this for you and discuss this in furthur detail .



With best regards



Well Baby Clinic 2849 1500

Matilda International Hospital

Hong Kong

http://www.matilda.org