Work in Progress
No wasted food for this one (and his cheeks)
Babies are born something of a work in progress. Their eyesight isn’t fully developed, they have little to no control over their movements, and even their skull is not yet fully formed. Eventually it all comes together, but for the first few months (and years) their little bodies are still putting it all together.
One part of a baby’s development that was a particular difficulty with Nathan and Emily was their little digestive systems. At the top of your stomach is a valve, or sphincter, that prevents food from coming back into your esophagus from your stomach. In most babies, that valve is still learning when to relax and when to tighten, causing it to relax and tighten at the wrong times. This is what leads to baby spit-up. The valve accidentally relaxes, allowing all that yummy milk to come right back out. I always found it a tiny bit frustrating to watch my nourishing milk absorbed by spit cloths. All that hard work for nothing!
Nathan and Emily were impressive spit-up-ers. As I’m moving Joshua through Nathan’s old clothes, there are a number of stains on them from the spit-up. Nathan did grow out of it by about six or seven months, thankfully. Emily, though, spit-up regularly until she was almost a year old. Bibs were essential accessories for her with whatever outfit she was wearing. As soon as she was dressed, the bib was on. My younger sister spit-up so often her nickname became Barfy Baby Ashley. My parents lost the deposit on an apartment due to the carpet stains she left behind.
Joshua, on the other hand, almost never spits up. He’ll spit up about once a week. It always surprises me when it happens, and then I remember, yep, it’s been about a week. It’s kind of odd. Chad’s theory is that Joshua is just really efficient. He’s got some serious growing to do, and spitting up does not further that goal.
Eventually all babies grow out of the spitting. Thank heavens. It’s always an exciting moment to be able to wear my dry-clean-only clothes again. But until then, it’s just a reminder that your baby is still a work in progress.
Was your baby a spitter? How did you handle it?
