Home DigestiveBurping How to Stop Burping in Adults Immediately

How to Stop Burping in Adults Immediately

by Dr. Joe Morales

Burping so much can give you a bad breath and make you uncomfortable. Acid reflux, some foods, drugs, pregnancy and even anxiety can cause you to have smelly burps. Below, learn how to stop burping immediately with home remedies and treatments.

Burping, also called belching is the act of expelling air from the stomach through the mouth. It usually occurs when the stomach distends, or expands because of too much swallowed air. Belching releases the air to reduce the distention.

How to stop burping immediately

Burping and belching a foul rotten egg smell can make you uncomfortable.

Can’t stop burping? (Meaning)

It is a normal way in which the body to get rid of excess air that is swallowed from the mouth while eating or during some point in life. It is however accompanied with flatulence and other stomach problems like diarrhea and stomach upsets. Both babies and adults burp.

So what does it mean when you can’t stop burping? Even though belching and burping are a natural body function and can be socially acceptable in some cultures as a sign of appreciation for a good meal, they can also be inconvenient, too frequent, loud, or just bothersome and could make you stay on the social sidelines.

Causes of continuous burping

Generally, the food that you eat, the status of your body, i.e. pregnancy could be the risk factors of you having the episodes of burping from time to time. Similarly, anxiety has a way it influences or leads to burping.

Eating should always be coordinated and slow. Hurried eating could first of all lead to you swallowing pockets of air. This in the long run pre-exposes you to burping. Similarly, if you eat in a hurry, you are likely to have improper chewing of food that leads to indigestion. In the long run, there is distention of the stomach and hence burping.

Frequent yawning

Yawning is a common phenomenon that signifies boredom, fatigue or even sleepiness. The end result of frequent yawning is galloping air which finds its way to the stomach or the lungs. The end result is smelly and uncontrolled burping.

Anxiety

Regarding anxiety, which is a psychiatric disorder, there is a very big connection to burping. The connection involves the aspect of swallowing air during the stressful situations. The University of Michigan Health System states that when you have anxiety, you are likely to swallow air as a way of coping with the situation.

The large amounts of air that is swallowed returns to the esophagus to the mouth and produce a belch finally. This air may also be passed through the digestive system and then eliminated as gas. The burping process may or may not be voluntary.

During pregnancy, you are likely to have a dilemma when it comes to digestion. The rate at which the digestive system breaks down your food is slowed down to some extent. As a result, there might be accumulation of gas in the stomach that pushes you to constantly belch.

Why are my burps smelly?

There are so many explanations that can be put forward to explain the smell of garlic, rotten eggs or acid reflux that comes out from burps. The outline below tries to point out some of the research findings and explanations to smelly burps.

  • The first suspect of bad breath in your burp is the presence of undigested food in the stomach. The food with time starts to ferment and finally it can cause foul smell. Proper swallowing is therefore what you should practice.
  • The other likely reason is the presence of a gas that is formed in the digestive tract when you eat food. The gas is mostly hydrogen sulfide. It is produced when you eat sulfur containing foods. When the food is metabolized in the stomach and intestines, hydrogen sulfide is produced.
  • On the other hand, excess bile can also lead to the foul smell. The bile has a sulfuric acid taste when it is present in the digestive tract. This mostly happens when you eat a large meal at a time. In order to digest a large meal, the liver has to produce a huge amount of bile into the intestines. This will definitely lead to a stinky smell in your belch.

Some resident bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract can lead to the production of smelly burps. These include Helicobacter pylori and Giardia lamblia. H. pylori is the one that causes ulcers while G. lamblia leads to problems of the intestines like abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Some foods still could result into smelly burps, also called sulfur burpsTo reduce the smell, reduce the consumption of red meat, eggs, canned foods, dairy products, garlic, onion, sweet potatoes, asparagus, tomato, peas, broccoli and soy. Fruits like bananas, cashew nuts and coconuts should be limited. Beverages like tea and fizzy drinks should be limited.

On the other hand, some of the drugs that can be prescribed for you could make you to burp. They are the ones that mostly contain sulphur as a building block. Their consumption should be limited to a great extent and only taken when needed.

Still, having an empty colon could lead to an egg smelling burp. This may result from the conditions like irritable bowel syndrome. The good news is that irritable bowel syndrome is easy and cheap to manage and treat.

If you have problems with your bladder or you get your gall bladder removed due to one reason r the other, it can lead to unpleasantly smelling burps. Stress and anxiety can also make you burp a lot and for this case have smelly burp. Other symptoms could be acid reflux and hernia.

What age do you stop burping a baby?

Burping a baby to stop excessive bloating

Burping a baby to stop excessive bloating.

Before the age of three weeks of age, a baby needs to be helped to burp especially when halfway through a bottle of formula or when halfway through breastfeeding session. At exactly three weeks, a baby is usually able to finish a bottle or complete a breastfeeding without being burped in the middle. Many mothers burp their babies when switching breasts during a breastfeeding.

The age at which burping in babies can stop is variable from one baby to another. According to various reviews by mothers, the average age of a baby to stop burping is between four to nine months. In normal cases, you ought not to worry about the burping of your baby when they are able to sit up by themselves.

The reason is because the bubbles move up when they sit up and move around and therefore they are able to do it on their own without your assistance. Children are different though. Therefore, you should always be there to help when they are unable to burp.

Babies who have a lot of gas production will need to be burped for some time until they are old enough to do it on their own. Usually, your baby will guide you as to when they are comfortable and you need to stop burping them.

How to stop burping now, immediately

The first and initial remedy to stop burping now or immediately is to take enough fluids. They will not only make you remain hydrated but also help you in the digestion of food. Drink a glass of warm water with added honey and lemon every morning. This will help to boost your digestion throughout the day. You also cut down on the consumption of alcohol and carbonated drinks.

To elaborate further, drinking fluids helps you to prevent bacterial infections in the stomach. When you drink a lot if water as well, you are likely to flush out toxins from your gut.

Apart from that, if the medications that you are taking contribute to this condition, then you could ask your doctor to give you an alternative one. The doctor could also give you bismuth subsalicylate. It bind to the hydrogen sulfide and this helps to safely get rid of the sulfur from the gut hence ridding you from the foul smell.

If you have a history of peptic ulcer disease, then you could visit a gastro-enterologist who will do a test for H. pylori. You will be put on a ten day course of a broad spectrum antibiotics. This will help you get rid of the smell by treating the underlying cause.

Also, you should avoid eating big portions, as well as food right before bedtime. Stomach stretching after a big meal puts the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), the muscle that keeps stomach acids from moving in the wrong direction, under lots of pressure.

Avoid eating fatty foods. Fatty foods take longer to digest and sit around in the stomach longer. This causes the stomach to produce more stomach acid, and relaxes the LES. This could lead to infection conditions in the gut.

Avoid excessive swallowing when nervous. Some people gulp air as a nervous habit, even without realizing it. On the other hand if you have a cold or flu that involves nasal drainage, sip water instead of habitually swallowing the drainage to keep it out of your lungs. You will gulp air along with it, resulting in chronic burping and possibly an upset stomach.

Home remedies for smelly burping

The first thing that you could do is to change the position. To do this, you can lie down on your side or with your knees raised until the gas passes out. There has been research also that when you sit up you are likely to relieve yourself from belching. Sitting in an upright position empties your gas from your stomach [University Hospital Vall d’Hebron, Autonomous University of Barcelona]

Still, you should ensure that you prevent consumption of foods with high levels of sugar. The reason is that they cause so much buildup of gas in the stomach. They include candies, ice creams, desserts and any other foods that are too sweet.

You should also ensure that you consume foods that are highly rich in fiber. They help to push the leftovers of foods in your stomach and intestines outside your body. Salads and fresh fruits would be ideal for you in this case. To add on that, you should always ensure that you eat fresh foods and limit as much as you can the processed foods since they may contain bacteria.

The other thing that you would do is ensure you watch your diet. Ensure you keep an eye on the type of food that you eat. Particularly, skip gas producing foods and carbonated drinks that release carbon dioxide gas. Similarly, do not chew so much gum, hard candy. Also, eat slowly and do not gulp so that you do not swallow air.

In addition, there is a behavioral therapy that can be used to counter this condition. In a 2007 study from the Sint Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands, researchers found that it is a behavioral disorder and can be cured by behavioral therapy or speech therapy.

The use of herbal matter has been in practice for quite a long time and proves to be very essential to rescue you from this dilemma. You could take a tea spoon of vinegar in a half cup of water once every day for about five days. It helps to stop the odor by digesting the slough that accumulate.

Ginger

Ginger is a home remedy for burping that is incredibly useful in various ways as you can use it in a marinade, seasoning or simply take it as a supplement. To prevent your body from producing excessive gas, try taking a supplement after every meal.

Another option to go about it is to brew and consume a cup of ginger tea every morning to reduce belching. Ginger tea is a great way to reduce the burping and soothe your digestive system at the same time.

Cardamom

Cardamom is as useful as ginger and it works by controlling your overactive stomach. This is very important as excessive muscle spasms can be a common reason for burping. You can try adding a bit of cardamom to your food or find a supplement.

You can also make it into a tea by boiling it in water for about 10 minutes and drinking it while warm. By reducing your stomach’s muscle spasms, it can help stop burping to a great extent.

Tea

To do this, you can start your day off by having a bit of tea. The reason as to why this herbal product is very essential is because of its antioxidant properties that will prevent the gases from accumulating within your stomach.

Apart from that, you can also try having some herbal tea after each meal to eliminate burps. The best option is to drink some chamomile tea after eating or right before bed to help improve digestion by getting rid of trapped gas much quicker.

Mint or clove

To have it as an option, you could take a glass of cold water and then add a few drops of essence of mint. If you have this every day for a period of two weeks, you will certainly notice a significant decrease in your burping.

On the other hand, peppermint tea is another option to provide the same effects by reducing your bowel’s spasmodic movements. One more option is to chew on a clover leaf right after eating a meal. The reason for this is because it will prevent indigestion and belching by suppressing the product of excess gas and soothing your digestive system.

Asafetida

Asafetida is a local Iran plant and is also known as stinking gum or devil’s dung. It can stop your body from producing excessive gas and therefore decreasing belching/burping. To reap the benefits, try adding a bit of it to warm water with a bit of salt and ginger powder.

To add on the above, Asafetida can also be used to flavor cabbage and other gaseous foods. You should keep it in an airtight and dry container as it smells strong.

Lemon is also a good remedy

Lemon and Baking Soda are very good combinations for the condition.

Recipe

  1. Take a glass of water and mix in a ¼ spoonful of baking soda and a tablespoon lemon juice.
  2. If you drink this after meals it can help digestion and reduce burping.

Good still, lemon Juice and Apple Cedar Vinegar could come to your rescue. Another option is to drink a glass of water with a teaspoon each of lime juice and apple cider vinegar and this will produce the same effects.

Better still, you could apply digestive enzymes

If you consume digestive enzymes, you are likely to lessen your gas intake and will have fewer problems with belching and bloating. Probiotics are good supplements to take as they replace bad bacteria with good bacteria in the colon. Taking digestive enzymes is especially helpful in older people who will have a decreased production of pancreatic enzymes and will have too many bad bacteria.

Wear loose clothes

Try to wear clothing that is comfortable and loose-fitting. Clothing that binds you around the waist will cause abdominal distention which in the long run will give you burping.

Always ensure that you are on the watch out to know what causes your burping. This is an effort to make sure that nothing worse is likely to take place. You should report persistent and disturbing burping for immediate medical attention. This is because you are likely to be a social misfit if the burping is smelly.

References and Sources

  1. http://www.healthline.com/health/belching
  2. https://healthunlocked.com/anxietysupport/posts/130312035/make-it-stop-please
  3. http://www.ourhealth.com/conditions/i-cannot-get-a-diagnosis/can-apos-t-stop-burping

Leave a Comment

2 comments

Shirley May 12, 2020 - 11:30 pm

Thanks, This was very helpful.

Reply
PAuline Stangeland Jun 27, 2020 - 8:54 pm

I have a lot of lung problems and take a lot of medicine. My burp doesn’t smell but I feel like burping almost all of the time and do. I am trying the drinking of water to see if that works. I don’t eat a lot of anything.

Reply