How To Burp A Sleeping Baby | 3 Easy Techniques
If you’ve looked around the WAYISAVE blog, you probably know that I feel that dream feeding is a safe way to try and get your baby to sleep through the night. My husband and I even did it with our two daughters, Mackenzie & Mackayla. But, if you read my previous article, you might think that it’s impossible to burp a baby while they are sleeping. But, I’m here to tell you that not only is it possible, but it’s also fairly easy to do. You just have to know the right techniques to get it done without waking your baby up. And, that’s why I decided to write this article.
Here are 3 easy techniques you can follow to burp your sleeping baby. Step #1, hold your baby upright for about five minutes. Step #2, move around for a while you hold your baby upright in your arms. And step #3, shift your baby into different positions. Following these three steps will allow trapped gas to easily escape. This means that your baby will burp without waking up.
Why Do Babies Need To Burp?
Babies need to be burped because they tend to get gas stuck in their bellies. This happens anytime they cry or drink milk. When this happens, it can lead to them feeling full prematurely or discomfort or even both. This is not a good thing since it will end up with them feeling unsettled or crying.
To avoid causing your baby any discomfort, you should burp them. That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends burping your baby during and after they feed.1 They even advise that you should burp your baby even if they don’t show any outward signs of discomfort. You should do this because there is no way to tell how much air gets into their stomachs while feeding. They will only show signs (like crying) when they are already feeling discomfort.
When To Burp Your Baby
The AAP recommends that you burp your newborn between every 2 to 3 ounces they drink. And, you should do this until they are about 6 months old.2 At 6 months, your baby tends to take in less air while they feed. And, they are better able to expel the air that they do take in on their own.
Do You Need To Burp A Sleeping Baby
Notice that the AAP recommendation didn’t make any distinction between babies that are aware and those that are asleep? This means that a sleeping baby still needs to be burped between every 2 to 3 ounces that they consume.
I know you still think that it’s impossible to burp a sleeping baby without waking them up. But, keep reading and I’ll show you exactly how you’ll be able to do it.
How To Burp A Sleeping Baby
I’ll admit, being a parent was entirely new to me 5 years ago. I didn’t even know how to change a diaper correctly. But, it’s a job where you get on the job training. And, you get it quickly. So, I learned these tips and tricks while trying to burp my two daughters while dream feeding. It takes a few tries to be able to do it without waking them up. But don’t worry, you’ll be a pro within a few days.
#1 – Hold Your Sleeping Baby Upright
Trying to burp a sleeping baby is a pretty stressful situation. You want to make sure that they burp so that they won’t feel any discomfort or spit up their food in the middle of the night. But, you also don’t want to wake them up. There’s a very fine line that you have to travel between the two.
But, I found the easiest way to do this is by holding your sleeping baby upright. It makes sense right? If your baby is upright, the gas will naturally travel upwards and mission accomplished. And, there are many ways you can do this without waking your newborn up.
The first thing I would try was to sit my baby up on my lap while I sat down. I supported their body with my free hand. And, I massaged their back with my other hand. I also made it a point to shift their body angle a little bit every few seconds. Just doing this resulted in a burp about 30-40% of the time.
If it didn’t, I would gently bounce my knee up and down. Not enough to wake them up. But, just enough to dislodge any gas that stuck in their stomach. This additional step upped that percentage to about 60-70%. Not bad considering that you’re spending a few minutes of quiet time massaging your sleeping baby.
#2 – Move Around
If step #1 didn’t work… I proceeded to step #2, which is moving around. I would keep my daughter upright and lay her against my chest while I stood up. Then I slowly (and gently) moved around while I held them in my arms.
You don’t have to do the same thing every time. Most of the time, I would walk around my room while I gently bounced my baby in my arms and pat their backs. Sometimes I would sit on my yoga ball and bounce up and down for a few minutes. There were even times where I would slow dance with my sleeping newborn. The point is, I was moving them around while they were in an upright position.
I wouldn’t spend too much time doing this. At most, I would spend about 3 minutes. But, this usually did the job about 20% of the time.
#3 – Shift Your Sleeping Baby
The frustrating thing is that there will be times where step #1 and step #2 won’t work. You’ve already spent about 5-8 minutes trying to get your baby to burp. And, you are sleep deprived at this point. But, I have one last thing you can try. You can spend a few minutes shifting your sleeping baby into different positions.
The easiest way to do this is by taking off their swaddle and re-swaddling them. If they are a deep sleeper, you can even try laying them on their stomach while you massage their back. Just be careful since my daughters spit up a few times while doing this. You can even lay them on their back and do the “elbow to knee” trick. That is, gently move their left elbow to their right knee and repeat with their opposite limbs.
This worked about 5% of the time. But, my daughters were 5 to 6 months old. So, I think it worked because they were getting close to the age where they didn’t need to be burped anymore. But, I was still able to coax one out of them.
Conclusion
Doing these 3 steps takes about 10 minutes and works about 85-95% of the time. At this point, if your baby still hasn’t burped… it’s probably time to assume that they don’t have to. With that said, there were a few times where I got to this point and assumed that they didn’t need to burp. So, I laid them down in their crib, only to hear a loud burp a few seconds later. It would have been funny if I wasn’t so tired at the time. But, I took it in stride. I got to spend 10 minutes of quality time with my sleeping baby trying to get a good burp out. That’s time well spent in my book.
By Grace – Child Development Associate Teacher in California
My husband Mark and I have been blessed with two beautiful, smart, positive (I can go on and on) girls… Kenzie & Kayla. And, we have learned many tips and tricks while raising them. Tips and tricks that we felt would be useful to other new parents out there. So, we started WAYISAVE as a website built by parents for parents to share the best baby deals, coupons, tips, tricks and the occasional piece of advice.
