Infant Gas

apples and pears--seriously.

I figured it out with baby #2, when I went on an apple binge right after he was born. Fresh apples and apple juice cause it the worst, applesauce I seem to be able to eat alright (?why?), I haven't tried cider.

I essentially stopped eating apples and pears cold turkey back then, and now I almost never have gas and neither of the last two kids had much either! When I do eat an apple (or feed the kids an apple), I make sure to drink lots of water/juice as well so most of the tummy-reaction gas comes out as burps instead of (painful) farts.

It has something to do I think with the acids in the stomach reacting to the relatively alkaline fruits.

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K....drop everything you're doing today and go to the bookstore or library and pick up the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp MD. It will change EVERYTHING I promise. It's a pretty quick read and I'd be willing to bet by the time you're done reading it you won't think it was gas (I thought the same thing btw) any longer. Keep in mind that American babies have the highest rate of "colic" or "gassy babies" although women in Korea eat Kim Chi and nurse their babies all the time with no problems.

Good luck...I promise this book will be worth every second and penny.

L. H

PS sahm to 10 and 5 year old girls and I own a home daycare.

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A few tricks that worked for us, we used Gripe Water as well as the mylicon. Our pediatrician said we can use mylicon pretty much as often as we had to...but check with your own pediatrician first.
Also we held her over our forearm, with her belly on our forearm, face down and patted her that helped with teh gas. Or put her little belly on your knee, face down and try patting her that way...it helps them get rid of the gas especially before you put them down for a nap. I had all the same issues with breastfeeding and eliminating dairy was a huge help for me. Their little systems just aren't used to it right away. Good luck!

Try a different brand of gas drops. Mylicon didn't work for any of my 5 kids, so we had the best luck with Little Tummies. I was told the way they are formulated differently works for different babies. Also, I have a friend that took one of her babies to the ER because she was screaming for hours. They found a HUGE gas bubble in an xray and told her to keep giving her the gas drops till it broke the gas bubble and she could pass it. The gas drops are not adsorbed outside of the digestive tract so there's no way to overdose them. This made a huge difference for us with our other little ones to get them quietened down and comfortable a lot quicker! I know we've had to do as many as 6 dropper fulls, but we get a burp, a fart, and a happy, quiet, sleeping baby.

Hope this helps!

K.

Go natural 1 bay leaf and 1 tsp of fennel seed boiled in about 2 cups of water strain cool and add a little sugar and give to child will get rid of gas. Son had it terrible.

Are you drinking coffee? Because I had to stop drinking coffee with my girls because that was triggering their gas more than anything!

We had a very difficult time with both our girls as infants. I was wondering how long you've had the dairy cut out as it can take a number of weeks for the protein in the dairy to work through your system completely. With our first, I gave it a week at the recommendation of our pediatrician with no changes. The second time around (after getting a chance to do more research) I took it out at the first sign of trouble and it did help A LOT.

Mylicon (or any gas drops) only work in about half the population, so don't increase dosage--try something else. Hyland's tablets or gripe water.

Stop with the solid foods, my goodness! 6 months is a more standard age for introducing the most basic bland foods. Apples and pears can aggravate so I'm sure leafy greens would.

If it's a casein sensitivity and you've dropped all dairy, make sure you're excluding butter (fat but still has casein), margarine (made with whey), and ***anything with soy*** or soy-based ingredients. Babies sensitive to casein (milk protein) are frequently sensitive to soy. It's these last 3 points that made the final difference for us. Within days, a smiling baby again! (Takes 2 weeks for these items to cycle out of you completely.)

I didnt have time to read tne respones, but my son had terrible gas, and we used pepermint water made from pepermint extract worked wonders adn was something my grandma recommened

K.,
I have a 10 week old and 6 weeks is usually the peak time for colic, their digestive system is the last thing to develop and should start to get better soon.

But I also took my baby around 6 weeks to the chiropractor, for infant craniosacral therapy for two visits and it helped quite a bit. It wasn't an amazing fix, but I think it helped her deal with the gas.

There have been studies that show visits to the chriro help 80-90% of babies and colic.

H.

Have they said anything that maybe she is allergic to your milk? my friend had that problem and it ended up that her little boy was lactose intolerant all the way and was allergic to her milk also. it upset his tummy

Try infant massage. It helps stimulate the digestive tract and will keep things moving along! There are also some positions you can try with her to help get the gas out before you lay her down such as bending her knees and putting them up towards her chest. Not so it hurts or anything, but just so it opens the passage for gas. :)

My little guy had the same problem, he would be in so much pain he would arch and curl constantly after feeding. He was also a spit-up baby. At 2 weeks his Naturopath put him on probiotics. Bifidus and Primadofalous (sp?) are two really good ones for the itty bitty guys. I started with 1/4 tsp of the powdered type and finger fed it or put it on my nipple during nursing for him. It dissolved pretty easy and he seemed to like to lick it off of my finger, best.

Within a couple of days his system seemed to function so much better and I didn't have to go off of various foods to relieve his problem. They typically haven't built up the good bacteria (like the probiotics) that helps them to digest and keep their digestive system running smoothly.

Good luck to your little one.
D.

Have you tried Gripe Water instead? All natural for the baby's system. Also, have you used the frog legs? Where you lay her on her back and bring her legs up to her stomach and then back down to help move the gas out? We used to do that a lot..."frog legs, log legs." Became a fun game that helped.

Start by eliminating one food at a time, if she gets better, that is the food she is allergic to.

All three of my kids have food allergies and had the same awful "colic" until I discovered what to eliminate from my diet.

1st child: obvious milk -- cooked in food was okay
2nd child: still reacted after obvious milk, so ped said all hidden milk also (whey, casein, etc.)
3rd child: milk
Also: citrus, acidic foods, caffiene

"The Baby Book" by William Sears was very helpful to me. It alerted me to look for an "allergy ring" around the baby's anus. This is a distict red ring, rather than the all over redness of diaper rash. This way I knew the colic was allergy related and not something else.

I had a very mild diet while breastfeeding (2 years each) and drank lots of water. It takes a couple weeks for the offending food to get out of your and your baby's system.

FYI: By process of elimination, I have discovered my kids (now ages 12, 9 and 4 years) are allergic to milk, soy, almonds, rice, citrus, artificial coloring.

I hope some of this helps. Keep up the good work!!

What worked wonderfully for us for gas in our 3 kids when they were newborns were the Hyland's homeopathic colic tablets. They are available for about $5 at most drug stores. They are safe and very easy to give as they disolve instantly in their mouth so there is no worrying about choking. They are in a lactose base so they taste a bit sweet so the babies seem to like the taste. I would give a dose in combination with the Mylicon drops and it relieved the fussiness pretty much every time. Good luck!

S.
www.hazelaid.com
All natural, organic, handmade hazelwood necklaces for the relief of eczema, acid reflux, & teething pain for babies and their families.

My heart goes out to you and your son because I know how painful gas can be, especially for a little one. My son had such bad gas (and I was breastfeeding too) we had to take him to the ER. Not fun. They gave us acidophilus to give him, since babies digestive systems are still immature and they don't have enough beneficial bacteria in their gut. Definitely worked! We also would give him Colic Calm (sold on the internet). It was a lifesaver and worked great and within a few minutes! I would highly recommend both acidophilus and Colic Calm to help your little one. And best of all, they're both completely natural. www.coliccalm.com Hope this helps and God bless!

Hi K.,

You've had some good responses, so I'll just add one more--Gripe Water. I think you can get it at PCC or Whole Foods. I used it along with Mylicon for my son, and it seemed to help some.

I'll just second the person who said follow Harvey Karp's "Happiest Baby on the Block" suggestions too. His strategies were amazing for my very fussy baby. Amazing because they worked in minutes, or even seconds! I watched his DVD and read the book. I preferred the DVD.

Good luck and blessings!

Mylicon has been proven in several studies to be completely ineffective against gas.

I know how you feel, though. When my son was 6 weeks old, we took him to the ER because he had such bad gas he hadn't slept in 24 hours. Of course while we were waiting, he fell asleep, so we left. :)

Try some knees-to-belly exercises. Sometimes this can help work the gas out.

Hi K.,

My son had gas as a little guy, and what worked for me was to give him the gas drops before he nursed, rather than waiting until afterward. It seemed to help break down the gas as he was feeding. Good luck! ~ D.

Hi K.,

So sorry to hear about the gas! Poor critter and poor you. I've one additional thought - since you are nursing (way to go!) is her latch OK? Is she swallowing lots of air? When she's done nursing is your nipple in a lipstick shape? Is there lots of clicking when she nurses? My thought is if she has a shallow latch this could be causing her to swallow lots of air and result in gas.
I would strongly recommend against giving your 6 week old baby any solid food. This could make the problem much worse as her digestive system is not ready yet for solids - the food would be improperly digested and make things worse.
Also, as another suggested, a tummy massage and bicycling legs really helped for us. Also if you put her tummy down on your knees and rub her back often that will help get things pushed out.

Good luck!

Try gripe water. You can find it in the natural remedies section of most stores.
It works MUCH better than Mylicon!

Instead of cutting out things, try eating some fresh pineapple, apples. All uncooked fruits and veggies contribute to digestive enzymes to the digestive system to help break down food.

If that doesn't work, you can purchase somedigestive enzymes, put them on your breast nipple and when baby feeds, they get absorbed into her system, and she can digest better.