Five months old babies can take hard supplements with their daily milk dose. So sometimes, spitting milk becomes a problem as it comes out in semi-solid form, and you are unable to distinguish between vomit and spit. Especially new parents start to worry about their child’s health because the vomit feels like a sickness. In some cases, it can be a medical issue, but most of the time, your child shows the normal five-month-old’s behavior. How to distinguish if the child is sick or not? Here are all the facts you need to know about your infant’s spitting problems.
Why is Your Child Vomiting So Much Milk?
5 months old is an age where you start introducing solid food slowly into your baby’s diet with the infant cereals. Baby movements also increase around the same period of time. He might not be able to sit up independently, but you will find that your baby can now roll on his stomach, sit up for a few seconds, or for longer periods with support. He can hold his head upright for a bit of time too. Why is he still vomiting his food? Isn’t his stomach big enough to hold all the food now?
Let’s look at all possible reasons your child has for vomiting milk.
1. Medical Reasons:
Vomiting milk at any stage of the baby’s initial months can be a symptom of a medical problem. Suppose the spitting is unusual and your baby is not happy about his spitting situations. In that case, it can be a problem for his future developmental stages too. Some of the common medical issues related to spitting milk in infants are as follows:
a. Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder (GERD): Gastroesophageal Reflux is caused by a developmental stage of a stomach muscle in every infant, due to which milk keeps coming back to the esophagus. However, when the muscle movements become too frequent, it will reflux back the stomach contents along with the acid, which will lead to acidic vomit and heartburn. Your child will be uneasy after feeding.
b. Pylorus Stenosis: The muscle between the stomach and small intestine is underdeveloped and prevents the normal flow of food. It can cause the food to flow back to the esophagus and eventually vomit it out. Your child will always be hungry after feeding.
If you notice any of the issues that are not normal for a baby, you should contact your doctor.
2. Milk Boring Stage:
Increased movements equal increased curiosity. Your baby can move around and use his hands and feet more than before. He will most definitely want to take everything from his surroundings, be it the interesting things to see, hear or taste. You will notice that once the ability of your baby to hold things develop enough, he will bring everything to his mouth in order to taste it.
This curiosity might lead him to be bored with the same old milk. No doubt, his diet’s major portion still constitutes the milk but he would want to taste all the new things too, which will lead him to ignore the milk or spitting it all up after feeding.
3. Stomach Efficiency:
Despite his active schedule, the baby’s stomach still does not have the capacity to hold the increased food doses. The cardia in babies is also not developed enough to store the food in the stomach until digestion without backflow. So, even if it seems that your child is hungry all the time, you still shouldn’t feed him more than usual, or it will lead to overeating and vomiting in return. Feeding him frequently, in less amounts, is always the best option.
In infants 5 months old, the second reason is the most common for spitting milk too often. Therefore, you don’t have to worry much if your baby is happy and healthy despite his spitting habits.
Want to Try Out Some Home Remedies?
According to Chinese Medicine, babies spit up milk because of the low stomach Qi caused by the belly being cold. Some of the Traditional Chinese Medicines and herbs can be helpful to relieve the symptoms.
1. Monkey Jujube Powder
Monkey jujube (commonly known as Chinese dates) powder can help relieve vomiting symptoms as it aids in digestion and smooth food passage through the stomach. However, use it in moderate form as an overdose can cause side effects.
2. Miso Soup
Another useful method is to make changes in your own diet if you breastfeed your baby. Miso Soup is the common source of elevating qi, as it improves digestion, eliminates toxins, and increases appetite. Since it is made from fermented soybeans, rice, and salt, it is easily digestible too. This way, you can bring your child’s qi up by changing your diet.
3. Ginger Tea
Ginger tea made by using brown sugar is known to have anti-emetic effects. Ginger also warms the stomach and prevents the baby’s belly from getting cramps. Taking ginger tea in your diet can help your child’s spitting problems.
4. Warm Water
Warm water will be able to bring up the yang of your baby’s stomach, and he will feel less cold too. So whenever you drink water or give it to your baby, make sure it’s lukewarm so that it doesn’t hurt his stomach.
Too Difficult To Nurse a 5 Months Old? Here’s how to handle him!
The most difficult task for a mom is to nurse a baby when he has turned 5 months. Your baby will start learning all sorts of things as he starts grasping and understanding his surroundings. Therefore, it becomes difficult to hold him still. On top of that, if he vomits milk often, it can prove to be dangerous with his active habits. Here are a few tips you can use to help you a bit:
- Keep upper body elevated: When you lie him down, make sure that your baby’s upper half is slightly higher than his lower body. This way, the danger of choking on his own vomit will be minimum as it can cause pneumonia if it enters the lungs, and in severe cases, lead to infant’s death.
- Rehydration: As the baby grows, his body needs more water than before. Thus, the hydration level of his body decreases after each vomit. Wait for at least 30 minutes after the baby is done vomiting, and rehydrate him. Feed the water in small amounts using a spoon, so his body remains hydrated.
- Be careful with the solid food: The infant cereal should be used moderately. Despite the baby’s growing hunger and activity level, his stomach is still not prone to the solids. It can’t digest them in increased amounts. In addition, excessive vomiting impairs digestion. As a result, solid food can cause indigestion and colic in infants. To prevent complications, the mother should also consult a doctor and modify her diet to meet the infant’s needs.
- Oral care: After 5 months, vomit contains a small amount of stomach acid along with other food contents that can affect the baby’s teething process. Feeding him 10ml boiled water at regular intervals can wash the mouth from acid and hydrate the baby.
What to Do And What Not to Do?
You need to be careful about some things during the period your baby is spitting milk. They can help you with handling the situation appropriately.
- Avoid all kinds of movements after feeding, including massage, baths, or feeding medicines. It can stimulate vomiting.
- Sleeping posture should be adjusted. It’s better if the baby does not sleep on his stomach.
- Do not feed again after vomiting. Only feed him when he becomes hungry again.
- After vomiting, your baby might look sick, and his complexion might be bad, but if he is happy and doesn’t show disturbance, he is fine.
When to See a Doctor?
Suppose your child is vomiting milk excessively and shows signs of discomfort, fever or diarrhea, and is unable to sleep. In that case, he might be sick and needs a visit to his pediatrician. Although, if you notice the symptoms at night, can you run to the emergency room or wait for the morning? If he is not showing any dangerous symptoms, you can wait for the morning. The following symptoms are bearable and do not point to an emergency situation:
- Cold symptoms like sneezing, cough, runny nose, and fever (not too high)
- Able to be fed. Vomiting and diarrhea are not so frequent
- Less wet but not completely dried diapers
Being new parents can be a challenging job as your responsibilities are increased two folds. If there is no one to assist you through all this, it can be a little too exhausting. Therefore, you can always come here to get some tips and solutions to your baby’s problems, and do let us know if it was helpful or not.
