Regurgitating milk

My baby seems to bring up milk after every feed. Can this be normal?

The first thing to establish is whether baby is vomiting or possetting. A baby that brings up an entire feed twice in a row should be seen by a doctor immediately. However, in contrast, posseting is a perfectly normal behaviour for many babies, and often the amount of milk that the baby regurgitates is likely to be no more than a teaspoon. The mess it makes is out of proportion with the volume!

You should start to keep a record of the possetting to see if you can establish a pattern. It may soon emerge that certain feeds cause more of a problem, and reducing these particular feeds by a small amount may be all it takes to solve the problem. This can be easier to achieve with bottle-fed babies where you could keep an eye on the amount of milk that baby is drinking. With breastfed babies, this could be a bit trickier. You may just have to slightly reduce the feeding time in this case.

If your baby’s weight gain is low, and there is a severe problem with possetting, then your baby could possibly be suffering from reflux. This occurs when a weak muscle or valve at the top of the stomach allows milk to return up the oesophagus. The problem is that it is now mixed with stomach acid and can cause discomfort and burning. Your doctor can test for this condition and also prescribe medication to prevent or reduce the intensity of the reflux. These babies should be kept upright and burped very gently and carefully so as not to the reflux.