When Will My Baby Stop Spitting Up?

Editor’s Note: This information is provided for knowledge only and does not substitute medical advice. Always consult your pediatrician if you are concerned about the health of your baby.

When will my baby stop spitting up? This simple question is one I googled countless times, asked in my new mom support groups, emailed my pediatrician about, and discussed with all of my mom friends.

I kept searching, crossing my fingers for a concrete answer that my baby would indeed eventually stop spitting up and that it would happen soon. I was tired of being covered in spit-up no matter how many times I changed my outfit. The same goes for my daughter—the number of outfits she soaked through each day felt unsustainable.

If you also have a baby that spits up a lot, the good news is that eventually, they will stop spitting up. The bad news is, it might not happen for a while.

The first thing to figure out is if it is what many refer to as either a baby problem or a laundry problem. A baby problem would mean that something out of the ordinary is causing the spit-up. Is your baby uncomfortable when they spit up or does it seem more like vomit than spit-up?

For these scenarios, or if your baby is spitting up so much that they are having trouble gaining weight, you will want to consult with your pediatrician.

If your baby is a “happy spitter” (as mine was and many babies are) and seems completely unbothered by the spit-up, then it’s a laundry problem. This type of spit-up is normal, even if it seems like a lot. Yes, it causes excessive loads of laundry, stains your clothes, and is annoying.

Source: @jaclynvoran

But it’s not much of a problem beyond that. And it’s one you’ll have to wait out.

In all of my searching and questioning, the standard answer, and the one provided by WebMD is that spitting up will stop or slow down around 4-5 months. Keep in mind, this is an estimate and doesn’t mean that the day your child turns 5 months, the spit-up will stop. It probably won’t. It may slow down around this time and will hopefully progressively get better.

This was the case for us. Around 5 or 6 months, my daughter started to spit up less and less each week. Instead of multiple huge spit-ups a day, it eventually dropped to one small spit-up a day. And some magical days, there was no spit-up at all! I could finally wear clothes I liked without the fear of being covered in spit-up and smelling like sour milk all day.

At 10 months now, there are a couple of spit-ups happening a week, but it is nowhere near the amount we were previously experiencing.

So even though the internet says around 5 months, don’t stress if your baby is still spitting up beyond that point. Take it one day and one laundry load at a time and know that it will eventually get better.