Fussiness and Gas in Five Week Old

Hello I had the same problem with my son I tried every thing that other parents told me. Until his doctor told me to give him 1oz.prunejuice and trust me it worked also buy gripe water it works it helped my son and now he's a happy baby good luck

Try the Mylicon gas drops (or the store brand equivilant which will be much cheaper)....you can buy them in any drug store or supermarket....they worked wonders for both my kids!

Hi K.,

I went through the same thing with my daughter and nighttime was the worst. We switched to Neutramagin and she was a different baby. Also, I own a childcare center and some of the infants with reflux or gas are drinking their formula mixed with Gripe water. I have one little boy who was so colicky and with the Nutramagin and Gripe water he is doing great. Sometimes you have to give the formula change a week to see a difference by the time they get the old formula out of their system. My son was colicky, and also suffered from constipation and I would give him Chamomile Tea with a pinch of sugar and it would really help. I would of course check with your doctor. Sometimes Karo syrup with water can help with gas and constipation. These are old fashioned remedies, my kids are 24 and 20 so they way things change I would check with your doctor before trying anything. I am not sure how you feel about using a pacifier but for me it was a life saver. It really helped with the colic and gas. Good luck it will get better.

I've done all these things long before when my baby was extremely fussy getting me crazy but babies magic tea did great and my son is now a nice guy with no gas and colic.

My 2nd child was extremely sensitive to EVERYTHING and feedings made her scream with pain. We tried many different formulas both milk and soy. The doctor wanted us to use nutramegin (sp?) but its very expensive. we tried the Carnation formula which claims to process its protein smaller than others and it was a huge success. I would recommend trying it before you resort to Nutramegin because of the cost. I believe they'll send you a sample if you can't get one from your doctor. Good luck.

Have you tried Mylocen Drops...they sell over the counter in any baby aisle. My cousin recommended them to me when we went through this with my daughter, they were a life saver. It's just a couple of drops at each feeding. It was too long before she didn't need them at all. My MD suggested Enfamil because it has a finer consistency then most formulas. We also had the best luck with Playtex Ventaire. Good Luck!

I had the same problem with my son. He is 3 months now. I tried a few different drops but nothing really helped. Then I started trying some baby yoga moves. They are just some simple moves on his back. Well it made a night and day difference. When he starts to get fussy I do the moves and he usually passes some gas or he ends up pooping a few minutes later. But for him it like instant relief.

My son had these problems and at about 6 weeks we put him on SOY formula. It helped. We also used a lot of mylicon. He liked different bouncing positions too that seemed to ease his discomfort and honestly we slept in a cradle swing for A LONG time b/c it seems just laying flat in the crib made him very uncomfortable. Someone suggested Dr Harvey Karps video - its The Happiest Baby on the Block. I suggest that too b/c whatever was going on, I swear that video changed my life and helped with my baby. On a side note - I was in the hospital for 6 days when my son was born - by day 3 one of the nurses came in and actually said, "you need to take your baby b/c he won't stop crying and we've never had a baby cry so loud like this on our floor" HELLO - first time mom, I thought it was all normal but now that my son is two and I see how other babies act as newborns and infants I am SHOCKED. Clearly my son was not your typical baby. So these are the things that helped me.

Try feeding her in an upright position and be sure to burp her every 2 minutes or more often if necessary. She will complain, but its necessary to expel all the gas. Also make sure the nipple isnt too big which would cause her to get too much too fast.
Dont despair, she will outgrow this very soon.

I have an almost 8 week old and she goes through the exact same thing. But she is my 2nd so I have some input to share. By the way, isn't it inredibly annoying and frustrating to hear the doc's tell you how "normal" everything is all the time when it is indeed so serious and important to you?? Don't know if you've gotten to that point yet, but you probably will. There is so much that comes up with babies and I kid you not these docs seem clue-less, or at least in-put-less in most cases.

Anyway, what I suggest is "Gripe Water." It is a homeopathic remedy for basically any stomach related upset. Anything from hiccups to gas, etc. I don't know where you live, but this is now being sold even in major pharmacies like CVS. Or if you have a homeopathec pharmacy or nature foods store near you or something, they would have it. Usually what I do is a combo of a little bit of gas drop and some gripe water. The docs say that there is no scientific proof behind either and that Gripe water is just sugar water. Ask the real experts (other moms) and they will all (as I do) swear by Gripe water. I'm not a big believer in the gas drops but I do think they help a little so as I said earlier, I ususally do a bit of both (by using the dropper of the gas drops to get the gripe water).

My current baby is breastfed but also bottle fed expressed milk b/c I'm a working mom. Breastmilk is the ultimate best thing and yet my baby still does exactly what yours does (those little pushing sounds all the time, squirming and squiggling everywhere, will calm down if held and danced with basically but will cry again if set down and resume her struggle. Even when mine sleeps, I can hear her "pushing."). My point is that I wouldn't get too carried away trying to "solve" it with all the fancy and expensive formulas out there. Of course some might help more then others, but none are better then breastmilk yet my baby still has the same struggle as yours. Furthermore, I am a bit angry (for you) that your doc suggested Alimentum. Do you have ANY idea how expensive that is? My firstborn had to go on it because she had GERD (acid reflux) and like idiots we went and bought it all the time and were spending an average of $400 a month on it (aggh! still have crazy credit card debt because of it). I say I feel like an idot now because I realize now that it really wasn't that serious and I could've just as much gotten away with a less expensive formula. I just let my new mom anxiety drive me to be a good little girl and follow doc's orders. Really, my 1st born is fine and although it's true she had GERD, now I've talked to so many moms with children who had much worse cases yet got by with other formulas and combos of stuff.

Anyway, back to the current baby. To begin with, I accept that this is a normal part of her development (stomach system-wise) and doesn't need a "cure." Secondly, I don't just passively accept it since I do help her with the Gripe Water, gas drops and massage. Massage your baby's tummy in the direction of digestion and pull her legs up in a circular motion to help her relief some of the pressure. Try all obvious combonations of helping her burp (don't just stay stuck on repeating one method), try the swing b/c that always seems to help when all else failed with either of mine and just brace yourself to bear through it. You have some tools in your pocket (that I've suggested) and the combo of all these things will help tremendously. Also, I went through just about every formula and bottle type with my 1st born and the end result is that hands-down the playtex drop-ins were best. In addition to its help by design, using clean fingers; squeeze open the nipple and with your other hand push up the plastic and it will release the little excess air that is there.

The only time to really worry about GERD or any other intestional stuff etc is if your baby withdraws significantly from eating or is throwing up a serious amount of food (sounds like she's not). SO try all the above, breathe, relax and let your daughter's body keep developing because it is. Also, you may cause her to get constipated with all the formula changing. If so, use a glycerin thing and it will help. If it gets extremely bad and you're bold enough to try it, many moms swear by a teaspoon of Karo syrup. But bottom line is that you did right by e-mailing this group and you will continue to do well by goign "underground" for real solutions b/c docs hands are really tied about what they can suggest do to limitations on what our regs allow them to try. Best wishes, N.

I would suggest trying the Enfamil Gentlease and also using the gas drops as your first step. The label explains why it is different than regular formula. good luck!

Hi K.,
My first son was allergic to milk and soy formulas (we used similac brand too). He spit up blood on the soy! We went to Alimentum and made a big difference! Also, with the Mylicon, we gave it straight from the dropper not in a feeding. We should've bought stock in it because we used so much of it for my first son - it really helped. Didn't read the other responses, may be repeating what they said. Been in your boat,just wanted you to know, I know how frustrating/frightening it can be. Good luck

Hi K..
So sorry to hear about your LO's stomach issues. Sounds very similar to my experience with my LO (now 8 months old) - it's so hard to deal with when they don't feel good. He was gassy from the get-go (the hospital nursery ladies lovingly nicknamed him "stinky". I was breastfeeding for a while but he was having a bad reaction (regardless of me changing my diet) to it, so we switched to formula and it made a world of difference.

Devon has been on Alimentum (the "nicer" tasting of the two hypoallergenic formulas - be forewarned if you go there, it's not pleasant tasting/smelling - but it works) and it has been a godsend with treating his gassiness and acid reflux (silent: no spitting up, just acid going up and down his esophagus, real nice). He was intolerant of milk protein (and possibly soy, since it's almost all I drank while I was pregnant and nursing - I haven't yet tried it with him directly).

It's really good that you got off the Advance - that's the hardest formula out there for sensitive babes. Good Start formulas are made with partially hydrolyzed "comfort proteins" (gentle 100% whey protein that's broken down into smaller, easy-to-digest protein). They say that 100% whey partially hydrolyzed protein empties from babies' tummies faster than other routine formulas, which may help reduce the potential for spitting up. This might be a good bet for you if it's just gassiness. Similac also makes "Sensitive" - which might be one for you to check out too.

You definitely need to determine the cause - if it's just gassiness, you can go with one of the sensitive, broken down formulas. Devon was gassy, but he wasn't spitting up, he was screaming/crying almost all day every day, so we knew it was something besides just gas - he was in a lot of pain. Alimentum (and eventually, Prevacid - though he's been off that for a month and all good, thank god) has been our saving grace.

We use Born Free bottles that also seem to work really well (they have a venting system that removes bubbles/air) against gas.

We took Devon to a gastro when he was about 4 months old - and she determined it was more than just an immature digestive system/colic/whatever - so, it's not a bad thing to have an additional viewpoint. We had a sonogram done on his belly to make sure everything was alright in there. Totally painless - and glad we got it done.

A few other things you can do:

- keep her upright for about 15 mins after she drinks and really do try to make sure she burps once or twice after/during each feeding.
- "bike" her legs to get some gas out
- prop her mattress so she isn't lying totally flat
- if trying new formulas, make sure to make the switch a mostly gradual thing so you can see what kind of reaction she has to the new one and so she has a chance to get used to it. Unless she's having such a bad reaction to one type that you just need to make a full-on switch altogether. That gradual thing (1 oz of new to 4-5 oz of old/bottle) is more for when she's been on something that works and you're ready to try a less senstive/more milk-like product.

Hang in there and take it one day at a time.
Good luck!!!
M.

We first started supplementing breast milk with Similac when I returned to work because I couldn't pump enough for her and encountered this same problem. Our peditrician suggested Enfamil Gentlease which worked!

Hi K.
A baby's fussiness, anywhere from 5-8 weeks, will peak. There cries become louder, there GI system is working really hard and this coincides with more wakefulness. So, what you are describing is very common, in fact universal. From working with hundreds of moms, some of the things that I recommend are viewing 1. Harvey Karps DVD, 2.giving concrete tools to help settle your baby, 3. infant massage, 4. keeping your baby somewhat upright after feeding, 5. swaddle,swaddle, swaddle for soothing and certainly for sleeping. 6. Give changes or new things 3-5 days to see if they are making a/the difference, 7. take shifts with your partner, if possible, 8. take note of time of day baby is fussiest. 9. consider a slightly earlier night time bed time. 10. when in doubt call your ped.
J. S., LMSW, CMT
www.momsupport.org
New Mother's Groups, Sleep Consultation, Infant Massage

HI! I had to switch my daughter to Alimentum from similac advantage after finding blood in her stool and very fussy/aggitated when feeding. Turned out she was allergic to the milk based product. Dr suggested skipping the isomil because about 15-20% of babies that are allergic to milk are also allergic to soy. She seems much better after the switch. Also found that the powder formula made her gassy even with the Alimentum. So have her on Alimentum "ready to feed". It did take a couple of weeks to see the difference after switching to the Alimentum. She was still gassy for a few weeks...guess the other formula had to make its way out of her system. I also switched her bottle from playtex to born free. Maybe use the Dr. Brown's only and not use the playtex??? My daughter does spit up and still passes gas quite often but she doesn't seem to be in pain like she was on the Advantage formula. Good Luck!!

Hi K.,

I hope you found some good solutions by now. No matter what, in my experience, gas and fussiness have nothing to do with babies swallowing air. That's something a little burping would take care of. It's always a food reaction. Even, GERD is a reaction to food. I wish doctors got more nutrition training in med school but that's another topic. I hope you found a good formula. Best, AM

My almost 3 year old had the same problem when he was an infant. His pediatrician recommended to try soy milk. And we did. He seemed to work great. He's been drinking soy milk ever since.

Hope this might help. Good luck!

Hi, K. here is a great resource for you if you consider doing this. Some of these moms had similar problems and started making their own forumula and started a support group. Here is the link to the article:

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-17146-Dallas-Womens-He...

I hope this helps:

T. Hall Parker
My Food Therapy
www.myfoodtherapy.com