baby throws up milk - when do they stop & is sleeping with a bib a SIDS risk?

[tenar]

DD is nearly 4 weeks old. She's recently been throwing up often after feeds. Not so much milk as I'm worried about her health - I gather this is normal for babies anyway. But it's making a mess of her bedding.

Now I just got her a grobag, which she seems to like to sleep in. But she's getting milk all over the shoulders of it, so I can see that it will need a wash daily for a while. That's a lot of washing! I'm considering getting another grobag so I don't have to wash them and dry them each day, but only every second day. On the other hand, they are expensive things that she'll soon grow out of no doubt.

So: when do they stop this throwing up thing? Mostly it seems to be undigested milk, though sometimes it's what I guess is partly-digested milk - all lumpy.

Also, is it a SIDS risk to sleep her with a bib, if the bib is large enough to possibly flap over her mouth and nose when she tosses around in the night? I'm uneasy about using the bibs for that reason, but on the other hand, she's surely more comfortable if I can change a couple of bibs in the night, as I did last night, so she doesn't have damp cloth so close to her face.

How did you handle this one?

[squidipa]

all babies are different and so is when and they stop spewing up after feeds. so im not much help on that. What i can say is this i choose not to use bibs on bubs when sleeping enless i am holding them in my arms for safety issues.

[Jellyfish]

Not sure about the bib but spitting up can continue for quite sometime (6months and beyond) although, it can stop sooner -- every baby is a bit different!! I have heard that it tends to peak around the 4-5month mark and slows when they begin to sit up.

[Phteven]

We always took the bib off for sleeping - it didn't seem right to let them sleep with something around their neck that could flap up over their nose.

[Beautitude]

My DS is also a very chucky baby and i sympathise with all the washing. He is still going strong with the spew and im hoping it stops soon! I dont let him sleep in his bib as I personally feel it is a bit of a risk. Something that has worked for us is one of those wedges that you put under the sheet in the cot. It elevates ds head so he isn't sleeping flat and since we started using this we have found a reduction in the spew in bed. Also if you are concerend about the cost of gro bags you can get cheaper versions in target etc. We got a nice one from pumpkin patch which ds uses which was around $30 i think.

Good luck with the washing

[*Beema*]

We removed the bib for sleeping in bed as well, but I had some spew cloths, bits of muslin/flanelette stiched together with a rolled edge overlocked, and just put them ontop of her bed sheets, more often then not it would catch the chuckies in bed and the sheets didn't need changing as often.

We wrapped for quite a while and had a huge stash of wraps so if she got the wraps it was a change before the next sleep.

Good Luck I hope you find a solution that works for you.
xxoo

[visitor1]

Im not a fan of bibs on for sleeping, but i do but a nappy (terry one) under DS head so spew doesnt go all over his sheets. I to find it goes on his shoulders as well, sometimes i kinda wrap the nappy a little under his neck....can never get on his face so its safe

[tenar]

Thanks everyone,

I guess the bib thing is a no-no then. It's good to know that.

I already leave flat nappies under her head to catch the spew, changing those often is easy enough. I guess I'll have to figure something out about the grobag, though.

[MantaRay]

It's amazing how much extra washing one little newborn creates! I couldn't believe it in the early days - between me leaking milk and the baby vomitting I think I was chained to the washing machine!

The only thing I can really think of to help you when she's sleeping, is holding her for a while with a cloth nappy over her after a feed, before putting her down. It might work. Otherwise my only other suggestion is to wrap her in something easy to wash when you put her down. GL.

It does stop eventually - but they each do it in their own time.

[Janie]

Elevating the head of the cot/bassinette can help. Otherwise it just takes time, some babies (like mine ) do it for months. My sympathies

[tenar]

It's amazing how much extra washing one little newborn creates! I couldn't believe it in the early days - between me leaking milk and the baby vomitting I think I was chained to the washing machine!

You're not kidding. I was in a state of shock the first morning after we came home, from the sheer number of things she had dirtied over the night. I'm with you on the leaking milk thing too... Now I'm just resigned to doing a baby-stuff wash every morning without fail until her digestive system has matured somewhat. Making the switch to cloth nappies doesn't help either, though to be honest some of her clothes and the change table cloths and so on get just as dirty as the nappies on a regular basis anyway.

I'm looking forward to some distant-seeming future when I can do a baby load only every second day...

I've had a brainwave on the bibs thing, though. We have a couple of "newborn" bibs that I got somewhere online (I forget which website). They are basically round, with a smallish hole, and they are only about 5cm wide at the "longest" point. They are clearly meant to catch dribble from someone lying down who might dribble in any direction, rather than to catch mess from someone sitting up who will dribble or spew down their front.

Anyway, the point is that I think these bibs can't reach far enough up her face to cover her mouth or nose, so they are safe, I think, from a SIDS perspective. Two isn't enough though, but what I've done is taken some cheap other bibs and sewn the bib part up so that it's not very wide and doesn't hang down far at all. So it can't flap up over her face either.

I'm hoping using these bibs for a while will mean I don't have to buy another grobag just to stay saner with the washing+drying. Though I'm definitely starting to get a point about needing at least 3 of everything so one is worn/used, one in the wash, one drying, at any given point...

[Janie]

3 is a good number I find 4 is even better!!! LOL

My DS was very spewy until about 6 months (when he was starting to sit) and then moderately spewy until about 12 months. If it makes you feel better, it all seems a very long time ago now!! And you do get used to dealing with it (and constantly smelling like spew ).