I like to put out some information on personal experiences that are not necessarily in a medical text book but I think might be helpful. Our family pediatrician once expressed to my wife and I, if he only new the secret to burping a baby – he’d be rich. The terrible feeling an infant has with little gas bubbles expanding their way through an immature digestive tract will make them cry if you didn’t get a good burp out of them after feeding.

I remember trying to burp my oldest daughter after many feedings. It seem to take so long. I placed her on my chest and patted her back with the hopes of a quick little burp, but it was only a hope.

I have a second daughter and I found a way to make her burp in less than a minute. It appears to be consistent too. Currently she’s 9 months old. I feed her an 8oz bottle but I only burp her half way through the feeding. As she gets to the end of the bottle she’s usually ready for a nap and the last thing I want to do is wake her up by tapping out a burp. So half way through the feeding I remove the bottle and gently lift her up with my hands holding her up under her armpits so her legs hang down. This allows the abdomen to stretch out. Any gas bubbles in the stomach will natural rise. In this position she sometimes gives me a cute smile but sometimes she appears a little uncomfortable as she hangs there. So I let her stand on my lap momentarily and then gently lift her up again. I do this several times slowly. I often get a burp right away. If I don’t get a burp then I just sit her sideways on my lap and tap her back and in movements I get a burp. I believe when you lay her on your chest you could be putting pressure on the top of her stomach impeding any gas bubbles form rising up and out. By allowing her torso and legs to stretch out I figure it more easily allows gas bubbles to rise. It works for me every time. You also really need to listen for the burp because sometimes it doesn’t sound like much at all and could be easily missed. This turns the sometimes challenging event into a simple moment. After the successful burping moment and feeding she sleeps like a baby. And so do I!