Burping Baby
While it might not be glamorous, burping your baby is important to their feeding routine. During feeding, babies can swallow excess air causing them to be fussy, squirmy, and uncomfortable. Burping allows your baby to remove some air to relieve the pain. It also helps prevent spitting up.
There are no rules on when to burp your baby. You can burp your baby before a feeding, during a feeding or at the end of a feeding. Watch for signs that your baby is uncomfortable and burp them as needed. It’s a good idea to have a burping cloth to protect clothing from spit-up or wet burps.
Breastfed babies usually swallow less air and may not need to burp as often as bottle-fed babies.
Common burping techniques:
 Leaning:
Place a burping cloth or towel on your shoulder and/or back. Hold your baby upright with the head resting on your shoulder. Pat your baby’s back with your other hand. |
 Sitting:
Place a burping cloth or towel across your lap and put a bib on your baby. Sit your baby on your lap, supporting the chin and chest with one hand. Rub or pat your baby’s back with your other hand. |
 Laying:
Place a burping cloth or towel across your lap. Rest your baby face down on your lap and gently rub or pat their back. |
Most babies will outgrow the need to be burped by 4-6 months.
Services related to this information:
- Contact your Public Health Nurse
- 811 HealthLine (Newfoundland & Labrador) – Call 811 or 1-888-709-2929 / TTY 1-888-709-3555