I have often recommended brief burp breaks when babies are no longer swallowing rhythmically and/or getting fidgety on the breast.  For first time moms, it gives them an opportunity to get used to handling their babies.  It also helps them to get used to the notion that figuring out what to do for THEIR baby involves a lot of observation and trial and error.

I find brief burp breaks even if the baby doesn't burp can be very helpful for waking up a sleepy baby that really wasn't done yet or for helping a baby who was uncomfortable digest a bit.  I always tell mothers to stop doing it if their baby never burps and doesn't seem to need it and keep doing it if their baby seems to need it. There are some babies who feed very rhythmically and never seem to get fidgety at all and I don't recommend burps for those babies.  

I never read this in a book, just learned it from watching babies.  I personally believe that when parents try for 30 minutes to get a burp up that it was not their efforts that got the burp up - its that the baby needed that amount of time for the burp to work its way up.  So for exhausted parents and babies who take a long time to burp I recommend baby wearing.

As for overactive milk ejection - I recommend it when the baby seems to need to and benefit from a burp.  Usually these babies are very fidgety.  On the other hand, some babies are completely capable of taking themselves off - and not going back on until they are ready.  Since many moms think that they have to put the baby back on, the solution is sometimes merely leaving the baby alone to self attach when ready. Most of the time, just allowing the milk to spray while the baby waits or hand expressing a little is much less complicated than trying to dig out the pump to syphon off some set amount before putting he baby back on. Also, it is pretty hard to attend to a fussy baby when you are pumping even with a hands free pumping bra.

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