Simple Calm Baby RN Burping Recipe: Rub, Rock & Roll (Repeat)

You don't have to pat a baby on the back to burp them!? #BUSTED!

It's just sooooo unglamorous when I have to ask my husband to pat me on the back so I can release the air in my belly.

I mean really, I go right back to thinking about my wedding day. There I was sitting in my gown, I had just finished a delicious glass of bubbly, and whammo, a burp creeps-in making me very uncomfortable and in desperate need of someone to pat me, as hard as is physically safe, so that trapped air could finally escape into the atmosphere!


Think I’m crazy yet?

Have you EVER in your entire adult life needed to be patted to burp?  Have you ever even thought about HOW you burp?  And yet we are on a constant quest to figure out the magic method of burping our babies.  Here is the truth, not to burst your bubble (pun intended!) – you do NOT have to pat a baby to burp them.  It is NOT a matter of how hard you pat. The pat does not make the process more efficient; that my friends, is a myth! And counterproductive one at that!

To burp yourself, and your baby, the belly simply has to be relaxed, the diaphragm cannot be tense and the air bubbles need to rise to the top.  Typically, banging a baby on their back while they are curled into a ball on your chest, or on your lap, does ANYTHING BUT allow them to relax their diaphragm.  Babies actually clench their bellies when they feel the burp, they may even be crying, which for sure makes them clamp down on the diaphragm, trapping the air inside.

So do this instead...

To add to our Calm Baby Cookbook of delightful recipes, we have a blue ribbon recipe for the perfect burp blend:

• Calm Baby, not crying
• Stretched out, elongated torso, not curled in a ball
• Back rub, not patted
• Rock and Roll slowly to help little bubbles rise to top
• And the icing on the cake….a diaper change, aka “The Burp Insurance Policy,” at the end of the feeding. When your baby lies down flat for a bit, then gets picked up, those last few pesky burpies come out.

Don't be afraid of waking the baby up for an end-of-feeding-diaper-change. It's far better to get the air out now, than have it wake your sleeping baby 40 minutes after the feeding. That is no bueno (SPANISH FOR EMPHASIS).

So my friends, all calm babies need some Rub, Rock & Roll in their lives, and who knows, maybe even a little Enya to really seal the deal.