Burping with the best of them

Babies often gulp down air during their feedings. Here are tips to help your baby swallow less air and to burp up what does get in:

1) Don’t lay your baby flat during a feeding. (Imagine how hard it would be for your to drink lying down, without swallowing a lot of air.)

2) If your baby is a noisy eater, stop and burp him frequently during the meal.

3) Before burping your baby, sit him in your right hand, with your left hand cupped under his chin. Then bounce him up and down a few times. This gets the bubbles to float to the top of the stomach for easy burping. (Don’t worry, it won’t make him spit up.)

4) The best burping position: Sit down with your baby on your lap, with his chin resting comfortably in your cupped hand. (I never burp babies over my shoulder, because their spit-up goes right down my back.) Next, learn him forward so he’s doubled over a little. Give his back ten to twenty firm thumps. Babies’ stomachs are like glasses of soda, with little “bubblettes” stuck to the sides. So thump your baby like a drum to jiggle these free.