Between four and six months for most babies, and earlier for many, and what nobody tells you is that you don't need permission, and that most families stop long before they admit to it, mine included.
The signs she's done
Four of them, and you'll probably notice the first before you notice the others. Or maybe the second. It depends on the baby, and I've never been able to predict which.
Nothing has come up for a week or two despite your offering. She settles perfectly well after feeds without being winded. She can sit up unaided, which changes the whole picture because she now spends her day in a position that lets air out on its own, and her feeding has become efficient, faster and calmer and with far less gulping than it had at six weeks, when every feed sounded like a drain.
| Age | What is happening | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 0-3 months | Little head control; air gets trapped easily | Wind at breaks and after every feed |
| 3-4 months | Better head and trunk control; digestion maturing | Still try, expect fewer burps |
| 4-6 months | Sitting with support; shifting her own air | Fade it out: skip feeds and see |
| 6 months + | Sitting, moving, starting solids | No routine winding needed |
Any two of those together and you can stop offering routinely, and nothing bad happens if you're early, because a baby who needs it'll be uncomfortable and will tell you, at volume.
How to stop
Simply stop. There's no weaning process here and nothing to taper.
What I'd suggest is stopping after the easy feeds first, the daytime ones where she's alert and upright afterwards, and keeping it for the night feeds a little longer, since those are the ones where she's horizontal and sleepy and the air has nowhere to go, and then dropping those too, some week when you notice you've forgotten.
Keep it in reserve. If she has a windy day, or a feed that went badly, or she'd been crying before a feed and gulped, sit her up for a minute, and that way it stops being a routine and becomes something you do when the situation calls for it, which is where it always belonged, and where my mother's generation would never have let it rest.
Before you stop
What solids change
Once she's on solid food, sitting upright in a chair to eat, the whole question dissolves.
She's upright for the meal and upright afterwards, she's swallowing food and no longer drawing liquid through a teat, and the air simply doesn't accumulate the way it did, and milk feeds carry on alongside, and you may still get the occasional burp after those, and none of it demands anything of you.
Some new wind appears from the other end as her gut adjusts to new foods, and that's a different subject with a different answer, but it isn't burping and no amount of holding her upright will help it.
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Still windy after six months?
Then look at what changed, because at that age the cause is something other than feeding air.
- New foods, particularly the fibrous ones, as her gut adapts. This settles over weeks.
- Drinking too fast from a cup or a bottle she has grown out of, especially if the flow is now too slow for her and she's working at it.
- Cow's milk introduced at a year, which some children take a few weeks to get used to.
- Constipation, which is common once solids start and produces discomfort easily mistaken for wind.
- Genuine reflux, which doesn't usually appear for the first time at this age and does sometimes persist from earlier.
- Excitement and crying at mealtimes, which puts air in exactly as it did when she was small.
Take it to a doctor if she isn't gaining weight, if there's blood or mucus in her nappies, if vomiting is frequent or forceful, or if she's distressed and not simply windy, and otherwise remember that wind on its own in a thriving child is a nuisance and not a condition, however much of the night it takes up.
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What people ask me
At what age can you stop burping a baby?
Most babies stop needing help between four and six months, once they can sit with support and shift their own trapped air.
How do I know my baby no longer needs burping?
She burps on her own, sits and moves her trunk freely, and stays comfortable after feeds whether or not you wind her.
Is there any harm in burping a baby for longer than needed?
No. Unlike swaddling, there's no safety deadline, and you'll simply stop getting burps, and she'll start objecting to being held over your shoulder.
Do babies need burping once they start solids?
Rarely. By then she sits upright in a high chair, which is itself the best burping position, so the posture does the job the routine used to.
Why is my six-month-old still windy?
Usually new foods, fast drinking or a spouted sippy cup. Persistent wind with poor weight gain, ongoing diarrhoea, or blood or mucus in stools should be seen by a doctor.
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.