Four Month Old with Terrible Gas (And Getting Worse). Problems with Breastmilk?!

Have you talked to any lactation specialists or someone from the La Leche League? They might be really helpful in troubleshooting some of your issues and answering some questions about how what you eat does/doesn't affect your baby. This sounds down right awful for you and you deserve a gold star for all your efforts! Hang in there and keep looking for answers. I can't imagine how hard it all is, especially seeing that sad little lower lip!

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I am suspecting a poor latch. Do you ever hear a "clicking" sound when he nurses? Is your nipple ever flattened on one side? Many gas issues are actually latch issues.

I agree with Cecilia about other foods than can cause issues.

In all my years as a peer breastfeeding counselor, I did have ONE mom who actually had a baby that was having issues with the local water supply (she would drink it and the chlorine would pass into her milk and the baby would react). She switched to drinking distilled water and the problem resolved.

I do suspect sucking air while nursing however. I also counsel moms from across the country for free. Let me know if I can help in any way.

Best wishes!
K., Cape Cod Breastfeeding Moms / My Mamma's Milk

3 moms found this helpful

caffiene causes a lot of gas in your milk. broccoli, caulifr, spinach, beans. try Gripe Water. its herbal.

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So sorry you and the little guy are having a hard time. Before you put too much more energy into super fine tuning your diet, I would strongly suggest seeing a certified lactation consultant. I did this after La Leche League, books, the web and my pediatrician(who is also a lactation consultant!) couldn't help me with a breastfeeding problem. It wasn't too expensive and really helped. LLL, your Dr or maybe the moms on here or Betkeley Parents Network can help you find a good one. Best of luck and, if you need to, contact me for the name of the lady I saw in Palo Alto.

I had the same problem with my first daughter. Ugh! I was suspicious that it was a cows milk protein intolerance but just to make sure, I cut out EVERYTHING! I ate steamed rice and overcooked zuccini with plain meat such as pork loin or chicken (with no seasoning) for a whole week. My milk production was not affected since I was eating plenty of carbs and protein. Within a couple days, she was a happy baby! And no more mucus in her stool (she hadn't gotten to the bloody stool stage yet). I slowly reintroduced different foods back into my diet starting with veggies and fruits. No problems there. Then I started adding in oats, corn, soy and wheat. I waited 3-4 days before trying a new food to see if the screaming baby returned. Lastly, I added in a little cows milk protein~the screaming baby returned and I had an exact idea of what the culprit was. I did not have any CMP, casein or whey in my diet nor was she able to tolerate it once she started table foods. My daughter's pediatric gastroenterologist once told me that it is normal to not be able to tolerate cows milk protein since we are the only mammal that drinks another mammals milk.....makes sense to me. So I guess my point is, don't give up the breast feeding....it is genetically perfect for him. Just modify your diet to see what the culprit might be.
I know that the reflux doesn't help matters either. Both of my girls have it. The oldest refluxes horribly if she does have any CMP so we still avoid it 95% of the time. If she doesn't have any CMP, she doesn't have to take any Prevacid and is reflux free!!!
I hope this helps a little....it will get better. Message me if you have any questions. Good luck!

Stop the breastfeeding and see if it works. If it does help what a wonderful thing! Not having breastmilk is not the end of the world-don't let anyone make you feel guilty about it. Reducing his suffering and improving his comfort is more important. Nutrition can come from other sources. If eating is not painful, then he will learn to eat better anyway.Not to mention your nutrition will no longer suffer. Have you tried Nutramigen (non milk based and hypoallergenic)? Worked well for my daughter who had some issues with breastmilk and milk formula (but not as bad as your child).
Soon after birth she started arching her back, crying and popped on and off the nipple/ bottle all through a feeding. She wanted to eat because she was hungry but eating was painful-such a dilemna for a little baby! Switched solely to Nutramigen with much improvement. She is 20 mo. old now and still won't touch a drop of milk in any way, shape or flavor no matter how much I try. She can tolerate cheese and yogurt. Try burping more frequently throughout the bottle, not just once afterwards-avoid any build up of air. Good luck.

I hate to ask this question, but what do his poops look like? Is he gaining weight? Have you thought about talking to an IBCLC (certified lactation consultant) in your area? I would really recommend talking to an IBCLC because she may be able to report to your doctor that your already seeing.

Hi there,
When I first had my little girl, some friends brought a chicken and broccolli casserole over. My little girl was real fussy and seemed uncomfortable - but it was easy for me to tell - her little fluffs smelled just like broccolli - I gave it up and she was fine. Think about what you eat consistently - maybe dark green leafies? broccolli? ice cream? and then try cutting one of those items out for a few days to see if there is any improvement. Best of luck.

Ouch! I feel your pain. Your son sounds just like my son, who is now 3. I too remember the prevacid, the constant throwing up, the gas, and the terrible sleep for everyone involved. I am also a vegetarian, and had to give up all the things you listed plus a few more (a health note for you though: since giving up all that can lead to some nutritional deficiencies, be sure to still take a supplement that contains iron, CALCIUM, AND B12 insufficient quantities).

My son too got worse before he got better and it did seem worse right around 5 months when his milk intake was the highest, before he started solid foods. Things that helped us were the ramp for him to sleep on, and feeding him smaller feeds more frequently. Oddly, starting solids in him (bananas, rice cereal, etc) seemed to help a little bit, and after about 8 months things slowly got better. He was on meds until about 15 months, and now is totally fine and normal (picky preschooler with eating, but no residual stomach issues).

Hope that helps assure you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.....eventually =)

Does your bottles, accumulate air bubbles in it as he drinks?
If so, then maybe he is getting gas from it, too.

I used the "MAM" brand bottles, from Amazon. It accumulates no air bubbles in it as the baby drinks.
And it is BPA free.
Great bottles.

And yes, the Mylicon infant gas drops, do help.
And always burp him during, after feedings.

And, watch what you eat too... because it can make sensitive babies, gassy. Certain foods a Mom eats, can make baby gassy.
Broccoli, beans, cabbage too, can cause gas.
Look online for other foods that cause gas in babies, for breastfeeding Moms etc.

i gave up dairy, eggs, soy, nuts, .... it was with in 2 weeks he was a different kid. your doc prob told you to try formula cuz they don't believe people will be very strick about it. be VERY strict. read labels. and things like Caseine is milk for example.

Try drinking fennel tea. My MIL swore by it, and when my baby was gassy, I'd drink some and it did seem to help her. I also started giving my baby Gripe Water before (or mixed into) each feeding--one of the main ingredients is fennel. It really helped...So sorry you guys are going through this! It WILL get better! Hang in there...

My EBF LO was a constant spitter from a few weeks after she was born. She was a happy spitter though, and gained weight like crazy (because she nursed every 45 min during the day and every 2 hrs at night since small frequent meals helped soothe her tummy) so we didn't worry about treating her reflux at first. Then she had a couple of episodes that appeared to be Sandifer's Syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandifer_syndrome) and as she approached four months she could not stay asleep for very long because her tummy was so painful. So we decided treatment was necessary. We did three things:

1. Put her on Zantac efferdose tablets. This seemed to help reduce the frequency of the spit ups.
2. Bought her a Tucker Sling (http://www.tuckersling.com/) so that she could sleep in an elevated position. I'd had great success putting her to sleep in her car seat but I really didn't want to continue doing that, so we spent the $$ for the Tucker Sling and it was worth every penny.
3. I changed my diet. I found that when I was thinking of my diet in terms of "can't eat X,Y,Z (or ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV or W!)" that I got kind of sad. So instead, I chose the following foods as what I _could_ eat. I limited myself to lamb, turkey, squash, potatoes, pears, rice, and millet. I saw improvement that very day, which was surprisingly rapid. I know it wasn't just my imagination because when I went off the diet a few weekends later my LO got worse again. So while a number of folks will tell you that very few babies with tummy troubles are actually reacting to what Mummy is eating, in our case that was absolutely part of the problem. (Looking back now, I'm thinking that the primary source of her reflux was onions.)

After a month or two I was able to go back to eating whatever I wanted, and we stopped having her in the Tucker sling at about 6 months and stopped the Zantac at about 8 months. She's still nursing at 18 months, and has never shown any signs of being allergic to any solid foods (and we've given her pretty much everything, including peanut butter, shellfish, eggs, nuts, etc.)

Since you are a vegetarian, you may have a very difficult time getting enough nutrition if you are limiting your diet. Please be very careful if you do this, and I would highly recommend seeing a nutritionist to make sure you are still getting what you need!

Remember that this will pass and your baby will get better. I personally have a hard time with the theory that a baby with a sensitive tummy will have an easier time with formula, since breast milk is designed by nature to be easily digestible. That being said, if you do find that to be the case then please do not beat yourself up! I would continue pumping as much as I could so that your supply stays up, and I would periodically offer him breastmilk (ideally directly from the source, but if he has trouble latching on you could give him pumped) and see if he's grown out of his tummy troubles. I have heard about babies that for whatever reason had to be bottle fed from birth that were offered the breast at a later date and were able to figure out how to latch on, so if your son has been doing it for four months the chances are good that he'd be able to go back to the breast.

Good luck to you! Reach out to La Leche League and/or a lactation consultant and get direct help and you'll both get through this.

As a couple of people have mentioned, make sure you read ALL the labels, dairy proteins like whey and casein can be in many different products and it wasn't until I completely eliminated ALL dairy that my daughter's colic eased up. I can't remember how long it took to make a difference but I believe it was within a week. Amy's makes a number of vegan dishes - however I did not cut out soy so I'm not sure if there's soy in their food. Rice dream milk and ice cream is great. Chinese food does not usually have dairy in it and neither do tortillas and mexican food if you have them hold the cheese. It is very difficult to be vigilant about it but in the grand scheme of things, so important if your child finds relief and it won't have to be forever. Another major allergen is wheat. You may also have to eliminate tree nuts, not just peanuts. I would try completely eliminating all of those things (being especially careful about the dairy proteins), and then reintroduce one thing at a time to see if it causes a problem. With dairy, the lactation consultants I worked with said to try a piece of hard cheese or yogurt, you'll know if it is still a problem pretty quickly. Many times these things are a sensitivity rather than an allergy and once the child's gut matures more, they have no problem eating the offending item. By completely eliminating until their gut matures, a full-blown allergy doesn't develop. My daughter is now able to eat dairy no problem.

Oh, I'm sorry, that's so hard!

I'd suggest contacting La Leche League, like another Mom suggested.

My little one had blood in her stool when she was a baby. I cut out all dairy and it went away. The Dr. said we could try again in a month, and again there was blood in her stool. Then again after six months, and again the blood. So, I went dairy free for a while, and eventually gave her dairy when she was old enough and she seemed fine. Now (she's almost 3 yrs. old) she has constipation issues and the Dr. thinks it might be the dairy again. We control her constipation with a very small dose of medicine daily (it's like Miralax).

Anyway, when I cut out dairy I had to read EVERY label. It's the milk protein that they are allergic to, which is not the same thing as an intolerance. The intolerance is to lactose (I believe) but the allergy is to the milk protein, which is added to all kinds of food. It is in breads, sausages, probably lots of veggie processed foods, cookies, etc. I was very vigilant and she seemed to be fine. It wasn't easy, but I drank oat milk and rice milk (and got skinny, which I enjoyed since I was always kind of chubby before the pregnancy. ;)

I wish you lots of luck and hope you find a solution soon!

H.

Hi,
First of All.. I highly recommend getting a big yoga ball. After feeding or anytime he has gas, hold him tight against you and sit on the ball.. bounce gently up and down.. you will be amazed how it helps him .. It is a miracle worker for pain. you both will burp and fart. A rocking chair does nothing for a baby with pain in the tummy in case that is what you use.

Second: Eat some meat, maybe some chicken or fish..just a little here and there. Tofu is full of chemicals and gassiness unless you get it organic certified. It may be tough, but it's your baby.

Third: I would get his esophagus looked at. He may have the floppy kind which is more common with early babies, and is under-diagnosed. It flops and chokes them off and they spit up or become very fussy from frustration.

Also, it is never too early to try a drop of gripe water with baby.

And lastly- enemas. If the yoga ball does not help, see if an enema will help his gas.

Good Luck.. I feel for you. My son went through a common ordeal.

Hi, looks like you got a lot of good responses. We had this problem too, and unfortunately, our 5-year-old still has gastrointestinal problems, which we are trying to figure out. I did the same thing and avoided all the common allergens. If the formula is made with soy esp., I would definitely avoid it. An interesting book to read is The Unhealthy Truth, i forget the author, but it might shed some light on why so many more people are having food allergies and reactions, esp to foods like soy. I hope the problem will clear up for your baby. Take care.

just fyi. i would NOT switch to formula. it is highly unlikely to have a breast milk intolerance. breastmilk is the most easily digested. if the baby has problems now, imagine with formula!! my baby had the same problems. they grow out of it. with a lot of bouncing :)

I understand that you don't want to stop breastfeeding but it was a suggestion made by a very well-educated doctor. Not that all doctors are right but I'd think you would want to try everything psosible to help out your baby & the gas. During the 2 week break, you could pump every time you would normally breasfeed & this would keep up your milk supply. We have some good friends who had a gassy,colicky baby & they said what helped at times was to lay him on their lap on his back feet facing them & rock in the rocker. That forward/backword motion seemed to help. Also, try to have him sleeping propped up a bit. Babies R Us (as well as other baby stores & web sites) sells these wedges that you put under the fitted sheet so that the baby sleeps slightly upright. I used this w/our second son cuz he was frequently congested & being propped helped his nose drain & I know others have used them for gas & colick. The wedge is about the width of the crib mattress & about half the length. You just put it on top of the mattress & then put on the fitted sheet. You could also have him sleep in his infant carseat or a bouncy seat which also puts slightly upright. My friend's daughter was colicky & she slept a lot in her infant seat on top of the dryer while it was running. It seemed to be a combo of the noise (like white noise) of the dryer as well as the slight jostling. This helped her (&her parents!) sleep better. Best of luck!

Hi,

I have twin boys that are now 19 months old and they were born six weeks premature. One of the boys was very constipated and had lots of gas. He spit up a lot, and he was in a lot of pain (at about 3 months of age). I nursed both boys and supplemented with formula. The other baby was fine - pooped every day and had no gas or pain. I consulted a chiropractor who began doing regular chiropractic adjustments on my gassy baby. He also recommended probiotics. I would try both of these first. Further, the prevacid is not so good, so if the probiotics and chiro adjustments help, I would try to discontinue the prevacid.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/0...

I give all of my children probiotics. Here is what I use:

http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/products/product/stockn...

I just break it apart, and put the powder in the bottle.
Also, I supplemented with commercial formula. When I read the ingredients on the label, I was stunned. Since then, I have learned you can make your own formula. I wish I had know about this. Perhaps this will help in the event, you'd like to make your own formula.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/1...

Good luck!

You might consider probiotics. You should take them and they have infant ones you could give him. You'd have to look around for ones for babies here is one company http://www.colichelp.com/shop/biogaia-probiotic-drops.html.

Ask the pediatrician to do a blood test to test for food allergies. You just have to draw blood once and they run it against possible allergens. When we did this with my son we determined exactly what he was allergic to...

Make sure he is nearly sitting up while feeding, and burp him more. While burping him, tip him backwards and back up a few times to stir up his tummy and make the bubbles come to the top and let him burp them out. Carry him over your shoulder for 10 minutes or so after feeding before putting him down to sleep. More air bubbles will come up. And one thing no one else mentioned, and most of you wont like it,, cut out chocolate in your diet. I know, its a tough one, but chocolate causes gas too. Even decafe coffees can be a problem. After a while he will mature and be able to handle these things better. Hope some of this helps. (o:

I found a strong connection between the baby getting gas and my eating green peppers and onions. On the upside, my baby's gassy symptoms subsided for the most part around 5.5 months.

My baby would get so much gas build up that he would projectile vomit all over me and himself right in the middle of nursing. He'd literally pull of a split second before it all came shooting out. Dr. said to pull him off every few minutes to burp or to at least burp him in between breasts. It totally helped him--just experiment (and yes, he may be grumpy but will learn that you do but him back to your breast...just keep talking to him and soothing him while you try to get a burp up). I did find a few things that bothered my kids--peanuts, broccoli, bell peppers (and then when my girl got old enough to eat avocado on her own, if she ate too much she'd get gassy and fussy with icky stools). I hate to see you switch to formula. What does the Ped. say? Tell him/her that nursing is important to you and that you are worried he won't pick up the nursing again after a break. What about La Leche (sp?) League? They have free advice--just give them a call and see what they say. It's hard to believe that formula is the 'fix' when that's what women's breast are designed to do.

Another thing I did when my babies did have gas was to do the massage or moving their legs in the big circle (but you need to check with the advice nurse or maybe LLL, as I cannot remember now if it's clock-wise or CCW...). It helps move the gas through their system naturally so they can pass it easier/sooner.

Good luck...don't give up yet!