Very Gassy 2 Month Old

I have a 4 month old son and went through almost the same thing but there are drops you can buy at walmart or wherever. They work wonders Mylacon or little tummies both are good and they don't have any side effects. Also Peppermint candy dissolved in water works good for gas. And above all NO HONEY it is very bad for babies under a year it could lead to a very sick baby even to the point of death.
Good luck
K.

I feel your pain. My baby is 6 months now and is still gassy as ever. Most of the time it dosen't bother him but sometimes it really does. Infact, when he was a few months old my Dad came into town to see his new grandson and said "I'm not around baby's alot but I'm pretty sure yours has more gas then most" I laughed and shrugged it off, I told him he must take after his dad. Anyways, I use just a little of the Infant Mylicon Gas Relief and it seems to do wonders. Good luck.

Oh boy was my son gassy! I was horrified the first time he cried out in pain from gas. I didn't know what was wrong!
I bought symethicone drops (like Mylicon, but the Equate brand from WalMart, half the price!) and they worked wonders. I'd never heard of gripe water, or I would have tried that, probably.
We took that little bottle of symethicone drops everywhere. He loved it and it helped him so much! He loved it so much, in fact, that we started calling it "gas candy."
When he had a tummy ache, I would give him the drops, lay him on his tummy across my nursing pillow (or on my chest), and give him a pacifier. All those things help (paci's stimulate the digestive tract and move the gas along). He'd usually fall asleep that way, so it really soothed him a lot.
Oh, and pumping his legs worked sometimes, too. Lay him on his back and move his legs as if he were riding a bicycle. That sometimes gets things moving, too.

A.,
Try using mylicon, you can use it up to 12 times a day. I used it with my son who had major gas and it really worked. I gave it to him with every bottle, the we also laid him flat and would massage his tummy in an outward motion. Good luck

You can give babies gas drops from birth up to 12 times daily. By all means, ask your doctor first, but this helped major with my kiddos.

talk to your pediatrician. I don't know what it's called, but there's medicine that you can give him. Plus, your pediatrician might be able to help you with other options.

Use gas drops. For a couple months we gave our little one gas drops with every bottle. He has since then out grown them. For a while we bought the mylecon but it is sooo pricey so we switched to the generic (equate?) brand and it is much cheaper and works just as good. You can find both brands at walmart.

try giving your little boy infants mylicon gas drops when he gets gassy. helped a ton with all three of my kids. you should be able to find it in either the baby or pharmacy isle at any walmart

I have a month old that gets very gassy too, I also breastfeed. I figured out that if I have any caffeine even a small amount it gives him really painful gas. I haven't tried Mylicon gas relief yet, but I've talked other mothers that says it helps a lot. Good Luck

If your are BFing, then it may be a foremilk / hindmilk imbalance, i.e. too much foremilk (the watery stuff) and not enough hindmilk (the thick, caloric, fatty stuff). This can be caused by switching sides too quickly into a feeding or too often. Make sure your baby is staying a minimum of 15-20 minutes on ONE side. Then offer the other side. If this does not work, then your baby may not be "emptying" your breast in the 15-20 minutes or may be falling asleep too soon. In that case, offer the same side for two feedings in a row. For a more detailed paper on this subject, please email me at ____@____.com .

C. McCollett, CBE, CLD, MWA
The Westside Birth Connection
###-###-####
www.westsidebirthconnection.com
Marketing Chair, Colorado Doulas Association
www.coloradodoulas.com

Hi A.,
You didn't mention staying away from carbonated drinks--these are usually THE culprits of all culprits. Pop is an absoluted no-no--the carbonation causes painful gas and withdraws calcium from yours and your infants bones. Caffeine in other forms can be a double whammy too. You may also need to get to the hindmilk (the thicker, creamier milk that comes at the end of one side). If you're nursing too short on one side, you might be missing it and hindmilk is important for lining the baby's gut. Try nursing one side until it's empty and then switch to the other side to make sure your oxytocin levels stay high in that breast--even if the baby doesn't use up the full second side. Then start on THAT side the next time you nurse.

Good luck!J.

I have 3 boys and all 3 had gas, but I think it was due to an adjusting body. They come into the world without any flora in their intestines. So it takes time to build it up. I found the gas drops for babies worked great in consolidating the gas for a big blow. The doc said it's harmless. Samithicone or something like that is what's it's called. A good friend showed me the exercize and massage that you probably already know. The I LOVE YOU massage. 1st I would lay baby on back on blanket then gently bring right arm and left leg to meet in middle of belly. Then the opposite. Then bring up the knees to belly and sometimes they blow at that time. Then I follow the intestines with my hand on tummy: I is down the middle of the tummy, then LOVE is the L part going clockwise on the large intestine then the U of YOU, going the last part of the large intestine. Basically going in a clockwise spiral starting from the center. If anything this serves as a bonding moment and a distraction from the gas....
Good luck and enjoy the bonding...

I breastfed for 5 months, i noticed my little girl was more gassy with the actual gassy type foods i ate: beans, certain vegetables, and spicy foods. Mylicon did work great, as well as the infnat massage. Also try moving knees up to chest and then straigt. Good luck it will pass...no pun intended!

It is normal to have a gassy baby. Every baby is different. Use gas medicine to relieve his pain. Lay him down on his back and push his knees into his tummy to help push out the gas. Since he's breastfeeding, take notice of what you are eating that is giving him gas. For me --- garlic or spicy foods gave my kids gas. If he had food allergy I imagine you would see a rash around has mouth or anus. Anyways, his digestive system is still developing. It will get better as he gets older.

I have a very gassy baby as well! She used to do the same thing and there was nothing i could do to comfort her or help her. For the most part it never bothers her. But on occasion it gets too built up and she has a hard time finding relief. I really think it has to do with how fast she has to eat and that when she does she swallows a lot of air. When she was your son's age it was worse but as she's gotten older she's gotten a lot better at regulating it herself. So i wouldn't worry too much his digestive system is just not like the other kids.

When both my boys were babies, I breastfed and both had difficulties digesting. They spit-up all the time, had tummy aches, and gas. They both have many food allergies. I went on a very resricted diet, adding one thing at a time back to it until I found all the things that bothered my boys. When I started the restricted diet ( no dairy, wheat, soy, eggs,etc.) they both were like different children. Slept better, no crying, no gas, not much spit-up. Totally happier. I could tell right away when I ate something that they couldn't tolerate. It made all the symptoms come back. It sounds like a lot of work, but it sure beats having a crying baby that never sleeps, and is in pain all the time. Food allergies can also cause severe rashes, acid reflux, and eventual asthma. I wish you all the best.

There is a product out there called Colic Calm (www.coliccalm.com) and it gets great reviews not just for colic but for relieving gas and acid reflux. I just started using it for my two months old who has acid reflux and it seems to be working. Take care!

M.

One thing that worked for my daughter who was a lot like your son was Mylicon drops. After feedings I gave her a dropper full and she would burp and maybe fart and it was fine. They are safe to use and miracle for my daughter. However, close to her third month she had such a tough time, I was really sick of being on water and bread basically so I stopped breast feeding, which for us was a positive. I put her on Nutramigen formula (which is predigested) and it was like a miracle again, she ate a lot better, no more tummy issues, slept great at night and naps and it was a life saver. She never had true food allergies, but needed what was in the formula I guess. She went right to solids well and transitioned to milk at one without a problem.

I would consult your Pediatrician as I know even dairy, eggs and so forth are things you need to remove from your diet if your are breast feeding and there are allergies or something bothering your son.

I understand what you are going through. We didn’t know that my 23 month old had problems with eggs for a long time. He would do fine with them for breakfast, but not for dinner. I found that if I gave him eggs for dinner he would wake up with in 3 to 4 hours after he went to bed screaming because he had a lot of gas. I think that the reason he was fine with them during the day and not at night is because during the day he is running and being very active, and the motion helps get it out, but at night he is not moving as much and the gas just builds up. I always made sure that I had some mylacon around where I could find it for those times. Try giving him some mylacon when he is gassy. It seems to work fast and very well. I nursed all 3 of my children and I know that there some foods that you eat that make the baby have more gas. If you have a lactation specialist at the hospital, call her and ask her what you could do about things to eat. If not, you might just have to experiment with your diet and make sure you have some Mylacon in the house.

Hi A.,
Well, I have found (only after two babies) that there is no such thing as "normal" in general, just what's normal for each particular baby... My two could not be any more different. Anyway, my son was very gassy as an infat too, and like you I cut out almost everything from my diet. Chocolate seemed to be the biggest culprit in my situation <sigh>. but what really helped was Mylicon. My pediatrician said it was safe to give it to him after every feeding as it's not a drug absorved by their bodies but it just casuses a "chemical" reaction per se, and helps get rid of the gas (as I recall). You can read more about it at: http://mylicon.com/ and ask your pediatrician about it. You can find it in the baby isle in most grocery/drug stores. Sorry to hear your little one is gassy, hopefully this can help him. My son "outgrew" his gassiness around 4 months. I wish you well.

I would suggest to try the gas drops, or even the gripe water that is good for colic and gas. I also heard that chiropractic care helps the problem. Best wishes!

What I do is help get the gas out so he is not in so much pain, I would lay him on his back and push his knees up to his chest and back down agaig and keep doing that A few times, and then try rubing his tummy in the clockwise motion in between the knee tucks. This will at least ease his pail A little and help pass the gas.

I too am a first time mom of a 3 month old and he too is gassy. He has been gassy from birth and it doesn't seem to make a difference with what I eat (I also breastfeed). I have tried to stay away from gas inducing foods and haven't noticed a significant difference. He has had crying spells due to the gas ( at least that's what I think it's from). My doctor has not been concerned with this and has said that as my son grows his digestive system will continue to develop and he will be less gassy. Early on I used Gripe Water and that seemed to help settle his tummy. Hope this helps. Oh and Congratulations!

someone told you to use honey, and i hope you know that honey is the worst thing you can give to a baby. anyway i had a gassy baby too. i think it is normal, their little tummies are just getting used to food being in there. oh and don't listen to what other people say (about how your baby is way gassier than any other baby they've seen). everyone told me my baby was tall and she was in the 45th percentile for height, so you know. one thing i made sure i did was burp her after every feeding. even if they fall asleep. and you have to get them high up on your shoulder to be able to push out the burp. good luck, and hang in there.

It is "normal" to have a gassy baby, but it is almost always caused by something that you are eating. The easiest way to figure this out is to keep a log of what you eat and all of his reactions. For me and my son I couldn't eat anything dairy. For my sister-in-law and her daughter she couldn't eat anything with Soy in it. Perhaps it is the soy in foods. SOme babies can't handle it when moms eat processed foods. If you really want to know keep a log and figure it out. Also, Gripe Water really helps to alleviate his stomach pains, and it's all natural a big plus in my book. I wouldn't worry about any "food allergies"; he's too young to have them, and almost 100% of the time it's just that his digestive track hasn't fully developed to digest all the different kinds of foods and enzymes that we eat (and he gets through your milk)

I have a three month old girl, also breast fed and she had the same kind of issues. Now that she is a little bit bigger she seems to be moving away from it on her own. She's still gassy but it is getting less and now she hardly ever screams from it. She still cries suddenly on the breast sometimes and I'll hear gas moving around in her belly but it's better than before. Hang in there, I'm sure it will get better. Also we tried those antigas drops and it was a nightmare. I would not recommend those. She was up all night burping to the point that it smelled like vomit. PS DO NOT FEED HIM HONEY! Babies are not supposed to have honey until they are a year old! They can get botulism from the honey!

Gas is only a problem if it does NOT come out. Farts not associated with crankiness is NOT a problem. If they are cranky, I would try the infant massage first (lay baby on back and bend his knees and knead them over his abdomen in a clock-wise fashion - circular). Gas is natural and actually a sign of a well-working GI system.

We had a little bit of the same problem. We were told to try the Mylocon gas drops, work almost instantly. When we switched to the bottle, we used te Dr. Brown bottle system. The are supposed to help with eliminating gas and colic problems. You could also try soy based foods, easier to digest for both of you. And if you switch to formula, we did the soy based liquid formula until he was 9 mo then went to normal formula and had no problems.
Good Luck!

NATURAL cure, A., is honey:
if you take NATURAL honey,
and stick his pacifier into the honet before giving him,
this helps a lot.
After food, and when it's sleepie-time.

Also, EVERY TIME after feeding, hold him upright,
just hug him so that he 'stands' up, his head on your shoulder,
and walk around about 5-10 minutes,
(your singing is good, :), also)
and wait then the 'frogs' pop out
(in most cases they do).

I raised 3 kids, 2 were boys, and for boys for whatever reason it's a much bigger problem.

gooDay to You and Your treasure-Boy !
M.

My son was a very gassy baby. We figured to massage his belly to help move the bubbles. We also gave him the gas drops. Check with your dr and make sure it is ok... they work great. Instant releaf! Once he is moving around and can burp himself the gas problems will decrease.

I think it is quite normal that babies have trouble with gas. From what I understand, your diet rarely affects their gas issues. To help if he is hurting from gas you can gently push his knees up to his chest and move his little hips around. Sometimes this helps. Also writing "I heart U" on his tummy helps in the direction of the digestive tract.

Sounds like all these moms have it covered. My son was the same way. I cut everything out of my diet except turkey breast and slowly added things back in to see how he would react. He breastfed for a year and by the end of the year, I was still on a restricted diet, but had added many things back in. And of course Mylicon drops or the generic ones work wonders.
Good luck!!!

Congrats on your bundle of joy. Gassy baby eh? Well you can go to any store that sells medicine and there this medicine called Smithicon drops this helps with gasb (make sure you read the label). My son also suffered from gas and I gave him these drops. I also took a bath with him, the warm water helps let it out which gave me a wonderful aroma (hehe). While bathing with him I layed him on my legs on his back and placed his little feet in my hands and gently pushed his knees towards his belly. This little bit of pressure helped him release the gas. If you are still concerned take him to the doctor.

I would check with your doctor to see if he has reflux. My daughter was extremely gassy and would scream in pain also and the doc said it didn't really have anything to do with reflux, but I tend to disagree. She is 15 months old now and is off of the reflux medication, but still uses gas drops daily.

A.,
I gave birth to the fart monster. I think some of those moms are being a little bit insensitive. All babies have gas. To help with the gas, try playing with his legs, pushing them up by his ears, bent at the knees. Otherwise, there is Mycolin or someting like that. You can give him a couple drops and it should help his gas. It kind of like Beano for babies.

Gassy babies are perfectly normal, if a bit stinky. I love my little farting beauty.

Mylacon drops. They are a life saver. It's like beano for babies.

There are gas drops, I believe, in the pharmacy at WalMart. Also when my daughter was younger, I would swish a candy cane in her bottle of water. The peppermint helped quite a bit. Its an old trick that my mama learned from her grandmama. Good luck to you!

Have you been trained in infant massage? There is a colic routine that can help with the gas. (If you don't know it I can send it to you) We used Gripe Water for our little ones tummy troubles. You can buy it as walgreens.
Hope this helps!
Let me know if you need the colic routine

My son was like that as well....to the point that when we were in public people would think it was my husband or I passing VERY LOUD gas instead of this tiny baby. But not only was it embarassing at times, he also seemed to be in pain from it several times a day. I tried switching foods as well with no great success. I think some babies just have more active gastrointestinal systems. I tried using Mylicon after someone told me it worked great for them. It seemed to help a little, but the real miracle I found was gripe water. It seemed to help him a ton! I'm not sure what your little one is like as an eater, but mine was voracious and I think he would suck in a lot of air. Good luck!

I have found with both of my children that good burping technique is the key to reducing gas. Even when my baby falls asleep on the breast, I will still rouse him to burp him. When PAINFUL gas does occur, which is rare, I'll use Mylicon - which is completely safe and works almost instantly. it's possible there is an underlying allergy but improve the burping and see what happens before going on any more food elimination paths. I eat all those "gassy" (healthy) foods with little effect on my 3-month old. Happy Burping!

My baby was the gassiest baby I've ever seen. We basically decided it was colic and it went on for several months. Feed him in short spurts, but often, to give his tummy time to digest a little. This way, when the gas builds up, it doesn't have to fight so much for space. We found that carrying the baby face down across one arm makes them more comfortable. Also, try laying him on the ground and gently push his knees up towards his ears. This may help to expel some gas. This is a frustrating condition for parents, so know that you are not alone and that it does end eventually. Good luck!

I have one word. Milacon. Dont know if spelled it right but it works for gettin rid of gas.

I agree on the Mylicon, bicycling legs & massage. Baby yoga might help also (check out itsybitsyyoga.com). The best tip I got there is the yoga ball. Hold your babe in front of you, just above your lap, facing outward...and bounce.

If it's a food issue: Dairy can take 2 weeks to get out of your system and another 2 weeks to get out of his. The biggest allergens for breastfeeding babies are milk, soy and egg. Do a search on "allergic colitis" for more info about milk allergy in babies.

I don't think the person who mentioned the foremilk/hindmilk imbalance mentioned that oversupply of milk may be to blame. Forceful milk ejection can also play a part. Breastfeeding by the clock won't work in those cases... my DS1 used to nurse for just 4-8 minutes (one-side only) every 4 hours and was just fine. www.drjacknewman.com has a ton of info that might be helpful.

Good luck & I hope your little guy is feeling good (and gas-free) very soon!
O.

All three of my kids were pretty gassy. When he starts seeming uncomfortable, lay him on his back, hold his legs and "bicycle" them, then lift them up to his chest and back down, just move them basically. That will help the gas pass more quickly. You can also give him Mylecon gas drops, they work wonders!

Hi A., any refined sugers may be contributing also. Stay away from sweets if you can. I hope you can resolve it soon. Congrats on being a FTM!!

I really liked the Mylicon drops, too. With my son I'd also lay him across my knees on his tummy and pat his bottom while supporting his head with my other arm. That seemed to push some out.

I had a similar problem with my daughter, I can joke about it now, but then it was really hard. I found the best for us was gas drops, mylicon is good, but the generic kind from walmart was what we used most of the time. I swear she lived on those drops for like the first year, so the walmart brand was cheaper when we were buying so much of it. They really helped us alot, the drops are totally safe, they even help adults, yes I have tried them. You might give them a try, hope they help. Also a good burping helps, don't be afaid to burp with a little force, don't beat him but just a little more pressure than usual helps get things moving along when they seem to be in some pain, I also found patting in a pattern on the back like in circles and then up and down the back, distracted her from the pain and helped move the gas along. Good luck

If he does have allergies, mangosteen juice would help. It's what we've used for that and spitting up. I have two brands that have been recommended to me, if you're interested. About a 1/2 tsp. a day would help for such a little guy. Congratulations!

All I can say is Ovol... it's a parents dream. Sometimes my son got very gassy, and it is a gentle way of relieving their gassy problems... good luck!