The best positions for helping baby burp

Oh the joys of baby burping!

Burping must happen during and after every feed, because young babies are incapable of reliably burping themselves. If they don’t burp they end up in terrible pain from trapped wind.

I used three burping positions with my daughter, all of which worked superbly:

1. While standing up, hold baby with her tummy against you and her head resting on your shoulder. Pat and rub her back in circles with the palm of your hand. The movement of you walking while doing this often helps too.

2. While sitting down, lie baby on her tummy across your lap, making sure that her head is safely supported on your leg. Pat and rub her back in circles with the palm of your hand.

3. Sit your baby sideways on your lap taking great care to support her head and neck. Her chin should be resting in one of your hands, while your other hand should be placed behind her head and neck. Gently lay baby down on her back and then, very slowly, raise her back up into the sitting position, hopefully bringing up wind along the way. Repeat several times.

Remember! Babies are usually sick when they burp so place a cloth ready to catch (hopefully) most of it.

A note to finish on:

Babies suffering badly from wind, and worse still colic, are really, really hard work. They cry a lot, need a lot of extra attention and don’t let you sleep very much. You have to watch your baby suffer pain, while nothing you do seems to help. It makes you feel useless, helpless and upset.

Do not go through this by yourself. It is not your fault your baby is ‘windy’ or ‘colicy’ – it is just the way he or she is. Talk to friends and professionals for both a winge and some practical help. And remember that this is a short phase that your baby will grow out of.

My daughter suffered terribly from colic – we had some awful nights. Chatting to friends, my doctor and my midwife led me to a cranial osteopath who solved the problem in a couple of sessions (it turned out my daughter’s jaw had been pulled about so much during the birth, that air was leaking in past her lips whenever she fed, resulting in the colic.)