Before our daughter was born I assumed that burping a baby was easy as tossing them over your shoulder, pat the back a few times and whoala! Easy enough… yeah right!
As a new dad I’ve found that there is an art to burping a baby. Burping helps expel the air swallow while feeding. Babies who swallow too much air tend to spit up, are cranky, and are overall gassy. So do yourself a favor and burp your baby often!
Below is a guide intended to help new dads and moms become baby burping superstars!
How to Burp a Baby?
Before we get started, read the following tips to reduce the chances of being puked on:
- Keep a cloth or receiving blanket handy. It is normal for babies to spit up while being burped so use a blanket or use your shirt.
- Breast fed babies tend to swallow less air, you may only need to burp when she switches sides.
- Bottle fed babies should be burped every few ounces or whenever she seems uncomfortable.
- Every baby is different and not all techniques will work. It will take time to figure out what works best with your baby.
Burping Techniques For The New Dad
- Over the Shoulder. By far the most common technique, but not always the best. Place baby on your chest so their head rests on your shoulder. Support her with one hand and pat her back with the other. One trick we’ve learned is while in this position, try tickling their spine; this will usually cause them to squirm push out a burp. You can also position your baby so their upper belly rests on your collar bone and gently use the heel of your hand to apply pressure in a circular motion.
- Sitting. Sit your baby on your lap supporting their head and chest with one hand. Basically you’ll want your support hand to cradle their chin between your pointer finger and thumb. In this position you can pat their back easily. A variation to this method that works great is while you pat your baby’s back, slowly rotate her body from the waste in a circular motion. Switch it up by rolling them forward, side to side, and backwards.
- Lap Burp. Lay your baby on their stomach across your lap and rub their back. Sometimes just by laying on their stomach, the added pressure is just enough to get some of those tricky burps.
Babies can be picky, preferring one method. While others seem to burp themselves. The key is to experiment to see what works best for your baby. Sometimes just changing positions can be enough to work. I swear I can spend a half an hour patting our daughter’s back with no results, only to pass her to mom and have her burp while handing her over. Go figure!
So my question for you is what have you found that works best for burping your baby?
Enlighten your fellow dads!
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