Conference moira::parenting

543.0. "Excessive burping in Toddler?" by CSC32::L_WHITMORE () Sat Jun 19 1993 18:22

    
    
    For the past 6 weeks or so, my son has been burping terribly. And
    it's not just a burp, he actually brings up food (mostly liquid,
    it seems) and then swallows it. It really is rather gross!!  Anyway,
    it concerns me because this goes on all day long.  We've thought
    of various things that could be causing this:   first, he has
    never been much of a fan of milk, but awhile back he started
    drinking ovaltine quite a bit.   My husband feels that the
    burping gets worse after Matthew has had dairy products to eat.
    Also, he drinks tons of juice and I thought perhaps it was the
    orange juice that was causing some indigestion, so we switched to
    apple juice, but that didn;t seem to make any difference.  He
    also was using a sipper cup and we thought maybe he was swallowing
    alot of air when drinking from this cup (although he's used a
    sipper cup for a long time and the burping just recently started).
    Anyway, I did take him to his pediatrician and he basically said
    "let's treat the symptom, not the cause" - in other words, he
    suggested medicine (DIgel) - well , I have a BIG problem with 
    this - something is obviously causing this to happen - I don't
    want to cover up the problem with medicine!!   Anyway - I agreed
    to try some things for awhile before insisting on tests.  The
    pedi said that normally if a child is allergic to dairy products,
    there would be other symptoms such as diarrhea.  Matthew does 
    occasionally have very loose stools, but I wouldn;t call it
    diarrhea.   Also, the pedi said since Matthew isn;t losing weight
    it isn;t anything serious.   Matthew has never been a big eater
    and he's quite small for his age (25 1/2 pounds at 2 years 7 months)
    but I guess his growth is "normal" for him.    What we are doing
    to try to figure out the problem is:  (1) Matthew isn't using the
    sipper cups any longer, just regular drinking cups.  (2) we're
    limiting the amount of dairy products (no ovaltine, only regular
    milk to drink with supper, no cheese, or ice cream) - I'm reluctant 
    to elliminate the milk altogether but will eventually if he is still 
    burping after a week or so.   We are keeping track of what he eats and 
    what his stools are like (to see if the loose stools are worse if he drinks
    more milk).  What I am looking for is if anyone else has experienced
    this problem - what other things might be causing it - any suggestions
    on things to try!!!  Help!!!    I  just took Matt to the Pedi
    yesterday, so everything we're trying is starting today!  Thanks in
    advance for your help!    
    
    Lila
    
    

    Lila,  I think the reason why your pedi is having you give your son the
    Digel is that he is thinking that your son has a gasy stomach and wants
    to see if the digel will help control the gas in his stomach, that is
    what could be casuing him to burp so much.  The dairy products could be
    casuing this also.  I know when my son drinks alot of milk or eats alot
    of ice cream (he isn't a big cheese eater) it goes right through him. 
    I have an allergy to milk which makes me burp if I drink to much of it.  
    So I have to limit my intake which is what you might have to do to you
    son.  If you give him whole milk try either 2% or all skim and see if
    there is a difference.  If he is allergic to the milk fat then you
    might have to buy what they call lactaid.  It is a milk product that
    has no milk fat in it and isn't to bad.  My mom was allergic to milk
    and had to dink the lactaid.
    
    Hope everything turns out ok.
    
    Liz

    Perhaps eliminating the vegetables that tend to cause gas such as 
    peas, beans, broccoli, etc. would help also.
    
    Just an idea,
    
    Karen

    Thanks for your suggestions.   We've been noticing that he burps
    even in the morning when all he's had is some juice!  It doesn't
    seem to bother Matthew, so we're still experimenting to determine
    the cause.  I'll update this note if we figure it out!  THanks
    again.  Lila
    

    Just a quick update on this.   About 2 or 3 weeks (can;t remember
    now!) after I took Matt to the Dr. for the burping, he came down
    with what we figured was a flu bug.  He was pretty sick for a 
    couple of days with vomiting.  Anyway, since then it seems that
    the burping has subsided.  I have not taken him back to the
    Doctor but have noticed that he no longer burps like he used to.
    I am now wondering if maybe he didn't have some sort of Bacteria
    (or virus?) in his stomach that was causing the burping and it
    finally ended in what appeared to be the flu.  I'm not really sure
    but he seems fine now.  I'll ask the doctor what he thinks at our
    next visit.  Just thought I'd let you all know!
    
    Lila