Hi moms! My 3 month old son has had a lot of gas the past 3-4 weeks, to the point of him screaming. He has even gone as far as not breastfeeding :(
I have been giving him Gripe Water & that seems to pacify him, but I would love to find out the problem & solve it rather than keep pacifying him. At daycare, he usually has 2 feedings of pumped breastmilk & then any others similac advanced formula. I have received 2 cans of the similac sensitive & was wondering how I would go about trying that out to see if that helps his gas & cramping? I know when I first talked to his pediatrician about formulas, he told me to pick one & stick with it, but would that just be brand? These last 2 days seem to have gotten worse, his screams are loud piercing ones that scare me, but once you put him in a sitting position rather than a laying down one, he is all smiles. I just dont know what to do.......
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I hate seein my lil boy like this :(
Thank you to everyone for their responses. I have decreased my dairy intake and that seems to have helped quite a bit. :)
Use Mylicon Infant Gas drops.
That worked for my daughter as a baby. She had BAD gas pains.
And she rarely farted or burped, though I tried.
Their organs are still developing, as well.
Burp your baby. Often.
Bicycle his legs, massage his tummy in circular motions.
Or, does he have Reflux????
And monitor what you are eating. That can cause gas, too.
I'm sorry you are experiencing this! I know the feeling of juggling with formula! My now 15 month old was started on Similac (this is what was used in the hospital)...and I breastfed only for the first month (it didn't work out for us...I wasn't producing enough and he wasn't gaining)..On the Similac he would drink fine, but spit up A LOT! Sometimes it seemed like the whole bottle...I talked to our ped. about it, and since she never actually saw him spit up, she said he was fine and advised me to not switch. (And he was gaining weight...I just felt bad he was spitting up so much...but being my first baby, I wasn't sure and listened to his ped.) It wasn't until last Fall when there was a recall on Similac...I then switched to Gerber Good Start...he did sooo much better on it. Hardly ever spit up...it seemed less "foamy"...definitely a different consistency...the recall was the best thing that happened to us. I strongly believe that certain formulas are better than others for each baby. If you are feeling the need to try a different one, I say go for it...I wish I had gone with my instinct and switched earlier...good luck!!
My son went through this for MONTHS every night he'd wake up in full blown pain screams. I called my mom and she said it's probably gas make him fennel tea. It will start working within minutes!!!
It's worth the cost of the jar it works!
FENNEL TEA
take 2-3 fennel seeds (you can get a jar in spice isle it will last years) boil 1/2 cup water soak the seeds just like making tea. put 1/4 cup of the tea in the bottle add 1/4 cup of cool water so it's warm when he drinks it.
He doesn't have to drink it all it's one of those more sips he gets down the faster it works.
Fennel is in sausage & most Italian food as an aid to digestion not just flavor.
I've been using it for myself ever since & he's 17 now.
good luck
If it's acid reflux this should work since you do breastfeed. If you give him or take ant-acid tabs you are literally telling your body to stop producing the acid it needs to break down food. Sometimes you get heartburn, acid reflux because don't have ENOUGH acid in your system so you'll take tab after tab and get worse.
simple test: Bragg's Apple cider vinegar- health food isle or store NOT the jug of apple cider vinegar.
1/2 a shot glass of apple cider vinegar 1/2 water. QUICKLY drink it : ) if he doesn't have enough acid it should help him.
those two simple $5.00 remedies will save him hours of pain & Dr. appointments, not to mention any Rx's they want to put him on.
This happened to us when my son was little. We tried many different kinds and still had the same problem. So we tried a Soy formula and it worked great. No more tummy issues and he was a lot happier. Now that he is older he is drinking lactose free milk.
If you are still nursing watch what you eat because that is what he is getting too.
Don't do soy formula until you read this:
http://drjen4kids.com/ Then go to INFANTS and then look for the two formula topics
Also-I used Similac Senstivie with both of my babes until they were 6mo and then switched to regular Similac. It seemed as though their tummies were not mature enough for the regular, but once they were 6 mo they were fine.
Sounds like both of my babies. I would try reflux medication. If that doesn't help I would eliminate all dairy from your diet (since you are breastfeeding) to determine if it is a cow's milk protein allergy). You can try supplementing with a hypoallergenic formula. My son had reflux and the original medication they prescribed didn't work, we had to switch to Prevacid and that helped immensely. He also had a cow's milk protein allergy. Both of my kids had this and they have both seemed to outgrow. Good luck.
I'd give the Sensitive a try since he's obviously having an issue. Try it for a while and see if it helps. It's not like you have been switching formulas around every other day. Babies/adults can develop sensitivities at any time and given that he is breastfed (which breastmilk is very easy on the system) I would have gone with an easily digestible/sensitive formula from the beginning if I'd needed to supplement.
I would check w/ your Dr. again too. Does he spit up? My son became very colicy about 8 weeks... and it turned out he was not able to digest milk protien. This was Dx from a stool sample (blood and mucus). Solution - cut all dairy out of my diet and wait two weeks to make him feel better OR switch to a partially digested formula (in our case Nutramigen). I would talk to your Ped again before another change. It could be so many things. Good luck : )
Try cutting out dairy from your diet. Sometimes that upsets little bellies...
speak with your ped, but if you change formulas, you've got to give baby a chance to get used to the new one, might take a week or two before you can tell if he's any better or worse. switching too frequently won't be diagnostic.
