My Baby Has Horrible Gas

My oldest had bad gas and spit up a lot until I put a little cereal in his formula. (I had tried the Mylicon stuff, too, but it didn't work very well.) The spitting up and gas subsided immensely and as an added bonus he slept through the night right afterward. I'd try about a tablespoon per 8 oz to start. Also, start with the rice cereal -- it seemed to mix better and faster and wasn't as heavy -- he drank more with the rice cereal in it. (You'll have to open the nipple a bit to allow the thicker liquid through.)

I started my youngest on it as soon as he started to get gas, and never had another problem with it. (I didn't get the bonus of a full night's sleep with him, though!) :)

Good luck!

Hi A. hope this helps...My daughter is just 2 months old and has had bad gas. I called my mom and she told me to try fennel seed and it worked like a charm. Just take a little bit (1tsp) of the fennel and boil it in water until the water turns yellow let cool. Then pour desired amount into a bottle. If baby doesn't like it you can add just a drop of corn syrup for flavor. It will not harm your baby and can be given between all feedings. Good Luck

I am a mother of ten...my oldest has our first grandchild...Ariella is now about 2.5 mos. old. My daughter does what I did when mine had gas. Lay them on their back, maybe head a little elevated, and pump their legs up toward their stomachs bending at the knees. Do that several times and it kinda' pushes the gas out and gives them relief. To prevent it? I just found the following on the internet...hope all helps:

Baby Health: Gassy Baby

Symptoms

The peak time for babies to experience gas pains is 3-6 weeks. Symptoms include:

* Sharp, prolonged crying, as if the baby is in pain
* Bubbles in tummy and intestines. This can be felt using infant massage of the tummy.

Causes

Excess gas bubbles are caused by swallowing air and not expelling it through burping. The swallowing of air may lead to crying, which usually leads to swallowing more air. It also may be caused by a breast feeding mom’s diet or a problem in the digestion of baby formula.

Treatment

There are some things you can do to relieve your baby’s gas pains

* Burp your baby with every ½ ounce of milk she consumes, or every two to four minutes when breast feeding.
* Learn infant massage. Often, infant massage of the tummy will break up large gas bubbles.
* Walk around and jostle baby on your shoulder, especially in the evening. The pressure of her tummy on your shoulders may break up the gas bubbles. Do not shake the baby!
* Be sure your baby gets some supervised Tummy Time. Lay baby on her tummy with you watching her at all times to be sure she is safe.
* Lay your baby on her back and move her legs like a bicycle.
* If you breastfeed, rid your diet of foods with caffeine, such as chocolate, sodas, and coffee. Also, try ridding your diet of nuts and dairy.
* Many moms report that infant Simethicone (anti-gas) drops.

If you are in need of encouragement, just remember that this is a fairly common stage and like all stages, this soon shall pass. Until then, hang in there and give your baby all the encouragement you can.

B. in WI

Bicycle your babies legs while she lays on her back. That helps massage the intestines and releases the gas.

P.

My baby had gas really bad, it did not matter what I did, he still had it really bad. So I found out that I could use Cat Nip Tea to help with his gas. Only like 1 peaspoon for every 2 ounces of water, I will let you know how to put the Catnip tea together at the end of this. My baby is now 4 months old, and has learned how to push his gas out. He does not get gas pains anymore so your baby may end up learning to do that soon as well.

As far as the catnip tea, you take 1 teaspoon and put it in a coffee filter and put in a cup, ad 2 ounces of hot boiling water, and let it sit for 10 minutes, then you can either add ice to cool it down, or let it cool down to room temp. You can sweeten the catnip tea if your baby does not like the taste of it. My Son did not mind that there was not sweetened. You get the Catnip tea from a health food store.

A.,

My daughter is 3 mos tomarrow.... she has alot of gas on some occasions... I'd suggest changing the nipple, maybe it flows to fast and she is taking in too much air, be sure to burp her often, every ounce or so. I know this isn't alot of advice but worth trying... good luck.

M. O

First of all, I want to congratulate you on sticking with breastfeeding. It's a full-time job at first and I can't imagine that I could have been so committed at 19! WOW! I'm so impressed!

I breastfed my son too. Onions, garlic and even the slightest spicy food made him gassy. Once I just had a 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a dish and he was up all night with gas!

Burping often during breastfeeding was a good tip. I also would lie him on his back and push his feet up and down so that his knees touched his tummy. It helped him work out the gas and he seemed to like it. I learned it from a pediatric nurse in my family. Good luck!

I have been thru this a few times.....with mine and a few friends! The ONLY thing that ever work on my daughter was...Hold her close to your chest, scrunch up her body...like "bend" her at the tummy and go up and down to the point where you could sit in a chair...but without the chair! Your calf’s and butt are going to hurt, but my daughter loved it! That was the only thing to stop the gas and her crying, so it was total worth the "pain" I sure hope this helps!! GOOD LUCK

Warm water baths help relieve gas, it relaxes the muscles. That worked great with my last child.
And if you're nursing, stay away from foods that cause gas (broccoli, etc)

My son had bad gas, it may be your daughters milk. Are you breastfeeding? If not, try ISOMIL, this is better then Similac for babies that have a hard time digesting cow's milk. Isomil is gentle on the belly. I breastfed until he was ten months and then I went to ISOMIL, it's been great!

Babies magic tea will soothe your daughter from gas pains just in a couple of minutes. I have used this herbal tea for my gassy child and found great results.

Hi A.,

I know this can be disheartening to see your baby in pain and uncomfortable. My son had horrible gas when he was an infant and I nursed him as well. I made a journal of the foods I was eating and when I found he was particularly gassy, I would work back about 6 hours to see what it was I was eating to cause his discomfort. For him, it was broccoli and I ate a ton of it - poor kid! I only had to alter my diet for a few months and by the time he was on solid foods at 4 months, everything was great.

As another lady mentioned I pumped his legs, too, and boy does that work! And Mylicon was a staple in his diet for a while. The good thing is that once your daughter is a little older she'll be able to tolerate more foods and probably won't be as gassy.

Good luck with your sweet daughter!

S.

I would first start taking her to a chiropractor and second, start an elimination rotation diet yourself. Dairy seems to be a common culprit for nursing moms and babies. you might eliminate dairy for at least a month before bringing it back to your diet...it takes that long to fully clear from your system. I would also watch spicy foods, tomatoes, chocolate, caffeine, etc. Why medicate her when you could try some prevention and see what happens?
Nichi Hirsch
MyHealthyBeginning.com

A.,
my daughter had the same problem. Mylicon is really gentle and you can use it up to ten times a day(check the bottle), so you may want to give it to her before she eats to prevent the gas. (or before bed, or whenever she gets it.) By the time my daughter was about six or seven months old, her digestive system was mature enough that she didn't need it any more. Good luck.
S.

I agree with the mama's advice on eliminating things in your diet. A really great resource for breastfeeding is www.kellymom.com

There's a lot of info, helps you with different issues and stages along with a support forum. I'd recommend checking it out!

Not sure if you're nursing or bottle feeding, but here's a few suggestions:

If you're nursing, watch what you are eating. Any foods that might give you gas, especially veggies like onions, broccoli, sweet potatoes, squash, can also give your baby gas through the milk. Like someone else mentioned, be sure to also burp her frequently while she's nursing or drinking a bottle.

If you're using formula, maybe try a different kind. My son did not do well with Similac, it made him very constipated. Enfamil was ok, but we ended up using the Nestle/Carnation Good Start. They say it's broken down into smaller proteins to make it easier to digest. If your daughter has trouble digesting the formula, that can cause gas. If she's drinking more and more as she gets older and bigger, that could be why the gas is getting worse.

Also, if you use formula, you could try a soy formula. If your daughter is not tolerating the milk-based formula, that could give her a lot of gas, too.

Whatever you try, give it a few days to see how she reacts. You might not notice a difference immediately.

Hope that helps!
A.

I agree with the prior post stating to try a different formula. If you are to go to a chiropractor make sure you do extensive research - you don't just want any chiro making adjustments on your baby - I was never comfortable with that route, but some people rave about it. My boy was very gassing once he was on formula. We went to formula that had partial proteins already broken down, which helped tremendously. Also when I did breastfeed, I just watched what I ate, no spicey stuff, no broccoli, no beans - the normal gas causing foods.

A.-

You've already gotten a lot of good advice. If you're breastfeeding, I would also suggest to look at what you're eating. I know coffee (caffinated) really made my baby uncomfortable through the breastmilk, even if I only had 1-2 cups/day. Other people have mentioned garlic in mom's diet has a similiar effect. We used Nestle Goodstart with Comfort Proteins for formula w/good results, my friend had to switch to that kind after her baby had too much gas on a different brand. Good luck to you!