Gassy Baby - Pittsburgh,PA

It is very frustrating, but totally normal. It probably took my son until he was 4-5 months old before the gas totally went away. Are you exclusively breastfeeding, or or is she getting some milk from bottles? My son only liked the dr. brown bottles. Pacifiers can also cause them to swollow a lot of air, along with crying. So it might not be something in the milk.

Baby massage helped my son a lot-- lots of work on the bottom of the feet and on the tummy. There are videos that can teach you how to do it.

THis WILL get better!

I've never heard of reflux causing gas . . . . When I was pumping/bottle feeding, my son had gas - we tried gripe water, that helped with burping, but not the other end. I tried eliminating foods from my diet, but I don't think I did that well enough, because I learned later on that they have to be eliminated for at least 2wks.

After every feeding, I would try the bicycle legs, winding the legs (clockwise), rubbing tummy area clockwise, etc.

Good luck!

Is it actually bothering her or is it just some gas? If it is causing her pain, try bicycling her legs to soothe her tummy. I also used to put a hand towel in the microwave for a little bit and use it warm on my son's tummy. He liked that.

my little boy was very gassy and i too nurse. he began at week 2, my pediatrition put him on 1 ml of zantac 2 times a day. (it doesnt taste very good has a strong peppermint taste & smell, but if you go to a private owned pharmacy they flavor very well, i go to curtis pharmacy in washington, pa; giant eagle, cvs, walgreens dont mask the flavor even if they put a flavor in it). i also cut out all dairy for the 1st 3 months. my son is now 5 mths old, still on zantac & i am gradually adding dairy. he is doing very well. it does take some time for it to go through the system, zantac took 2 weeks and dairy took about 4. hope this helps.

wow i know what you are going through! my daughter is now a year old and she was gassy up until she was 7 months old. we tried evrything mylicon drops to sugar water everything but nothing helped! i feel for you and i am not quite sure on what to say to do! good luck

Her little tummy just isn't mature enough...definitely recommend the mylicon drops before every feeding. You can give her a lot (I forget how much but it is on the packaging). Mine is 6 months and still has issues so the drops are just a regular part of her routine.

Formula will probably be worse, especially if she has an dairy problems! Does eczema or asthma run in yours or your partner's family? If so, its even more likely to be dairy. You could try having lactose free products, but I think you need to be free of whatever allergen is bothering her/you for at least 6 weeks for it to get completely out of your system. So tough.

If there's no asthma or eczema in your family, it could be other 'allergen' foods such as soy, or wheat, or citrus, but cutting things out does get really difficult unless you live next to a terrific health food store with lots of alternatives such as rice pasta, goat milk etc. My son had the same, and just gradually grew out of it, but not until around 1.5 years. Its a long time, and the resulting sleepless nights were the pits, but if you are trying everything you can, then at some point you just have to accept this is the way it is! Its all worth it in the end. The only other things to try (which I did, with some eventual success) are homeopathy and/or cranio-sacral osteopathy. I live in the UK now though, so can't recommend anyone, and I'm not even sure cranio-sacral therapy is called the same thing in the states. If you look it up on the internet, you should be able to make some headway.

Also, you could try to take a look at yourself for clues - are you stressed? Are you having gas yourself etc., and/or could you be sensitive to any foods? It took me a while to realise that I was pretty gassy, and so was my son, and when they are that little, they are so connected to, and affected by us. Mine is almost 2 and still breastfeeds, but we're both so much better now through figuring out what bothers us. Wheat bothers me, and milk bothers him, so I'm off wheat and he's off milk (but since I only nurse him morning and evening, me having limited dairy products doesn't seem to hurt).

When they are as young as yours, they sort of live vicariously through us in a way, almost as if they were still attached and inside. If you try to relax and rest yourself as much as possible, eat things you know are easy to digest (cooked vegetables, fish, pulses, whole grain rice, yogurt etc) then maybe your baby will get quicker faster than mine did. Its all a journey, we all do it differently, and boy do we learn a lot along the way! Good luck.

use the gripe water on you too any one can take it.
good luck
T.

I can empathize completely with your situation. I have to say that dairy and grains (wheat) are the number one cause of this kind of thing in my experience. My oldest daughter was like this when she was an infant. I remember that it took me weeks of eliminating ALL dairy before I noticed a difference. And later found out it can take 8 weeks for it to flush completely out of your system. I thought I was doing everything I could too. It took time.

Some other suggestions that aren't dietary: When you're nursing, be sure to check that she has a good seal as she could be taking in a lot of air that way. Also, if you nurse on both sides, be certain that she is getting both the fore milk and the hind milk. Too much fore milk will cause a baby to be very gassy. Allow her to nurse one one side for a good amount of time, even if she pulls off at some point. She could just need a burping. Also, burping between sides is essential. I found it much easier to nurse on one side at a time ensuring that my little ones got a full complement of milk and I only needed to burp them the one time after they finished a breast.

Gripe water is wonderful stuff. I know you mention that she's not seeing much relief with it. Any relief is good and the fact that she's still gassy even after proper feeding, burping and the gripe water would suggest that it is somehow diet related. Also, at this age her dosage of gripe water should have changed from when she was just over a month old, if I remember correctly. Just check to be sure you are accurately dosing. Hylands makes a gas relief tablet that I found worked well, too.

I certainly agree that staying away from the reflux theory is essential as most Dr's are quick to label infants with this diagnosis now and put them on meds they don't need. But as I'm sure you're finding out, dietary changes take time and must be complete eliminations to work effectively.

Megan is right on with her bicycle legs suggestion as well. Anything you can do to help work out any of the gas should help provide her with some relief. Keep up the good work, mommy.

Blessings,
Rolinda

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My daughter, now 16 mos, was the same way. I was concerned not only because of painful gas after she nursed, but also over the course of several months and a few doctor visits she also had a few bloody stools. The doctor finally at 7 months referred us to a pediatric gastrointenologist who did a stool test. It came back positive for a dairy allergy and I was put on a restricted diet of no dairy, citrus, soy, eggs or nuts. I was told that generally a dairy allergy is outgrown around 9 months and sure enough I was on the restricted diet for 2 months. It also helped that by then she was being introduced to other food sources besides breastmilk. I was able to start eating normally again and I gradually introduced dairy and other items back into her diet. It was difficult to do for the 2 months but I saw a dramatic change in her gassiness and loose stools and she was a much happier baby. Now she eats everything but, sometimes if she has too much dairy in a day she may have a loose stool but overall she's fine. I hope this information helps you to make a decision in what to do with your little one.

Not sure as to why but my daughter is 7 months and I had the same problem. As well as a girlfriend of mine with a 4 month old. I would suggest working through it as frustrating as it is. My daughter started doing much much better after I started her on solid foods at 4 months.

How is your diet? have you tried a product called Gripe water? You and your baby can take this......I highly recommend it

I have to 2nd the response you got about dairy. My pediatrician said that it can take weeks or even MONTHS for the dairy to clear out of your milk. So you have to stop it all together, for a month or two, then evaluate if it’s made any difference. It did make a difference for my son. I’ve been off dairy all together (I try to even avoid stuff that is made with a lot of butter like croissants) since he was about a week old. He’s now five and a half months. I’ve “tested” a few times, trying a few bites of something with dairy in it and he always ends up being gassy again for a few days afterwards, so I know for sure that it’s the dairy.

I know that dairy is a very hard thing to totally give up. Especially after going through pregnancy where it seems like everything you want to eat is off limits! But it has been worth it for my son.

The only thing though is that I’m now having some supply issues, so I’m wondering if that’s because I’m not getting enough calcium. I am going to start taking a calcium supplement and I wish I had taken one from the start--- might be a good idea if you are going to cut out dairy.

try the baby mylicon drops or the generic of it. give it to her before or after you nurse her. some babies are just gassy. make sure to burp her good after you feed her. do the legs in a bicycle motion and rub her tummy counter clockwise motion.

ALL babies have gas!! Everyone has gas. It just bothers some more than others. My son was gassy as well, and the gripe water did not help him either really. I found the best things to do were to keep him upright for 20min after each nursing session, lightly massaging his belly and/or using a warm compress, burping him VERY well, and doing the "bicycle" with his legs. While I was holding him upright, I would also rub his lower back with the base of my palm, I think this helped break up the gas too (not sure if it's a proven thing, but it helped mine!).
I had the zantac from the doc too, and after I tasted it I could not give it to him. It's gross! I am glad he did not have anything bad enough to need it.
Also, keep her swaddled when she is sleeping, and when she starts to cry and you think it is gas, put your hand on her belly and apply a tiny bit of pressure, this may help ease her. Good luck! :)

Try Bubbly B-Gone it's a natural method, also you can try grip water or Chamomile tea. I would avoid broccoli, onions, and different gassy foods.