Breastfeeding a Gassy Baby

Hi D.,
I see that you received a lot of responses already, but I just wanted to put in my 2 cents. My baby was the same way and I thought that it was gas - turns out he has reflux. He was fussy after I nursed him and sometimes during the feeding too. Does your baby arch his back at all? The pediatrician said that babies with reflux do that when the milk comes back up and burns the esophagus. I was very upset at first, thinking that whatever I was eating was causing my baby to throw up all the time. The doctor said my diet wasn't causing it. She also said that it was GOOD that I was breastfeeding - that way we could eliminate the possiblity of him being allergic to formulas (some parents will go through several types of formula trying to find the one that is right for their baby). Try to make sure he burps (my son was never a good burper). If he likes to be up on your shoulder, it could be a sign of reflux because laying flat on their backs causes discomfort and usually makes the milk come back up. Mention your concerns to the doctor. Sometimes gas drops will help. And bicycling your baby's legs to get the gas bubble to move helps, too. Hope things get better for you. Best of luck!

1 mom found this helpful

When your're breastfeeding, you should burp him in between the 15 min on the one breast. Try feeding him in the "football" position so that this way his head is on a more slant position and he doesn't suck in more air, also for the restlessness put a pillow under his crib mattress so that while on his back it will be easier to bring up any gas his may have. He should be in a 45 degree angle both feeding and in the crib.

D.,
Ok like so many other people have said, 1: if it makes you gassy it's gonna make the baby gassy. 2: It might be dairy. We didn't find out until it was way too late but my daughter has a milk allergy so she was in pain everytime I drank/ate dairy and then breastfed. Yes, it's pretty bland but it'll bring you both some rest. Oh and if you believe that formula is the best thing then by all means make the switch. Yes, BFing is best but you know what's best for your son. Don't let anyone guilt you otherwise.

Hang in there,
K.

Breastfed babies are less likely to be gassy because they don't swallow air the way bottle fed babies do. However your baby may be sensitive to something you are eating. "They" say to avoid foods like broccoli and beans while breastfeeding... I had to eliminate dairy for a while bc my baby was VERY gassy. I drank soy milk instead and within a few days she wasn't gassy anymore. After a couple of months I switched to lactose free milk and she was fine. then a few months later I started with dairy again. I think a lot of babies have a hard time with dairy when they are very young. Also try giving your baby Mylecon or Little Tummies gas drops before nursing. It also helped a lot. Stick with breastfeeding if you can. It's so healthy for them. I nursed for 15 months and she is NEVER sick. Not to mention formula is expensive. Good Luck and hope this helps.

no do NOT change formula will make it worse. he might have reflux. call ur doctor. try some mylicon. keep him elevated while sleeping. he can sleep on his sides as well. what ever you do do not switch.

I had a friend who went through this. What you eat affects the baby so if I remember correctly, her doctor had her go on a very specific diet. You would have to talk to your OB or the pediatrician but I recall her saying something like if she never ate brown rice again, she would be fine with it. LOL You may just have to go on a very bland diet and see if the gassiness goes away and then slowly add things back in until you come across something he can't handle again. But yes, you can still nurse him and you still should if that's what you want to do. I've learned there are certain things I can't eat with my son either or he was arch his back and cry for the next few hours to a day sometimes.

Best of luck!

L.

http://APerfectMoment.MyArbonne.com

Dont give up! Talk to a lactation consultant. You could have an oversupply of milk and your little one is getting alot of the foremilk and not enough hindmilk. Lots of good info on Kellymom.com but this is a quick one pager from another site I found helpful. http://www.breastfeeding-basics.com/html/oversupply.shtml

Good luck!!!

Hi D.

Your baby may be reacting to what you eat and drink. Try going easy on dairy products (you can replace with soy milk or rice milk products). Also, try avoid big servings of garlic, onions, cabbage, broccoli, spices and other foods that make you gassy.

Breast milk is much easier to digest than formula so with a few changes in your diet you are sure to give your baby the best start.

Good luck!

hi D.; it's great that you're writing for help with nursing. i can tell you this; formula will definitely only make the problems worse. the first thing i would suggest is to google La Leche League Intl. and find the phone number for your local chapter leader. most of the time, things like discomfort, spitting up, etc., in breastfed babies has to do with latch (how your baby has the nipple in his mouth) and flow (how the milk is coming out.)

D., breastfeeding is so good for your baby that formula ccomercials on television are now required to show a disclaimer that breast milk is better than thier own product. since you have hung in there this long, i urge you to keep going. try a LLL meeting as soon as you can, and speak to the chapter leader as well, on the phone, about an in home visit with a lactation consultant or counselor.

good luck!
J.

Dear D.,

I agree with everyone -- keep breastfeeding and cut the dairy out of your diet!

I also want to share a baby massage exercise that worked wonders with my gassy little boy.

Lie your baby on his back and lift both feet with one hand, as though you're just starting to change his diaper. Then move his legs in a big circle. This forces a lot of gas bubbles straight out. I did this for about five minutes after each feeding while looking straight into my son's eyes and singing to him, and he LOVED it.

Best of luck!

Mira

I could be your diet. Then again, some babies are just gassier than others. My daughter was around 2 months old and I had a chimichanga with spicy sausage and black beans...poor baby! The gas drops straightened her out though. My friends with babies have scared me to death about broccoli. I haven't had any since she was born...that or curry.
Are you patting his back hard enough to burp him? Is he giving you good burps? I had a couple friends who had similar problems with their babies and their Doctor had to teach them to pat more firmly. Check with your doctor of course, you don't want to pat too hard!
Don't give up on nursing! My baby is 4 months now and her gassy issues have gotten better as she's gotten older. I'm not tempting fate by eating broccoli yet though. Good luck!

It is probably something that you are eating-like dairy. Start with eliminating dairy and if that does not solve the problem, make sure that you are not eating onions, brocoli, beans etc.

Hi D.,

I went through the same thing with my son, who is now 2. He was a very spitty baby in spite of being breastfed exclusively for the first year of his life, no formula at all (as he got older he spit up less). In the beginning it was just spitting up, but then it became obvious that he was uncomfortable, and it turned out he had reflux, and it was starting to burn. I am NO FAN of medication, but I wound up having to give him medication for it. Luckily it was just for a couple of months, it made him more comfortable, it prevented damage to his lower esophagus from all the acid, and he outgrew it. I kept nursing, though, no matter what. I think it's a myth that nursing babies are less gassy/spitty, because I've spoken to a lot of nursing moms who experienced the same thing. Also, with regards to your diet, the jury's still out on that one as far as I'm concerned; I heard and read things from both sides, saying it does matter, and saying it doesn't matter. I tried everything -- avoiding spicy foods, no dairy, avoiding gassy foods (e.g. broccoli), don't cook with pepper, etc. None of it helped, and my culinary desires suffered (ha ha)! One thing I also learned is very freuqently, especially in boys, they are born with their gastrointestinal system not completely mature yet, which is why this happens, and you just have to wait for his gut to catch up with the rest of him. Keep an eye on him, if he really cries after spitting up or his arching his back he is probably in pain and you should consider the medication (the name of it is escaping me right now). There are natural things on the market, I tried "Colic Ease" -- I believe that was the name of it, with minimal success, but better than no success. Also, try to maintain your baby in an upright position during and after feeding, and adjust the crib matress so that the head is higher than the foot so he sleeps somewhat upright -- these were recommendations that were given to me. When breastfeeding, don't lie down with him; sit and keep his head higher than his feet. Also, my pediatrician showed me a nursing position in which he was completely seated on my lap -- I forget the name of the position, but he straddled the thigh on the side I was feeding him, faced my breast directly, and nursed like that. Overfeeding is a no-no, his little immature gut can't handle it, so smaller more frequent feedings are better. Tougher on you, I know, but stick with it, it is so worth it! Good luck, and if I can be of any more help, drop me a line, I'll help in any way I can!
- D.
Oh - by the way, just another thought-- if your son is continuing to gain weight, it's probably not so serious. But if he is not growing at a good pace or is failing to thrive, the reflux issue is more serious and it will need medical attention. In spite of all his spitting, my son grew in leaps and bounds -- so much so that my father, after not seeing his grandson for a couple of months but always hearing about the reflux and being concerned, when he saw him he said, "Good thing he is spitting up -- he'd be 120 pounds by now!" :)

My breastfeed little guy was the same way for the first four months. With Dr.s ok, I got some baby gas-ex and gave it to him for 3 days in a row. He also started solids at the same time.

He has had no real problems with gas since, some constipation with the rice cereal but pears and green beans will push that through.

Good luck!

I am sure someone else has already said this, but it could be something that you are eatinv that doesn't agree with him. If your baby is lactose intolerant and you are drinking a lot of milk and eating cheese and ice cream you could be upsetting his tummy. My daughter was always fussy when I had tomato sauce or a tomato on a salad. Something about them bothered her.

Hope that helps
D.

Hey D.:

I found with my oldest that I could not eat chocolate in any form--it made him terribly cranky and gassy! I never heard that breastfed babies were less gassy.
You don't say how old he is or when this started. Could be he is a little colicky. I hear now they tell parents that it is acid reflux! Either way, in my case, my son was just fussy every evening from 7 to 11. My husband and I held him, rocked him, walked up and down steps with him (hoping to get that gas up), pumped his little legs, and anything else anyone told us to do to help. Not much did, he did like a nice soothing bath, so he got bathed ALOT!!
My second, a girl was fussy from 8-10 in the evening, but for a much shorteer time than my son. My third, another girl was never fussy! God bless her--she was the easiest as a newborn and baby of my three--was it her or me? I often wonder if I was just such a "pro" by then if I handled her differently and reaped the rewards (sleep!) from that!!
Hang in there, but do watch what you eat--everything you eat does pass through to the baby in your milk!

It could be your diet. What I might suggest is to cut out the dairy out of your diet and see if that helps. My daughter was much the same way and it turned out that she was sensitive to dairy and soy in my diet. Once I figured it out and cut out all dairy and soy from what I was eating she soon returned to a happy feeding and sleeping baby. Hope this helps. Have a wonderful mothers day!!

This sounds to me like the foods you are eating are causing the problem. For me, eating according to my blood type was the only way to avoid this issue. Have you heard of "Eat Right for Your Blood Type" and "Eat Right for your Baby"? Check them out.

Best of luck.

Oh D.! I went through much the same thing. YOu have to do what works for you, but here is a little of my story. I had a very fussy baby, too and drove myself crazy with changing my diet, etc. I finally was down to eating just chicken and sweet potatoes! But, I did stick with breast feeding because I really believe it is what is best. Also, my baby was diagnosed with reflux at 6wks of age. He started taking prevacid and that seemed to help (although I still had to really limit what I ate.)He breastfed with some formula supplementation until he was 7.5 months old. Things really got better with his fussiness and my eating around 3 months - I imagine his little digestive system just caught up with him! His spitting up stopped at 12months of age. I am really glad I stuck with the breastfeeding. In the final months of it, it was really the easiest and most special thing. So... good luck and I hope you stick with it!

I had a similar situation and went for help. Most likely is reacting to dairy and maybe other things. Soy often goes with dairy allergy in babies. If this is the case, formula will not help. In fact, you would have to get a more expensive formula to avoid dairy and soy as most formulas are dairy or soy based. Try cutting out dairy completely for two weeks and see if he gets better. Sometimes it takes a little while to get out of their system. If there are still symptoms like fussiness, gas, colic, reflux, etc. then also cut soy. It's a good idea to start a journal of everything you eat and any reactions you notice so you can figure out the correlation. Your other option would be to do a complete elimination diet where you only eat non-allergenic foods like potatoes, avocado, bananas, etc. Then you slowly introduce things back into you diet and watch for reactions. This would be tougher and probably isn't necessary unless your son's allergies are extreme. Most likely it's just the dairy and maybe soy. For me in turned out to also be tomatoes, strawberries, oats, and beef. Although it was tough at first to figure out to eat, it was well worth it. Often, they end up with blood in their stools too, which was happening with my daughter. When I got rid of the problem foods, she was the happiest baby and everywhere we go people still comment on what a good baby she is. She just turned one and now the only thing I'm still careful not to eat too much of is dairy. There are support groups for this kind of thing and support online through a listserve for food allergies.
Hope this helps. I know it can be hard but you can do it. I didn't think I could at first but now it's a year later and were almost past it all. By the way, most babies outgrow it by one if you allow their digestive system to mature more before giving it to them. Then they're less likely to have trouble with it later in life.
P.

Breast milk is far superior than formula regardless.

Perhaps it is what your eating - or the time of the feeding.

Eat more fruits and veggies... less goodies and junk food.
More water more frequently.

Hi! Try to avoid "gassy" foods like brocholi, beans, etc. Also talk to the pediatrician, some babies suffer from a form of acid reflux (can't remember what they call it). It may be that. I don't know if there is any treatment for it but it sure won't hurt to ask! I found if I ate the "gassy" foods my daughters were fussy and I paid dearly for my love of baked beans at summer BBQ's!!! I have also heard some friends say if they ate too much dairy their babies were fussy. Check your diet and check with the doctor!!! Hope it helps! A.

D.,

What you eat definetly effects your baby. If you eat gassy foods or spicy foods, you may be causing some of the reason why your baby is fussing. Not to say you can't eat what you want, but watch how each food effects him. You may want to lower the amount of one or more foods for awhile and good luck!

Ann Marie

Hi D.,
I would definitely keep track of what you're eating and try to cut out foods that might cause gas. Watch your dairy intake as well.

Best,
S.

My newborn was having fussy and spit up issues as well. His pediatrican thought it may be a milk allergy. ( i am breastfeeding also) I cut all dairy out of my diet and I noticed he was much happier instantly. He still spits up but not nearly as much. I also find that chocolate and caffeine make him really upset- fussy and spit up.

noodon't just start formula..try different things with your diet...also worse comes to worse pump & usea dr.brown's bottle...

I am having the same problem with my 1 month old daughter. She makes a lot of grunting noises especially at night, which of course means that I can't sleep. My doctor said the grunting is because her digestive muscles aren't fully mature yet and she should grow out of it. She just has to put a lot of effort into working the gas and poop out! Try thr OTC gas drops. They seem to help a little. Good luck!

Keep a food diary. It could be something your eating. Diary can tend to set them off. Don't switch to formula. Also, are you burping him. Even breastfed babies need to be burped. And depending on his age he may not be able to do that yet himself.

dont give up nursing, unless it is what you really want. your baby is still so little, lots of them are just uncomfortable in the first couple of months. most likely, giving up breastfeeding will only make it worse, he may have more trouble digesting formula and wont have the comfort of nursing. just give him some time. and definitely try cutting dairy out of your diet. chinese food and caffiene too. citrus in my diet gave my 1st baby problems. try to pay attention to what you eat before he is most uncomfortable. it might really not be anything you are eating though, it just takes some babies a little time to settle. im sure he is fine, but if you truly feel like something is wrong, trust your mom instinct and go for a check up.

Formula is renowned for making babies *more* gassy. If for some reason you do decide to try formula, be sure to pump really regularly to keep your supply up in the event the formula doesn't help and you want to go back to nursing. Even if you were to stay on formula, you could always use frozen milk when you start feeding solids and cereal. He will come through this at some point - though it feels like forever until that day! Good luck, L.

Hello, my name is R.. My son, who I breastfed for a year, used to be gassy. I thought the same thing. Is there something wrong with him? Well, it turns out it was my diet. I had to cut out dairy all together along with tomato sauce, orange juice, citrus fruits, garlic, caffeine and chocolate. It was a struggle, but I was determined to continue to breatfeed my son for a year. I made due with what I was able to eat. For help with your diet, you can google diet and breastfeeding. There are sites that can give you very helpful tips. It is all trial and error. You will have to keep track of what you are eating and if it bothers your baby or not. After a while, it will all come together on what you can eat and what bothers your child. Good luck.

have you tried gas drops? they are so mild, you can give them at every feeding! don't give up nursing... it is still the best for your baby!

if he is spitting up... pp seem to have good ideas. i think alot of baby's digestive systems just aren't fully developed yet... so they have issues getting it all down properly. my dd was put on baby prevacid for acid reflux. after filling the 2nd prescription... we forgot it one nite and realized that it did not help her AT ALL! she outgrew the spitting up. however, she wasn't really very gassy... so it could be a totally different story.

www.kellymom.com has GREAT tips and information for breastfeeding. they probably have some information on this topic, as well.

HTH

Okay I am still breast feeding and my son is 11 months old.

No Chocolate this really upset thier stomach. If possible too No onions, broccoli, caffine anything that is gassy to you will most likely make the baby gassy.

You can google breastfeeding and foods not to eat, this helped me.

Good Luck! :) This is much healthier for babies, Way To Go!

D.,

I would steer away from the formula - you are having no problems pumping, and he is having no problems eating!

Chances are, your little boy is like mine - he just needs a gentle burping, and to sit 45 degrees for a little while. Either a carseat or swing, or even an exersaucer (if he's old enough? not sure how old he is?)

Enjoy being able to give him comfort for the little while you will be able to. :)

One aspect of feeding my little boy was watching what I eat. I eliminated cruciferous - broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, artichoke, etc. (there's more), nuts (especially peanuts and walnuts), chocolate (for a little while none, now I can have it once in a while), and garlic and onions (includes chives, green onions, etc) all powders, dried or anything.

I can give him some of these now that he's able to handle the gas better (it's not leaving him with the screaming meme's in the middle of the night now).

When I had an oops or just had to have something with flavor, I gave him Mylicon before I fed him after my meal. That seemed to help a lot too. I don't do it often, though.

But, oh, don't start formula until you've gone a few other avenues at least. Formula is just as likely, if not more, to give him gas. Even the gas formula isn't fool-proof.

Find a few new songs to sing, and you'll have more fun rocking him.

You're lucky you can get him on your shoulder - I'd wind up with a shoulder of spit up (or worse, he'd overshoot and get the carpet, bed, chair, or all of the above).

Good luck! It's worth the work and the wait!

M.

It could be something you are eating, with my daughter, she was sensitive to dairy and coffee. It took awhile for me to figure out what was bothering her, but once I did her gassiness went away. The best way to figure it out is to keep a food journal, and see when your child is gassiest.
Also if you rub his stomach and bring his knees to his chest it will help him to pass the gas.
Breastfeeding has sooo many benefits, I would only switch as a last resort.

Try cutting out all dairy products for a week or two. My son had the same issue. If possible, don't quit breastfeeding! It's so good for babies health. Also try lying your baby on your lap with his head at your knees, hold his legs and gently bring his knees to his chest - it can relieve the gas pains.

My son had the same problem and it turned out to be reflux. We put him on Zantac first and then another one I can't remember at the moment and it helped, then he grew out of it.

I don't think it is what you are eating as long as your diet is well-balanced. You could try burping more frequently. Sometimes the baby eats so quickly that the gas builds up. Burping more frequently might prevent that. I think your baby really enjoys being held by you, naturally it will be the most comfortable place for him/her. Believe me, if the baby was uncomfortable when sleeping, then he/she wouldn't be sleeping at all. Good luck and Happy Mother's Day!

Try to avoid formula as long as you can. try breastfeeding your baby sitting up. put the sitting baby on your lap facing you and bring him to your breast to feed as he normally would. Maybe an upright position might help the gassiness. After feeding him keep him sitting upright. If you find him to be gassy try the buddah position to try to relieve it. place baby on your lap lying down on his back and put his legs upright against your chest. He should resemble the L-- sometimes this position helps baby's with gas.

I started to notice when my baby was 6 weeks old that she was getting very fussy as well and had really bad gas. You could hear her tummy rumbling. Anyway, turns out she has a sensitivity to milk products. I cut all dairy out of my diet and saw a difference in her within 24 hours. I could not believe it. It was like I had a completely different baby. Speak to your pediatrician about it. I did some research online and kind of figured it out myself but did not cut the dairy out until my doctor told me to.

By the way, she is now 8 months old and I gave her some soy yogurt about a month ago. She loved it but became very fussy. I thought it was because she was teething. Turns out, the yogurt has the milk protein in the cultures. I guess she is still sensitive to it. The doctor says she could grow out of it so not to worry.

Good luck-
S.

HI D.,
Breatfeeding is truly the best you can do for your baby. Start keeping a journal of all the things you eat and when. Also keep note of feedings and reactions from your little one and see how they compare. Does he cry alot before you feed him? Crying babies can take in alot more air causing gas-that what I heard. After breastfeeding my son, I found it helpful to keep him upright for 1/2 an hour afterwards before putting him down to sleep or rest. I had a baby carrier, so it was easy to do and he often just fell asleep there. Good luck.
N.

Yes, you are probably eating something he doesn't agree with...broccoli is a common culprit, some babies love garlic others can't handle it....keep a food journal and figure out when baby is fussiest what you ate...odds are you'll need to cut somethings out for awhile...I did notice once my baby started eating solids he could tolerate me eating broccoli again...so it may only be a couple of months w/o your favorite foods! Goodluck!

If your baby is really gassy I would first cut dairy out of your diet. Dairy products can make babies pretty gassy. I think dairy takes a couple of weeks to completely get out of your system. So give it time. Plus, in my opinion formula is rarely a "good" alternitive. Most formulas are made out of dairy, so there might still be a problem. Good luck!!

i had similar problems with my daughter .
i started with eliminating any possible problem foods out of my diet , it wasn't easy , i ended up not being able to eat anything , especially dairy or anything that even had the tiniest bit of dairy in it , baked goods included , it was amazing , she would react almost immediately whenever i slipped and took even one bite of a muffin or something that had butter in it , i would reintroduce foods to find out whether they were trouble or not , it was very challenging but worth the trouble because it has passed now , the more food she ate the less sensitive her tummy was and she is pretty good now ( she is 17 mths and i am still nursing )
she didn't spit up much though so you may want to ask your doctor about reflux also which has these similar symptoms , another thing i found was when i nursed her at night we didn't burp and she would be sleeping so would get gassy from lying down , so i weened her from night nursing and she started sleeping through the night immediately and was much happier so you could try that , we did it around 10 mths but you could do it sooner and it would probably be easier.
there are also homeopathic remedies that are helpful if you go to your health food store they are pretty available and there are many products that work well, and finally swaddling really helped us when she was little and sleep position could help too .
i hope this was helpful to you .
good luck
it gets easier.
G.

Hi D., I breastfed all 5 of mine. You should check what you are eating. Lots of things make babies gassy.(carrots, chocolate) there must be a list or ask your Dr. You could also boil up some fennel seeds in filtered water and have the baby drink some (after cooling) you can sweeten if necessary. It is an old remedy but it works. Good luck! Grandma Mary

Hi D., I found that while I was breast feeding my kids I had to be extremely careful with what I ate. De-caffe was out of the question so was anything else like chocolate or gassy vegies. But most importantly I had to stop drinking milk myself. This really caused alot of problems. Also I found that after I fed my daughter I would keep her in her car seat (that I brought in the house) so she stayed upright for a while, otherwise her meal would constantly make her uncomfortable. Good luck, I hope this helps. My daughter is now 9 and is a great eater!

me also my consultant told me it could be due to the food I was eating. I did a bit of testing at home. It turned out she was right