How to burp an infant – a prospective comparative pilot study on four different methods

Abstract

Objective: To compare the effects of four methods of infant burping. Patients and Methods: A prospective systematically allocated comparative pilot study performed by a physician on paternity leave on two healthy twin girls. Burping was attempted with one of four different methods, each applied every fourth day; 1. Supported sitting, 2. Sitting with gentle rocking, 3. Supported with the chest against the investigator’s shoulder, 4. The shoulder position with gentle patting on the infant’s back. Outcome measures were burping, time to burping and vomiting. Results: Of 660 attempts over 52 days, 493 (74.7%) resulted in burping. No significant difference in the rate of burping was found between the four methods (p=0.198). Time to burping was significantly different between the groups (p<0.01,) with the sitting method resulting in the shortest average time to burping of 89.5 seconds. The shoulder positions resulted in significantly higher frequency of moderate to large amount vomiting compared to the sitting positions (19.8% vs 11.5%, p<0.01, OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.16 to 3.14). Conclusions: No significant effect of position on the likelihood of burping was found. Using the sitting position appears to be the fastest way to induce burping and may prevent moderate to large vomiting in one out of twelve episodes compared to a shoulder position. Although statistically significant, this difference is unlikely to be of clinical relevance for healthy infants. Further studies on the effects of different methods of burping are needed on infants suffering from gastroesophageal reflux, failure to thrive or dehydration.