Between four and six months for most babies, and earlier for many. What nobody tells you is that you don't need permission, and that most families stop long before they admit it, mine included.
The signs she's done
There are four, and you'll probably notice the first before 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 even though you've offered. She settles fine after feeds without being winded. She can sit up on her own, which changes everything, because she now spends her day in a position that lets air out by itself. Her feeding has become efficient too: faster, calmer and with far less gulping than 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 |
Once you see any two of those together, you can stop offering routinely. Nothing bad happens if you stop early, because a baby who still needs it will be uncomfortable and will tell you, loudly.
How to stop
Simply stop. There's no weaning process here and nothing to taper.
I'd stop after the easy feeds first: the daytime ones, where she's alert and upright afterwards. Keep it a little longer for night feeds, when she's lying down and sleepy and the air has nowhere to go. Then drop those too, some week when you notice you've forgotten.
Keep it in reserve. If she has a windy day, or a feed goes badly, or she cried and gulped before a feed, sit her up for a minute. That way it stops being a routine and becomes something you do when it's needed, which is where it always belonged, though my mother's generation would never have agreed.
Before you stop
What solids change
Once she's eating solid food, sitting upright in a chair, the question mostly goes away.
She's upright during the meal and after it, she's swallowing food instead of drawing milk through a teat, and air simply doesn't build up the way it did. Milk feeds carry on alongside, and you may still get the odd burp after those, but none of it needs anything from you.
Some new wind comes from the other end as her gut gets used to new foods. That's a different subject with a different answer. It isn't burping, and holding her upright won't help it.
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Still windy after six months?
Then look at what's changed, because at that age the cause is something other than air swallowed during feeds.
- 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.
- Reflux, which rarely starts for the first time at this age but sometimes carries on from earlier.
- Excitement and crying at mealtimes, which puts air in exactly as it did when she was small.
See 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 just windy. Otherwise, wind on its own in a thriving child is a nuisance, 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.