Patient's question:
The baby has been constantly coughing recently. Sometimes, they bring up a mouthful of milk. In the past two days, they have also vomited milk a few times. What could be the cause of this?Doctor's answer:
Babies often experience spitting up milk. This is because their stomachs are like a water wheel, small in capacity, with a weakly functioning cardiac sphincter (located near the esophagus, where the opening is soft and the closing function is poor), and a tightly constricted pylorus (located near the small intestine). Additionally, babies often swallow air while feeding. As a result, milk is easily regurgitated from the stomach's cardiac sphincter back into the mouth, causing spitting up.How can we prevent babies from spitting up milk?
1. Master the appropriate feeding interval. Generally, milk remains in the stomach for about 2–3 hours before emptying. Therefore, feeding once every 3 hours is reasonable. If feeding is too frequent, some milk from the previous meal may still remain in the stomach, which will inevitably affect the intake of the next meal or cause stomach fullness, leading to spitting up.