09/05/2025
Every new parent learns that you burp a baby after every feed to lower the chance of spit-up and fussiness due to gas, so this is obviously based on research, right?!? 🤔
Surprisingly it is not! There is very little research on burping a baby and a randomized controlled trial (the highest quality research design) found that burping infants after eating did not reduce colic (uncontrollable crying) or spit-up (Kaur, Bharti, & Saini, 2015). After adjusting fo feeding method (bottlefeeding, spoon feeding, breastfeeding), they found that the burping group actually showed MORE spit-up. This is a very small study and, while researchers instructed parents on how to burp, they did not observe what the mothers were actually doing or what the control group was doing. It was also too small of a study to determine whether a subset of babies actually do benefit from burping.
Regardless of the limitations of this study, we have no evidence that babies require patting on the back or help with burping or that this help has any positive impact on baby’s digestion or mood.
Burping is a practice that has been used across time and cultures. Some parents may argue that burping doesn’t “hurt” but it does take time away from sleep and other important activities for parents. It may also cause parents distress when they can’t get their baby to burp.
TRANSLATION: We have no evidence that burping babies is necessary or improves their mood or digestion. If it seems to help your baby and doesn’t bother you, keep doing it but it there is no reason to stress if your baby does fine without burping.
All information provided by Parenting Translator Foundation — parentingtranslator.org
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