How Do You Know When Baby Is Having Gas Pain and Needs Help?

If your sons abdomen is rigid..

Here's a description of infant massage: The gas massage I teach consists of three parts. Before you begin, drizzle some oil on your hands and rub them together enough so your hands glide on your baby's skin but don't leave his skin looking shiny. Some people prefer to use a special massage oil, however any oil will do, even vegetable oil from the kitchen. Undress baby, but leave the diaper on loosely. Sometimes babies pass more than gas! Place the baby on his back on a washable blanket, in case the oil stains it. Always keep a hand on the baby!

Part One is called the paddlewheel. Place your palm under the baby's chin, with your fingers pointing toward his shoulder. (It doesn't matter which hand you begin with since you will use both.) Draw your hand down his chest, and into the diaper area. Your stroke should be smooth and firm enough that you feel the "dip" when your hand leaves his ribcage. As your hand is around the belly button, place the opposite hand under the chin and stroke downward, so your hands are making circles over the baby, with one hand always stroking. Do this until your hands/arms begin to tire.

Part Two: Baby is still flat on his back. Place the baby's heel up next to his bottom by bending his knee sharply. Move the leg, still sharply bent, until the top of the thigh rests against the tummy. Get both legs in this position. The baby may be a tad confused at first, but later he will actually assist you-babies love this so! Grab the baby's ankles and gently shake his legs in an up-and-down motion, unbending the knees gradually, until his heels rest on the blanket and his legs are straight. Repeat many times. You may also help the baby "ride a bicycle" by holding his feet and pumping his legs. This is not part of the "official" massage, but my babies loved doing it.

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It is so hard to tell if it is just gas...have you tried Mylicon drops? Recommended by our pediatrician. It totally helped my son when he was just a few weeks old...but he seemed to be acting in pain & very uncomfortable even after the mylicon...we took him to Chilren's Hospital & was immediately diagnosed with a triple hernia..thus they operated on our sweet 6 week old baby...within hours he was a different baby...Prior to surgery he had a tight tummy too. When you do a diaper change watch for a while to see if you notice any bulging in the groin area...it comes & goes pretty quickly but if you do see anything that looks like a slight bulge...go immediately to the hospital as it could be a hernia...I am not a doctor but just from my experience with our son I would literally go right away...

ON another note if he seems to be happier when you stand him up it could be Reflux...I was a nanny for 5 years & one of the children I took care of had it bad...it was very uncomfortable for him to lay. Wish you the best & I hope this has helped you & not scared you...

If his belly is tight it's most likely gas. Try Baby's Bliss Gripewater, it's an herbal concoction with ginger and fennel which help with digestion. Can't hurt, and no side effects. Our little guy had evening gas for several weeks around the same time, and this seemed to help quite a bit. It seemed to subside after about 3 months. Also try rubbing his belly in a clockwise direction, but not much higher than his belly button. Good luck!

mylicon is the drops that you want. There was a recall on the gripe water so I would not use that. I am not sure it would be gas. If he is crying or in pain then his tummy would be tighter. Mylicon wont hurt anything, so you can give him that. He could have cought somthing at the doctors, or did he have any immunizations when he was there, has your older one been sick at all? Trust your instincts. You know him better then anyone.

I could be acid reflux. My daughter screamed every time after nursing until we figured out it was acid reflux. This is a great website to help you figure out if its acid reflux:

http://www.infantreflux.org/user_signs_symptoms.htm

Sounds a bit like my son. He's got lots of problems with gas and stools. This is something they will grow out of as their digestive track matures, but it can be a bit tough getting through. A few things that I have found that work: Mylicon drops will help get the burps out. You can buy them almost anywhere. Also, gripe water can help (the only one recalled was apple-flavored Baby's Bliss). Little Tummy's is a good brand and you can get that most anywhere as well. My son also preferred my holding him while standing up/walking/bouncing. The minute I sat down in a chair he would wail again, except for my exercise ball. He would calm down when I would hold him and gently bounce on it. I also will put my son on his tummy on my knee and hold my hand under his chest/chin, with the other hand I gently rub his back in smooth, slow circles. He usually likes to suck on my arm or hand and will start to arch his back and then the "music" will begin and he starts to let the gas go. (My son needs to be calmed down a bit for this, if he's crying this won't work...however, once he's calmed down he's fallen asleep in this position). Also, sucking seems to help my son. I'll hold him in my arms and give him a pacifier or my little finger. He'll suck like crazy until the gas or the pain has passed. You can also try to hold him more upright while he is feeding, then keep him upright for 10-20 minutes after he's finished. I tried the recommendation for bending his knees to his chest but it never worked for my son, just seemed to tick him off more. The stomach massage never worked for my son either. You just have to try different methods and see which ones your son responds to.

One last thing...is he arching his back during this "craziness?" Do his burps sound wet? Does his make this funny little blurping sound? Does he get hiccups a lot? My son had all these symptons and it turned out it was silent acid reflux. With silent acid reflux the spit-up comes up, but then goes right back down again. My doctor put my son on baby zantac and it helped tremendously.

It's good you're going to talk to the doctor. My son's pedi was a huge help. Good luck and hang in there.

He might need to be burped more???
If not, try the baby gas drops, it's a little bluish box (next to the other baby over-the-counter products) found at Babies-R-Us and I'm sure the grocery store.
Also, he might not like his formula (if formula fed), try changing it around a little-concentrated formula instead of powder, see if that helps. If not, try changing to a different formula.

My 5th month old son did the same thing, sometimes still. I think what he likes is the perspective to be as tall as adults.I just stand with him and rock him until he seems ready to be sat down again. If that doesn't work maybe the doctor has a better reason, but mine seems to be just fine, and really only does it now when he is a bit tired and is fighting the urge to sleep because he wants to be a part of everything. Oh, and my son never had gas, so it might not be gas at all.

Hi W.,
Perhaps you need to change the formula you have been giving him. My niece had a similar problem and changing the formula worked for her. Good luck:)

The symptoms that you're describing sound like gas. Another symptom, when you lie him down, does he draw his knees up to his stomach? That's a really good sign.

Try Mylicon drops, if that doesn't work for you, contact me for the recipe for onion tea, a tried and true, passed down for generations recipe that ALWAYS works.

Good luck.

Iam a first time mother to a 4 month old girl who's just gotten over a severe case of colic. I was in the dr. every week it seemed when she was a newborn trying to find an answer to that very question your asking.I exclusively breastfed so I tried changing my diet, that didnt work. What I highly reccomend is that you watch The Happiest Baby on the Block by: Harvey Karp worked miricles for my daughter and alot of other babies. Baby bliss gripe water sold at longs drugs works well. When your baby starts crying try swaddling & put in either a swing or bouncer swing is better with white noise in the background I used a vacumn c.d worked great!!!!! They sell them at borders book store or online. The sleep sheep & friends also works great for white noise. Good news colic usually goes away at 3 to 4 months good luck!!

All four of my kids had gas issues. They weren't diagnosed as lactose intollerant. I had to watch my dairy intake. The dairy I ate, I passed the cows enzyme to them. I've heard that the cows enzyme is larger than humans and is harder for the baby to digest. It was an easy fix for me. They have baby gas drops. I use walmarts Equate liquid gas drops. They are in the pharmacy section right with the adult GasX. They have Mylacon drops for babies, but they are three times expensive. I keep the drops every where in the house and diaper bag. You can listen to their tummies and hear the bubbles. Just give them the drops and they'll get better really fast. When I eat dairy I take GasX myself and I give them the drops before the pain bubbles start. They do grow out of it. One of my babies I had to give acidophulus milk instead of regular milk. He drank that from one to three years old. He grew out of it and can now have regular milk.
I hope this helps you.
Good luck!
M., mom of three boys and baby girl.

You might want to try apple sause it helps with gas pain. My son gets it and he is 16yrs old know and he has learned that when his stomach hurts he takes a couple of spoons of apple sause and the relief is great and its healthy too.,

D.:)

Are you breastfeeding? Either you are eating something that is causing him difficulty with digestion, or he is not able to tolerate the formula. Babies have very sensitive systems as they adjust to the world, expecially boys! Anyway, without knowing either of these answers, hard to give suggestions. Go to wwwhealthyanswersonline and ask this question with the complete background to Dr. Vicky. She'll give you some pointers

Mylicon and gripe water never worked me, but the baby massage descibed above did! Target sells a baby and me yoga dvd for $10 (near all their naturescapes cds near their greeting cards usually) and I love the baby massage part of it--so does my son. The belly baby massage is specifically for relieving gas.

You could also try burping between switching sides if your child is nursing or half way through a bottle. Burp past when you get one burp out and do it for several minutes inbetween AND at the end. That seemed to help me. Good luck!

Could also be colic or acid reflux... does he calm down when you pick him up? Or does he continue to cry unconsolably for 3 or more hours at a time? If he does then you might want to talk to your ped. about those two conditions, which are more prevalent in boys than in girls and you're at about the right time for those to occur.

Mylecon works for some and not for others... if you suspect colic then try Hylands Colic tablets. They are homeopathic so if he's not colicky then it won't hurt or help, but if he is it works for a lot of babies. I know someone said that gripe water was recalled, but there are at least two brands out there. I use Little Tummies... or at least I did when my son was around your son's age. Now he doesn't use anything and he seems to be fine. :)Good luck!

W. - congrats on the new baby! If you are nursing, it may be that your son is reacting to something you are eating that is being transmitted to him through your breast milk. You may have to experiment to find out what it might be. For me it was caffeinated soda. I had been eating really carefully while I was pregnant, but thought I could safely resume my lunchtime can of Coca Cola once my son was born - first glass I had was the last 'til he was weaned.

Best of luck!

L.

What vaccinations did he have? It sounds like a reaction.The odds are 1 in 6 that it is. Be aware your Doctor will NOT admit it. Please take him to a homeopath or other non AMA Doctor.

If you are breastfeeding, she could be reacting to something that you ate. I figured out pretty quickly that my baby has a milk sensitivity, but maybe you ate something spicy or in some other way irritating. If it keeps happening, you may want to keep a journal of what you eat and when she reacts like this.

Hi W.,
Sounds like acid reflux to me. My twin girls had it and went wild after eating. Screaming in pain. My husband and I tried everything because the doctors insisted it was gas- gas drops and beware of gripe water- it warms the tummy, which makes acid reflux worse!! We were stumped. It took changing doctors and much insistence on my part to start zantac (This was four years ago), now I understand they make special zantac drops for infants. Sitting or standing in an upright position helps. (Feeding with the infant upright), elevating his head to sleep, changing bottle nipples to cereal nipples which have slits instead of holes, this allows the infant to suck to get liquid instead of having liquid constantly pouring into their mouths and overwhelming their tummies. CHange to thicker formula. Even on the zantac and taking all these precautions, my girls still have episodes at four years old.
Good luck to you, some babies only have mild cases.
P.

Mylicon or Little Tummy's will help your little guy in about 10 minutes.

We use Mylicon Gas Relief drops. This helps so much! Our Pediatritian suggested it for us to use when our first son was just 4 days old (he is 2 now). It is perfectly safe for little ones, and works great. Just use as directed on the bottle and you will be fine! (Use a little less if you choose, but don't use more than directed!).

Good luck!

Try moving his feet like riding a bike motion. Also Melaleuca tea in little doses through out the day or will help. Let me know if you would like to check out the tea.
Good Luck. I have been there and it is not fun:)
T.

Dear W.,
It could be a tummy ache! At this site are some tips to understand your BABY's BODY LANGUAGE:
http://www.babies-and-sign-language.com/body-language.html

If it IS a tummy ache, I really found relief for the babies using homeopathic Baby Colic tablets, and Teething Tablets in the Natural remedies section of Health food stores. They melt in the mouth and are completely safe.
I hope it works out that this will be over soon!
Best,
R.

When our kids seem to have stomach distress, we lay them on their bellies. It seems to always help. My 4 year old son now even tells his younger sister, when she's complaining about an unknown pain, to lie down on her belly because he gains such relief.

Perhaps more tummy time
good luck

My little boy had a lot of gas. i could actually feel the bubbles in his belly. Those little tommies gas drops seemed to help a lot.

yeah it sounds like gas to me. the mylicon drops are great to give. also what helps is to gently peddal his legs and push his knees to his chest. good luck i hope your baby feels better soon!

Sounds like the baby has gas after each feeding.
Burp him more often during the feeding time. You can also push his legs up to his stomahe to make the gas come out or another idea as your burping him as he is sitting on your lap push in his stomach and that should release the gas.
Good luck.
C.

W.,

It could be food intolerances. If you are using formula, try a hypoallergenic one like Similac Alimentum. If you are breastfeeding, take a look at this http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/t083301.asp My son is allergic to dairy and soy. I'm a breastfeeder. Once I totally eliminated dairy and soy from my diet, he was a MUCH happier baby. I started out with a broad elimination diet (dairy, soy, eggs, caffeine, chocolate, citrus, fish, shellfish and nuts). He improved dramatically so I started adding things back in one at a time and narrowed it down to dairy and soy. If he wouldn't have improved, I would have added corn and gluten to my list of things to avoid.

In my experience, pediatricians are a horrible source of information on food intolerances and allergies in babies. My son also had reflux and treating his reflux didn't help at all until I dealt with his food intolerances.

If you need more info, my email is ____@____.com

T.