Help Relieving My Newborns Gas Pains

You probably have heard this, but gently move his knees toward his chest. One at a time or both together. I also heard something about rubbing his tummy I think Counter clockwise - not sure why the direction matters, but it is worth a try. We used similac with iron & then switched to the "parents choice" equivalent from Walmart. They are both manufactured at the same place, but priced differently. Parents choice is signifacantly cheaper. It tastes the same and has the same nutritional value - (this from my dr.)

We used gripe water for gas issues with our last newborn. It is a more natural remedy and we really liked it. You can google it to read about it. Here is one link that you can follow.

http://www.colichelp.com/shop/gripewater.html

Hi N.,

Sorry this is late, and it is going to sound really odd, but I read in a book. I also lived by it with my twins when they were little and works really well! Lay them on their back and carefully take their legs and push them into their belly. The first time that I did it I was all worried about hurting them, but then when you hear them starting farting and feeling so much better it gets easier because you know you are not hurting them. You can also try and rock them on their back while their knees are pushed into their bellys. It works well! Also cheaper then the gas drops.
Good Luck

carry him around... jiggle him a bit.. pat him.

bicycle his legs..

he cant really move his body yet.. so you have to do allthe work for him.

In a couple of months he will be able to move around and get that gas bubble out..

Gripe water is amazing!!! We used it with my older daughter when she was an infant. Mylicon drops only relieve gas pains in the stomach and some into the upper intestinal areas where as gripe water works to relieve gas througout the entire digestive system. I'm not totally sure where you can find it around here in MI. We bought it at a baby botique type place in Wisconsin. It was about $12 a bottle (larger bottle than Mylicon drops) and well worth every penny spent!! I also think you can find it online...I would just google gripe water...I'm telling you, you won't reget it, the other responses are good to help, but this will take the pain away for baby! Good luck!

When my daughter was haivng this problem, I switched to a formula that was a "gentle" version of the regular formula. It was Enfamil brand and I believe it was called something like "Gentlease". It has the milk proteins already partially broken down. The doctor had suggested it because she seemed to have trouble breaking down the milk proteins in the formula which made her gassy. The good news is that my daughter grew out of this stage and now drinks regular milk like a champ :)

We had success with bike peddling their legs to get some release. We'd gently stretch one leg down while pushing the other one gently up into the abdomen. Then switch legs, then pull both down, and finally push both towards the abdomen. That quite often was when the "toot" would signal success. There were times when it caused a little distress and then you knew that it was gas and had to go very slowly. It became a really enjoyable bonding time and I think its good for their legs, too. We often did it just because they liked it.

N. ~
I'm an OB nurse...
do NOT water down the formula!!! that's dangerous!
That said, bring his legs up tight against his belly, it helps to kinda push the gas out. It could be the iron in the formula...as nurses we were always taught that newborns don't tolerate iron for the first few weeks, after that it's fine, so try the plain formula for right now, then go back to the iron in a couple weeks. I wouldn't switch to soy unless your pediatrician recommends it...studies show that it's not as good for babies, and it doesn't sound like he's having a milk problem. One of the things we do at work is put a warm receiving blanket against their belly, then swaddle them good (warm it in the drier, not the microwave). Also, try to hold him so that he's in your arm, belly down, up against your hip, your hand holding his jaw...so he's basically laying on his belly on your arm..propped against your hip...and walk around a bit...I do this at work sometimes with the really fussy ones and it seems to help.
D.

Hi N.,

I've used all the techniques already mentioned with success. However, nothing worked as well or as quickly as Colic Calm

www.coliccalm.com

It worked WONDERS!

Hope your little guy feels better soon.

Put blankets in the dryer and warm them up and use them like a heating pad on his tummy. Another thing I like to do is put him high on your shoulder where the bone helps press on his tummy. It worked for my daughter to release some of the pressure.

If you have the time for it, submerging his belly in a warm bath helps. I don't know how, but it actually makes the gas bubbles pass (you know, makes him toot).

Hi, I have two boys now in their teens. My in-laws lived in Canada and would bring me a product called 'Gripe water'. It is used extensively in Canada and Europe to help babies with gas. I don't know if you can get it in the US but it would be worth looking up on the web. It is all natural and helped them (and me) get some rest. Good Luck!

We used Gripe water...you can buy it online and at some drug stores. Hope it helps! We loved it!

I would check with my Dr. but I have heard that a weak mint tea (herbal not with tea leaves)is soothing to the stomach.

Formula and babies just don't mix well, this is normal. I'd recommend a soy formula (we used similac for our daughter), that's the easiest on their systems. You may also need to use a few oz. of pear or prune juice to keep their bowels moving as well. Our daughter needed it just have a BM every other day. Good luck!

I completely feel your pain! My son had colic and the only thing that really seemed to help him was something called Colic Calm. A fried of mine recommended it to me and I was glad she did. I believe their website is www.coliccalm.com Its been FDA approved, so I felt safe giving it to him.

Good Luck!

Gripe Water. You used to only be able to get it in Canada, however, I just saw it at meijer's recently. If not I am pretty sure that you can get it at Rite Aide. Hope it helps.... it worked for us when Mylicon didn't. GOOD LUCK.

This was given to me as advice from a mom w/ 4 children:

roll a very warm bottle over belly

move his legs in a circle

put him face down on your knees and pat, gently bounce your legs (grandpa did this w/ our son...amazing results)

ER nurse told me this one:

baby massage;
think of the abdomen and how everything is wrapped around...
now with gentle pressure starting in the upper right had side rub down to just above the pelvic bone. now go across and up to just under the rib cage where the diaphram is. follow in the shape of a half moon back to where you started from. Of course baby is on his back facing you when you do this. I make up little silly songs about the gas going bye bye while I do this on our son.

Hope this works for you.

Bringing your son's legs from extended to bent at the chest repeatedly will work. You can also use your index and middle finger to "write" A B C on his stomach from left to right. Don't use too much pressure, but slight pressure should assist in getting his bowels moving so the gas stops and the BM begins. :-)

Move his leg in a peddling motion.

Hi N., my name is K. and I am a brand new grandma to a beautiful little girl. ;-)
My daughter, her Momma, has been introduced to a wonderful product which can be purchased at Wallgreens and Toys-R-Us....it is called "Little Tummys Gripe Water" it usually runs around $10>$12 and comes in a 4oz bottle. We use this when she is extremly fussy and gassy...so far it has served us well. You can look it up on the web at www.colichelp.com/shop/gripewater/html.
I also have a 'home remedy' for your little one. Things you need - baby bottle - peppermint extract - white sugar. Simply have about 2oz of tepid water in the baby bottle - take a spoon (one you'd use to eat your dinner with) and carefully pour some peppermint extract onto the TIP of the spoon....coating the spoon with the extract...NOW...pour the additional extract back into the jar....take your spoon and just barely put the tip of the spoon into the sugar bowl, allowing some sugar to stick to the tip of the spoon....then take the spoon and stir it into the tepid water. Offer this to your son, via his bottle and wait for the gas bubbles to escape his little body. (This remedy also works for adults...we just need more of the extract, sugar & water for our body mass ;-)
I trust that one of these remedies will be successful for you and your family. If you have any additional questions I can be reached at ____@____.com

We had this very same problem with our daughter. We figured out that filtering the water in our tap did the trick. Go out and buy a Pur Filter for your facuet and that will probably fix his problem. At about 10 months we were able to stop using the filter for mixing her formula because her tummy was able to digest the non filter water better. Best of Luck to you. I do not suggest changing his formual unless suggested by his pedictrician.

N.,

I don't know if this will work, but when my son was little we made his formula up in batches in a large Nalgene bottle and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour. The bubbles from the mixing process then had a chance to rise to the top and escape.

It seemed to help him and he even liked his formula cold so we did not heat it up at all.

Good luck with your little one!

-C..

Hello,

Mylicon did not work for my Daughters gas pains either, however the little tummys gas drops did :-)

Good luck!

Alternate doing the bicycle and taking both legs at the same time in and out.

There are some infant massage techniques that have worked for us. We took a class but I am sure you could find them in a book from the library.

my daughter was very gassy, we pumped her legs back and forth, and wraprd a hot water bag in a towel and laid her on it. it was the only thing that worked for her

I must say alot of others are right the gripe water is very good I found it at a natural food store used it alot with second son just wish I would have known about for the first bottled water helped taped seamed to make him more gassy.Good Luck

We had the same issue. When our son was about 5 weeks old he started developing painful gas and as a last resort we swiched the formula to a more soy based (Enfamil Gendlease) formula and that seemed to do the trick for us.

Lay him on his back and bicycle his legs.

Pay no attention to the formula and babies don't mix well!! People like that drive me crazy. This is something I saw my mom do years ago with my niece, lay him on his back, grab his little feet and start to move them back and forth (knees bent) in a bicycle motion. It helps relieve the gas. My pediatrition did it once too when I first had my daughter. Best of luck to you.