We've all been there. You finally manage to get your squirmy baby to eat a full boob/bottle. Now all that's left to do is burp him. You pat his tiny back until your palm is numb, but you're not seeing any results. You know the clock is ticking until he starts to get a stomach ache or worse — spit up all that milk, possibly in your lap. Luckily, Sophie Cachia of the popular Australian blog The Young Mummy has a burping trick she swears works every time.
The mom to 5-month-old Florence (aka Flossy, aka best nickname ever) and big brother Bob recently shared her foolproof method for burping on Instagram. You're going to want to add this to your parenting bag of tricks ASAP.
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"This is my fool proof way I've burped both of my kids," she writes. "I completely stumbled across it by pure accident with Bob, but it worked for him as a newborn, so I did the same method with Flossy."
Turns out the trick to getting babies to rip one isn't playing their back like a bongo. Cachia sits her daughter in her lap and positions her so that the baby's knees are bent. Then she raises her arms to her sides, at a 90 degree angle. Seconds later her adorable girl lets out a monster burp any parent would be proud of.
Like most parts of parenting, Cachia says the method isn't always easy. "Sometimes they arch their back and you need to use some gentle-but-firm mummy/daddy love to hold them in place," she cautions. She also recommends having your baby relax as much as possible before giving this hack a try. "They need to be calm though and body relaxed – hence the dummy because Flossy was screaming the roof off seconds before as she'd finished her bottle."
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Obviously Cachia isn't saying this is the only way to get your baby to burp. "BY NO MEANS am I preaching that my way is THE way to burp and telling you YOU MUST DO IT," she adds by way of disclaimer.
I spent hours literally crying over spilled milk when my boys were infants. I'd work so hard to get them to drink a bottle only to have them spit it all up because I couldn't get them to burp. I would have made a deal with a small, mystical fairy-tale character if it meant my kids would burp easily for me. Instead I just called my mom and begged for advice while I kept patting that tiny back. This trick would have been magic for me. I almost wish I had a newborn to try it on.
Babies are adorable, but they don't come with instruction manuals. Luckily we have each other, and moms like Cachia, to share tips and tricks that will help us — at least until our kids are finally old enough to burp on their own.
