How to Burp a Baby: Positions, Timing and Technique

I was taught to burp a baby for twenty minutes after every feed and to keep going until something came up. I did it faithfully with all five of mine, in two countries, at every hour of the night, and I now think a lot of that time achieved nothing except keeping a sleepy baby awake.

So this is about doing it well, and also about doing it briefly. I didn't understand the briefly part for about twenty years, which is a long time to be patting a back.

The three holds

All three work. Which one suits you depends on your hands, your back and your baby, and none of them is better than the others, whatever anybody's mother says. Over the shoulder is the one most people picture. She sits high against your chest with her chin over your shoulder and her tummy gently against you. One hand supports her from underneath, so the other is free for her back. Keep her high, because if she's too low your shoulder digs into her stomach, which hurts her and works against you. Sitting on your lap is the one I came to prefer, especially once there were twins in the family and I needed to see two faces at once. She sits upright on your thigh, leaning slightly forward, while your hand supports her chest and her chin rests in the web between your thumb and forefinger, never on her throat. You can see her face this way, which you can't over the shoulder. Lying across your lap is for the sleepy baby who won't sit up. She lies tummy-down across your thighs, head turned to the side and a little higher than her body, supported the whole time, and you can do it in the dark.

How to get it out

It's all much gentler than most of us were shown, and the most common mistake by far is force.

• Get her upright and straight. A curled-up baby has a kink in the path the air has to take, and just straightening her back often brings a burp up on its own.
• Rub upward along the back with a flat palm, from the bottom of the ribs toward the shoulder. Rubbing is more effective than patting and a lot kinder.
• If you pat, cup your hand and keep it light. You aren't knocking anything loose, and a firm pat on a newborn is much harder than it looks.
• Change her position after a minute or two. Moving her between holds works better than sticking with one, and most burps come within a few seconds of a move.
• Let her legs stay free. Bending her at the hip presses the abdomen and works against you.
• Keep a cloth over your shoulder, because milk often comes up with the burp.

If you can hear her breathing change or feel her stiffen, you're pressing too hard, so ease off. Nothing about this should be vigorous.

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How long before you give up

A minute or two. Five at the very outside, and only if she's visibly uncomfortable.

This is where my own practice changed most. Going on past a few minutes doesn't help, and it has a real cost: a baby held upright and patted for twenty minutes at three in the morning has been kept awake, by someone who meant well, for nothing. If nothing has come after two minutes and she's settled, she didn't have any air to bring up. I forget which of my five taught me that. Probably the fourth, by which point I'd stopped listening to the midwives and started watching the baby.

Then put her down. If wind was the problem she'll tell you within a few minutes, loudly, and you can pick her up and try again. Waiting for a burp that isn't coming helps nobody, least of all you.

When in the feed

Halfway is a reasonable default for a bottle, and at the natural pause when you swap sides if you're breastfeeding.

Don't interrupt a feed that's going well just to wind her. I was taught to, and it's the first thing I'd unlearn. A baby feeding steadily and calmly is doing something more valuable than burping, and if you break off she often won't settle back into it, so wait for a pause she makes herself.

Breast or bottle: same method, different frequency

The holds and the technique are the same. What differs is how much air went in, and so how often you'll get a burp at all.

A well-latched breastfed baby takes in very little air and may go days without a burp anyone notices. A bottle-fed baby usually takes in more, especially if the teat flow is fast or the bottle is tilted so the teat isn't full. Both are normal, and neither needs a different hold.

When it goes wrong

A short list of things I've done and would rather you didn't.

• Patting harder when nothing comes. Force doesn't help and it distresses her, and a distressed baby swallows more air.
• Winding for twenty minutes as a matter of routine. This was the standard when I had mine and there's no good reason for it.
• Sitting her with your shoulder pressed into her stomach, which is uncomfortable and makes spit-up more likely.
• Supporting her under the chin at the throat. The jaw, never the throat.
• Waking a settled, sleeping baby to wind her, which gives up her sleep for something that usually achieves nothing.
• Bouncing or jiggling to bring it up faster, which makes spit-up much more likely.

This guide is general information, written to help you understand a topic and ask better questions. It is not medical advice and does not replace your own doctor, midwife or paediatrician. Anything that worries you about your baby belongs with them.

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