Spit up
Also called spit-up, spitting up, spits up, spit-ups, spitter, happy spitter, spitty
Spit up is milk that flows back out of a baby's mouth during or after a feed, easily and often with a burp. It works as a verb, as in a baby spits up, and as a noun, often written spit-up.
How it's said
How do you tell the difference between spit up and throw up when they're little?
...I know the doctor says it's just a laundry problem, but she's not the one getting covered in spit up all day!
As a parent, chances are you've seen it or have even worn it on your shirt: spit-up!
Who says it
In the UK and Ireland the everyday word is posset, and Ireland's health service writes posseting (spitting up).
Not to be confused with
- Parents often ask how to tell spit up from throw up. Pediatric guides call spitting up the easy flow of stomach contents out of the mouth, and vomiting the forceful throwing up of them.
Where it came from
Spit up is a phrasal verb that also became a noun. A 2008 post on the language blog Separated by a Common Language glossed the British posset as mostly American spit up, used as a noun or a verb depending on where the stress falls.
Doctors have their own names for it. The American Academy of Pediatrics' parent site calls spitting up gastroesophageal reflux, or GER, and pediatric guides use happy spitter for a baby who spits up but keeps growing and seems content.