Burping
Julie Followell
Belching is commonly known as burping. It's your body's way of expelling excess air from your upper digestive tract. Most belching is caused by swallowing excess air. This air most often never even reaches the stomach but accumulates in the esophagus.
An important part of feeding a baby is burping. Burping helps to get rid of some of the air that babies tend to swallow during feeding. Not being burped often and swallowing too much air can make a baby spit up, or seem cranky or gassy.
If your baby seems fussy while feeding, stop the session, burp your baby, and then begin feeding again. Try burping your baby every 2 to 3 ounces (60 to 90 milliliters) if you bottle-feed and each time you switch breasts if you breastfeed.
In humans, burping can be caused by normal eating processes, or as a side effect of other medical conditions. There is a range of levels of social acceptance for burping: within certain context and cultures, burping is acceptable, while in others it is offensive or unacceptable. Failure to burp can cause pain or other negative effects.
Humans are not the only animals that burp: it is very common among other mammals. In particular, burping by domesticated ruminants, such as cows or sheep, is a major contributor of methane emissions and may have a negative effect on the environment. Significant research is being done to find mitigation strategies for ruminant burping, i.e. modifying the animals' diets with Asparagopsis taxiformis (red seaweed).[1]
In microgravity environments, burping is frequently associated with regurgitation, known as wet burping. With reduced gravity, the stomach contents are more likely to rise up into the esophagus when the gastroesophageal sphincter is relaxed, along with the expelled air.[8]
In Japan, burping during a meal is considered bad manners.[17] Burping during a meal is also considered unacceptable in Western cultures, such as North America and Europe.[16] In Middle Eastern countries, it is not acceptable to burp out loud in public, and one should silence one's burp, or at least attempt to do so.[citation needed]
Despite virtually no scientific research on the subject, small online communities exist for burping as a sexual fetish.[18] Online, both men and women of any sexual orientation anecdotally report some attraction to burping, with what appears to be psychological and/or behavioural overlaps with other sexual fetishes including body inflation, feederism, vorarephilia, and farting fetishes.[19] Anecdotally, the 'loudness' aspect appears to be an important element to burp fetishists. Despite being a rather uncommon fetish,[20] it continues to follow a general well-known pattern of sexual behaviour where hearing influences sexual arousal and response, noting that "it is the noise made rather than the action itself that appears to be what is sexualized and/or interpreted by the fetishist as sexually pleasurable and arousing".[19]
Babies are likely to accumulate gas in the stomach while feeding and experience considerable discomfort (and agitation) until assisted. Burping an infant involves placing the child in a position conducive to gas expulsion (for example against the adult's shoulder, with the infant's stomach resting on the adult's chest) and then lightly patting the lower back. Because burping can cause vomiting, a "burp cloth" or "burp pad" is sometimes employed on the shoulder to protect clothing.[21]
Much of the gas expelled is produced as a byproduct of the ruminant's digestive process. These gases notably include a large volume of methane, produced exclusively by a narrow cohort of methanogenic archaea in the animal's gut; Escherichia coli (E. coli) and other bacteria lack the enzymes and cofactors required for methane production. A lactating cow produces about 322g of methane per day,[25] i.e. more than 117 kg per year through burping and exhalation, making commercially farmed cows a major (37%)[26] contributor to anthropogenic methane emissions, and hence to the greenhouse effect. 95% of this gas (wind) is emitted through burping.[27] This has led scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation of Perth, Australia, to develop an anti-methanogen vaccine to minimize methane in cow burps.[28]
One reason why cows burp so much is that they are often fed foods that their digestive systems cannot fully process, such as corn and soy. Some farmers have reduced burping in their cows by feeding them alfalfa and flaxseed, which are closer to the grasses that they had eaten in the wild before they were domesticated.[29]
Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare efficacy of burping versus no-burping in 71 mother-baby dyads in community setting. Primary outcome was reduction in event rates of colic and regurgitation episodes over 3 months.
Results: Baseline characteristics were similar in two groups. Difference in incidence rates of colic between the control and burping group was 1.57 episodes/infant/100 weeks [95% confidence interval (CI): -0.63 to 3.76]. There was statistically no significant reduction in colic episodes between burping and non-burping study subjects during 3 months of follow-up (adjusted relative risk 0.64; 95% CI: 0.22-1.86, P-value 0.41). Incidence rate difference of regurgitation episodes/infant/week between burping and control group was 4.36 (95% CI: 4.04 to 4.69) and there was statistically significant increase in burping group (adjusted relative risk 2.05; 95% CI: 1.92-2.18, P-value < 0.0001).
Conclusions: Although burping is a rite of passage, our study showed that burping did not significantly lower colic events and there was significant increase in regurgitation episodes in healthy term infants up to 3 months of follow-up.
Occasional burping, or belching, is normal, especially during or after meals. Everyone swallows air throughout the day. If you swallow too much at once, it may create discomfort and cause you to burp, explains William Ravich, MD, a Yale Medicine GI physician and specialist in swallowing disorders and esophageal disease.
Kaur, R., Bharti, B., & Saini, S. (2015). A randomized controlled trial of burping for the prevention of colic and regurgitation in healthy infants. Child: Care, Health and Development, 41(1), 52-56.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A 13-year-old was handcuffed and hauled off to a juvenile detention for burping in class, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed against an Albuquerque public school principal, a teacher and a city police officer.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the unnamed seventh grader was arrested last May 11 at Cleveland Middle School after he "burped audibly" in his P.E. class. "Criminalizing of the burping of a thirteen-year-old boy serves no governmental purpose," the lawsuit said. "Burping is not a serious disruption, a threat of danger was never an issue."
The lawsuit alleges the boy was transported to the juvenile center without his parents being notified. It also says he was denied his due process rights because he was suspended for the rest of that school year without "providing him an explanation of the evidence the school claimed to have against him." He was not allowed to call witnesses or defend himself against the burping allegation.
Although belching is a physiological process, various conditions may lead to or cause excessive belching or burping, usually conditions that involve the stomach, duodenum, gallbladder, and esophagus. It may also be caused by lifestyle and dietary factors, such as the type of food eaten and the method of eating.
A hiatal hernia is a condition that involves the extension of a portion of the stomach through the esophageal hiatus into the chest cavity. This alters the passage of food into the stomach and disrupts the mechanisms needed to prevent the backflow of stomach acid into the esophagus. In this case, periods of burping tend to come and go according to the stomach's changing position.
Similar to the bacterial infection of the stomach, the small intestine can also sometimes be affected by bacterial overgrowth that may lead to excessive belching. Small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) usually affects the duodenum, which can lead to the production of gas and burping.
Bacterial infections of the stomach, such as Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), can lead to gas production and release from the stomach. As such, it may contribute to burping to some extent, although the volume of gas is thought to be slight. However, the bacterial infection also leads to an increase in the stomach's acidity, which can also contribute to the accumulation of gas and, hence, burping.
Indigestion of or intolerances to certain foods can also contribute to excessive belching. This is because the nutrients remain in the gut for consumption by bacteria, which produces gas as a byproduct. Common intolerances associated with frequent burping include lactose intolerance, gluten intolerance, fructose malabsorption, and sorbitol malabsorption.
I have a problem with burping a lot lately. I've tried to eliminate certain foods but it doesn't stop the burping. My doctor prescribed some heartburn medication but it didn't help. The only times it stops is when my stomach is full or I'm sleeping. I've also gotten the hiccups a lot more than usual (don't know if that is related). Any suggestions?
Burping more than normal may also be a symptom of a more serious condition. Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, affects about five to seven percent of the population, and while heartburn is the main symptom of GERD, belching can be another. Sometimes burping too much is also associated with peptic ulcers (sores in the lining of the stomach or intestines); in fact, having GERD may be a cause of stomach ulcers. For more information on GERD, sometimes called simply gastric reflux, check out Gastric reflux in the Go Ask Alice! archives.
In those first few months, babies may need your help with burping. Keep this in mind: burping is needed when air is taken in through the mouth. This is generally associated with either eating or crying, which means it would be very rare for a baby to wake in the night needing to burp. Instead, the need to burp typically happens after feeding or bouts of crying. If you suspect gas issues are waking your little one, try these tips for a gassy baby.
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