Baby vomits sticky milk like phlegm

Nowadays, many children often lie down after feeding and spit up several times in a short while. Although the baby's face does not show much pain, mothers will be very distressed when seeing this scene, because they worry that there is something wrong with the child's body. In fact, some spitting up is physiological, which is generally not painful. However, if the child cries after spitting up and spit up frequently, it should be considered as an abnormal behavior.

Physiological factors

Unlike us adults, the esophageal mucosa of newborn babies is relatively tender, the elastic fibers and muscle layer are underdeveloped, the wall of the tube is soft, the two physiological strictures (contraction rings) of the esophagus have not yet formed, and the lower esophageal sphincter is immature. Therefore, many babies will have one or two mouthfuls of milk reflux into the mouth and corners of the mouth after feeding, or cause milk regurgitation due to changes in body position. This situation generally does not affect the baby's growth and development, so no special treatment is required. As the baby grows up, this condition will gradually improve and generally disappear around 6 months after birth.

Feeding factors

The stomach of a newborn baby is in a horizontal position. The contraction ability of the cardiac sphincter where the esophagus and stomach are connected is still relatively poor, and the development of the stomach fundus is poor. The stomach is easily expanded after ingesting milk, and the stomach capacity is also very small. The stomach capacity of a baby just one day old is about 5-7ml, which is about the size of a glass marble. On the third day, the stomach capacity increases to 22-30ml, like the size of a large glass ball. After about 7 days, the stomach capacity of a newborn baby is only 44-59ml, the size of a ping-pong ball. If the feeding method is not scientific during the feeding process, such as feeding too much, feeding too quickly, the baby inhaling air when sucking, the baby is force-fed when crying loudly, or the baby is laid flat immediately after feeding, etc., the baby may spit up milk. Therefore, when feeding a baby, you should try to avoid feeding him when he is crying. After feeding, hold the baby upright, pat his back, let him burp and pass gas before laying him down flat. At the same time, pay attention to the right side lying position with the head high and feet low to facilitate gastric emptying and reduce the occurrence of vomiting.

Allergic factors

Some infants, after drinking breast milk or formula milk, may show common symptoms of allergic children, such as eczema and urticaria on the face, limbs, trunk, buttocks, and repeated cold-like symptoms such as itchy nose, sneezing, runny nose, etc. In addition, they may also have corresponding gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal distension, diarrhea, constipation, etc. These allergic reactions often begin to appear several days or months after eating, but this vomiting caused by allergies is often mistaken for other diseases such as gastritis, gastroesophageal reflux or gastrointestinal bleeding in clinical practice. The most common allergy among babies is milk protein allergy. If this kind of vomiting caused by allergic reaction occurs in a baby who is fed solely with formula milk, parents can consider switching to partially hydrolyzed formula milk; if it occurs in a baby who is breastfed, it may be related to the fact that the mother did not avoid high-protein diet and "passed milk" to the baby. At this time, the mother should pay attention to eating less milk, eggs, soybeans, wheat, peanuts, fish, shrimp, nuts and other foods that are easy to cause allergies in the baby.

Disease factors

If the baby's spitting up does not improve with age, then disease factors should be considered. For example, children with hypertrophic pyloric stenosis often begin to spit up 2-4 weeks after birth. At first, it is just milk spitting up, and then the vomiting gradually worsens and becomes jet-like. Moreover, the spitting up almost always occurs within half an hour after feeding. The vomited material is milk with clots and does not contain bile. A few may also contain coffee-like substances or blood. Children with congenital intestinal atresia begin to vomit frequently within 24 hours after birth. The vomited material contains fecal residue and bile, and stomach and intestines can be seen in the abdomen. Children with anorectal atresia usually have no bowel movements within 24-36 hours after birth, but their abdomen is very bloated, and they vomit, and the vomit contains fecal residue and bile-like substances. In addition, when infants suffer from intracranial diseases such as meningitis, encephalitis, brain damage, and intracranial hemorrhage, vomiting symptoms may also occur. In addition to vomiting, these children may also usually have symptoms such as coughing, diarrhea, palpitations, fever, and convulsions.