Gassy Baby - How are you coping?

jjang27 · September 2016

There are some discussions scattered in different threads (like All Things Baby), but I think it would be nice to have the information more concentrated in one place... as I feel a bit overwhelmed to read through the giant thread (haven't been keeping up).

Could you guys share some tips/tricks, or stuff you've tried but didn't work?
DH and I are at our wits end, and It breaks our hearts that he's uncomfortable but not much we do is helping.

Baby will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. For the first couple weeks, he farted a lot (even when he sleeps) but that didn't seem to bother him. All of a sudden, he became very fussy after feedings. He would open his eyes super wide, kick his legs and squirm with gas in his belly. At first we got it a bit confused with feeding cues, as he stuffs his hand in his mouth, too. Feeding time used to take just 45 minutes and he would be fast asleep, but now it takes forever (more like 2+ hours - feels like forever anyway).

Here's my list:
Burping over the shoulder - not working, for the most part
Burping with baby sitting and supporting the chin - sometimes works
Burping with baby lying across my lap - he hates it, and didn't work (Maybe my kid is more of a farter than burper?)
Bicycling motion (pumping his legs) - no luck
Gripe water - mixed results (sometimes it worked like a charm, and sometimes nada)
Gas Drop (simethicone) - haven't tried it yet, couldn't find it at my local pharmacy
Windi - saw it on Amazon but haven't tried it yet. Did anyone have luck with this? Heck, I'm gonna order it tonight.

misslissa32 · September 2016

Are you breastfeeding? My pediatrician told me to eliminate dairy and soy from my diet to help with gas in my baby. Just when I could start eating things again!!!

lblu43 · September 2016

It took a while for us too, but it does get better!!! We're at 5 1/2 wks. Gas pains aren't completely gone but its become manageable. We used the Little Remedies med kit I bought off clearance for my registry. It included both gripe water & simethicone drops. Both worked maybe 50%-75% of the time. Peanut rarely feeds over a solid 15min at once. Soon as he begins eating gas & pooping begins. It often turns feeds from 12-15min into 30-45. I've learned to just roll with it. Changing positions through out the burping & feeding seems to help. When its really bad we also try bicycling & tummy massage. It pisses him off, but when he kicks it helps. Milkies also offers a nursing tea. Supposedly it helps to reduce colic, (when I can remember) I have a cup once every other day. My MIL also suggested chammomile tea & anise. I hate the taste though.

Are you taking any stool softeners? My OB originally prescribed them but I've tapered off as pp continues. Now its only when I can remember so maybe every 2 days. I've wondered if maybe that doesn't affect gas as well.

Stephanie7693 · September 2016

I cut dairy from my diet and started to see improvement after a week or so. But lo was colicky from 3 weeks til 7. The last few days he's been much better, and I've been off dairy for over 2 weeks now. He's still fairly gassy, but it either doesn't bother him or is mildly uncomfortable. Tonight he cried for an hour (which is pretty good compared to a few weeks ago), but I'm thinking he didn't like something I ate today (maybe my Mexican for lunch? !). But it's possible he's just growing out of it.
But for those weeks where we were all miserable, gripe water was the only thing that helped. Sometimes a bath would calm him, but only if he was already getting tired from crying.

slycat · September 2016

I recently switched to a Dr Browns bottle. It has made a huge difference. If your breastfeeding obviously this will not help. I'm exclusively pumping. Make sure you check with the pediatrician as well. My LO was recently diagnosed with reflux and this is how it started. I hope your LO gets some relief soon.

nanner26 · September 2016

We are dealing with the exact same problem, but DD is on formula. Through the night she seems fine and does have gas but doesn't get upset. The day time is a completely different story. She gets really fussy and I don't know why it's different. We are going to see her pediatrician tonight and ask about the formula. I just feel so bad because we switched from breastfeeding to formula really quickly so I would hate to change her formula again all in about two weeks. We'll see what the doctor says.

jjang27 · September 2016

@misslissa32 Yes, I am breastfeeding him. I haven't tried that yet, but it's worth a shot. Do you take a calcium supplement while skipping all dairy?

@lblu43 My OB did prescribe stool softeners, but I went off it after a week. I have the Little Remedies simethicone drops on order. Hopefully it helps! And it's nice to know that things do get better. Thank you!

jjang27 · September 2016

@Stephanie7693 Cutting out dairy is gonna be hard, since I love my yogurt... but I'm willing to give it a shot for LO's sake.

@slycat I'm BFing. Glad it's working for your LO! I hope the reflux situation gets better soon for you guys!

@Hannah0726 You are definitely not alone! My LO is less fussy during night time, too. I think he might be too sleepy to care at night lol.

lindseyb918 · September 2016

It might be his age, our LO was really gassy from 3-5 weeks too (EBF as well). Up until that point, he had no problem just letting it out on his own. Now at 6 weeks he is a lot better again.

I did end up bringing him to the pediatrician due to colic and spitting up. Ped said that I could try changing my diet, but it only works in 5% of the cases. I cut out caffeine, but nothing else. He said if I eliminated dairy to make sure I was supplementing my calcium.

We also use gripe water and it seems to help a little. I started giving it to LO before his fussy time as a preventative measure, like after the 4pm feeding. As a last resort, we use white noise turned up loud (Baby Sleep Sounds app).

There is a video on YouTube called "Priscilla Dunstan on Oprah" that I watched after a particularly bad evening. She talks about discerning the baby's cries. If it's an "eh eh eh" cry, they need to burp, so then I try to do the upright burping on my shoulder. An "ehr ehr ehr" is a poop/fart, so then I try lifting/cycling his legs.

Good luck! It's tough watching them in pain, especially when you feel like you've exhausted all the possible solutions!

squishy0511 · September 2016

My baby started with colic/horrible gas at 2 weeks old. Gripe water and simethicone didn't work for us. I found that when he's really fussy and nothing seems to help I put him in a warm bath and that seems to relax him. I did give up dairy and also started him on infant probiotics (Gerber soothe brand) and he is finally getting better!! Still very gassy but he's able to get it out now and doesn't cry nearly as much!

nanner26 · September 2016

The doctor told us to switch her to Similac Total Comfort. It should help with gas. Fingers crossed it helps! We also give her Little Remedies Gas drops. Not sure if they help but will keep trying.

KMeredith82 · September 2016

We've been dealing with this as well. Things have gotten a little better though. I think that part of our problem is that she eats really fast, esp at the beginning, so I started only offering one side per feeding, instead of both. This seems to have made a difference. She also only eats for 5-10 mins (EBF), which concerned me at first so I think I was trying to get her to eat more, which probably didn't help. She's not great at burping, but I try to keep her upright for maybe 10 mins after each feeding. She still gets gassy sometimes, but at least now we can calm her down with the paci.

I read somewhere that swaddling could also help, not sure if that's true since we've always swaddled at night, but she doesn't seem to have the gas issue at night (at least not enough to wake her up), so maybe it does do something.

nanner26 · September 2016

We only swaddle at night too and she doesn't have much gas. That would be interesting if it's true!

telicious2 · September 2016

Have you tried the colic hold? It's a combination of supporting the head and laying on lap. But baby's belly is on your forearm and head in your hand.

I cannot eat broccoli bc she had horrible gas pains the last time I did. I would pay attention to the foods (gassy vegetables, fried foods, spicy foods) you eat vs jumping right away to eliminating dairy from diet. It would be so much easier to eliminate individual foods than a whole food group like dairy.

jjang27 · September 2016

Wanted to report back... I bought Windi off Amazon and tried it when baby's tummy was full of gas. I guess DS didn't like the sensation (it probably felt odd), because he screamed bloody murder! A bunch of air did come out though, along with poop, and his belly wasn't so full/hollow afterwards. Eventually I was able to soothe him to sleep.

My mother told me a different way to burp last night: let baby lay on his right side, pat his back for a few minutes, then pick him up and burp him over the shoulder. Repeat a couple of times if the first time didn't work. She used this trick on me years ago and swears by it. So far I've only made it work twice (so satisfying to hear that big BELCH), but I'll keep trying.

Good luck to all of you out there also dealing with this!

gymmonkey95 · September 2016

Mine is going through the same thing at 3 weeks. Something that works for her is a combo of burping and rubbing her back after a couple minutes and then back to burping. Hopefully your LO feels better!

nanner26 · September 2016

I ran out and got Dr. Brown's bottles today. Hoping they help!

S&J05 · September 2016

I'm so glad to have found you guys! We are dealing with this as well, baby girl is 4 weeks and the gas is just heartbreaking. I am pumping and doing formula and have tried so many different bottles and am expecting Dr Brown bottles soon from amazon. Gas drops and gripe water only help for a few minutes at night and the kicking, squirming, piercing scream starts up again. Will certainly report back if we find something that helps.

nanner26 · September 2016

Ok here is what I just did.

1. Gave gas drops before feeding. (little remedies drops).
2. Held her upright while feeding while using our new Dr. Brown bottles. Right now she's eating about 2.5oz of formula so I burped her halfway through.
3. Held her upright on my shoulder after burping the second time and also sat her in my lap upright for about 10-15 minutes.

She's been passing gas but hasn't been crying while doing so and is now asleep in my arms. This is only our first try with this routine so I'm trying not to get too excited. I also bought Mylicon drops and will try those maybe tomorrow instead of little remedies? We'll see.

I'd love to hear yall's routines to see if I can do anything else to help my gassy babe!

S&J05 · September 2016

Thanks for sharing your routine. I haven't tried feeding upright so will give that a shot next time and report back.

cy&damonsmommy · September 2016

Lurking from June- probiotics and mylicon(sp?). And the doctor said hold LO upright during feeding and keep the bottle tilted so the air isn't getting in. Dr Browns bottles are amazing. We also had to switch to soy formula. Hope things are getting better. Gas is no fun

nanner26 · September 2016

We used Gripe Water for the first time yesterday. It's been almost 24 hours and it's like I have a new baby! She hasn't had the screaming fits of pain from gas and had two really big dirty diapers when she' would usually only have had one a day.
I'm really hopeful that this may have been our cure!

christineehh · September 2016

I've been doing the mylocon/gripe water/probiotic cocktail and after several days I've seen some progress! Baby is still not sleeping enough but at least he can be put down to sleep eventually.

S&J05 · September 2016

We are on day four of Dr Brown bottles and similac sensitive and she's tooting a lot more which I think is good. Also, her poops are not preceded by crying which is nice. Gas drops seem ineffective but have always had luck with gripe water for immediate relief. We'll keep chugging along, good luck to everyone

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