Gassy and Crying. Help!!

My daughter was terribly gassy the first 4-6 weeks and we ended up switching her to Soy Formula. It took care of the problem within a few days - such a relief! Seems she couldn't process the cow/dairy product very well. She is totally fine now - drinks milk, eats cheese, etc. Good luck!

First thing you can do is stick with one formula for a couple of months so that his tummy isn't dealing with new things constantly. Mylicon drops are essential so keep using them. When he gets really fussy all you can do is try to soothe him...lay him on his back and gently move his legs up to his tummy and back down, rub his tummy, give him a warm bath, vibrating baby chairs are wonderful. My first born was super gassy for the first three months while I was tring to breastfeed him and then I found out he wasn't latching properly so he was sucking in a bunch of air. Same with his bottles when he would gulp them down too fast he would get too much air in his little tummy. Good luck!

You are at the peak of the fussiness stage. It will soon pass, and when it does, your baby should sleep for a few days before the 8 week growth stage. Your baby will also be really bright eyed next week with lots of smiles for you, so just hang in there! Week 5 is a development "wonder week." It's hard.

I would also just give him breast milk. No formula, no drops, no water. Bend his legs upwards towards his belly if he is in a lot of pain, and then just swaddle him and play ocean waves music in the background. Bounce him on your knee, or, do a shoulder carry and bounce or sway as you walk.

Hang in there, it will get better. My 6 week old is sleeping like a champ after a really bad week 5.

L.:

try breastmilk only/
consider seeing a chiropractor or craniosacral therapist for him..

locate practitioners at www.birthlink.com

P., RLC, IBCLC, CST

You have already gotten a lot of comments, so I will keep mine brief. Is he spitting up after he eats as well? He may be eating too much, you may want to try giving him a little less. My son was breastfed only, but he was spitting up a lot and really fussy after every meal at about 4 weeks. I started nursing him less per meal and keeping him upright longer after the meal and burping for longer and it helped a lot (it was tough with the late night feedings, but worth it).

Also, is he fussy more after the formula or after the breastmilk? With my daughter I had to cut out tomatoes while I was nursing and with my son I had to cut out milk.

Finally, does your baby have any skin irritation. My son had eczema as well and when I cut out the milk his eczema cleared up quite a lot too. When he was 8 months we found out that he has a dairy allergy.

Good Luck,
D.

L., does he spit up at all? How does he sleep? About this time with my first son, he would arch his back after eating and would cry alot. When we would put him down, he would only sleep for a short time and wake up crying. Came to find out that he had acid reflux. He wouldn't really spit up so I didn't think about it at first until his ped said that explosive spitting up wasn't the only sign of reflux. He just had the acid and SOME spitting up. Anyway, he was prescribed anti-acid meds but what helped the most was always keeping him upright - especially after eating. The doctors say that for 20 minutes after eating keep them upright or at an incline. But I found that I had to keep him upright ALL the time during his sleep. That meant that for the first 6 or so months of is life, he slept in his car seat, his bouncer, his swing, etc..Not at all did we ever put him on his back to sleep.

Give it a try. After feeding, gripe water, mylicon, burping,etc...when he's ready to sleep, put him upright in a carseat, etc..and see if that helps.

oh honey! I'm so sorry! I hate to say it but there may be nothing you can do but comfort him. Our baby (now 5 months) did the same thing for his whole first 6 weeks. He would scream for hours and he had gas. We can now see that it was cholic. We used a book called The Happiest Baby On The Block to learn soothing techniques. They really work! There is also a dvd. It helped calm him down so he could sleep but it was still very hard because if we stopped the soothing, he would wake up and scream. My only other thought is are you giving the Mylicon every two hours? We gave them on a schedule to prevent the gas build up. I can say that it DOES pass and things will get better. I still can't believe that my loving, cooing, laughing baby was that screaming infant.

have you tried having him sleep while almost sitting up? You can take your baby bucket and see if he likes that better, the other method is to try to carry him in the football hold on his tummy on your arms, m any infants really like this. Also, you can try to drink a lot of fennel tea for yourself it might make him less gassy. You can get fennel tea at Whole Foods for example, fresh is even better. Try not to eat food that might make you gassy as well.
Good luck
V.

Hi L.,
We had the exact same problem and worked thru it with our doctor. Here is what we did and it worked...

Switched to Dr. Brown's bottles

Tried a few different formulas - Doc said to stay on one for at least a week because it takes awhile to see the effects. We went from regular formula, to Gentle, to Enfamil AR (has rice starch),to Enfamil Soy, and then to Similac Soy. Finally Similac Soy worked!! Also I noticed that the ready to feed is better than powder, but when we went to Similac Soy it didn't matter.

Use Mylicon drops, put in each bottle.

Burped him after every 2 oz of formula.

I stopped eating any foods that were gas producers.

I know its a lot, but after that we had a really happy baby!!
~T.

I followed the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby and it swears that almost all babies go through a really cranky phase at 5 weeks... I know my daughter did! Hang in there and it should get better in a week or so. In the meantime, get some help! This is the time to enlist family to come and rock the crying baby for an hour or so while you get to rest and get away from the crying. If you're alone with the baby and at your wits ends, I know that it's hard to lie down a screaming baby, but sometimes it's the only think you can do to have a couple of minutes to collect yourself. You'll get through this!

J. Sassack
Founder and Contributor
www.UrbanSuburbanFamily.squarespace.com

Hang in there! I remember those days and know the pain of seeing your little one suffer. It doesn't help when you are tired too!!

In addition to some of the other tips the moms mentioned, we also switched our baby to the little bed in the pack & play. The bottom is slightly lower than the top to keep the baby's head a little higher. It worked like a charm with a good swaddle. He slept longer in it and never put up a fuss. We also let used this soothing center a lot because it helped to keep him up to burp whenever he needed it. http://theheartknows.gracobaby.com/sweetpeace.php?cid=mys... Be sure to get plenty of batteries for the vibrating seat. It helps with the gas.

The best thing you can do, though, is get someone to give you a break to get some rest. It's amazing what a nap will do for you to give you the patience and clear head to help your baby. Best of luck to you!

My firstborn was lactose intolerant, so switching to soy formula was the thing that worked. She slept for 6 hours for the first time in her six weeks of life. My pediatrician suggested lactaid drops if I really wanted to continue breastfeeding, but they didn't do a thing for her. Soy does stain clothes badly, however, so always use a bib or cloth diaper to protect them. (I cleaned up the clothes for my next baby by pouring bleach-clorox-directly on the stains then rinsing immediately in cold water. I figured that if the clothes were ruined, they weren't in much better shape beforehand). good luck!

Is the crying happening at the same time every day or all the time?

If it is at the same time every day then it is most likely just the baby witching hour and really there is nothing you can do except hold him and try to soothe him as best you can. If it is all the time then it is probably the formula causing problems and your baby needs to be on breastmilk full time. Giving formula and not pumping every time your baby gets a bottle will cause you to have a milk supply problem but there is hope you can nurse, nurse, nurse and your supply will increase with the more you nurse your child.

If you are worried about not making enough you need to remember what goes in must go out. So as long as he is having 6-8 wet diapers and pooping you are making enough and don't need to give any formula.(NOTE: Most breastfed babies have their gut mature around 4-8 weeks and will up to 2 weeks between poopy diapers without it being constipation.)

Formula hurts their gut so if you don't need to give it don't. Often mothers who give at least one bottle of formula a day find that by 3 months they have started to give more and more bottles and their milk has dried up. This is because they never pumped when they gave a bottle and thus told their body they didn't need to make as much milk. The best way to make more milk is to nurse the baby as often as the baby wants and if they have to be away from baby or their baby has to get a bottle they pump for that missed feeding.

I have a 5 week old who started crying the morning we left the hospital, mainly she needs to nurse for comfort and be held all the time (even all night!) but what has also done wonders is a probiotic, BioGaia, (before I started it she cried all the time, now she just needs to be comforted with nursing and being help, but at least CAn be soothed!!). You can get it from your CVS pharmacy, wish I had known about it for my other three babies!

Check out Dr. Mercola.com and search soy baby formula. There is some crucial info on Soy. If you could afford to, I would get an organic formula. I gave my daughter the Earth's best Milk formula and never had those problems again. I know Walmart and Domincks have a cheaper type of organic formula too. Hope he feels better soon.

So sorry to hear you are having a hard time with your new baby. I would suggest dropping the formula. Are you able to nurse him more, and give less bottles? I really never had problems with tummy problems with my 2 girls. I never gave them ANY formula and they did really good. You will need to up your water intake if you do go off the formula and make sure you are eating really healthy....good luck..

L.,
I remember crying along with my son so I can relate.
2 things that were most helpful for me:
What you eat affects him through your milk so avoid gas producing foods like onion, garlic, broccoli, cabbage, beans and spicy or fried foods. Also peanut butter and dairy can cause problems. Drink chamomile or fennel tea.
Reach out to family members and friends so you can get a break from the crying.
Hope this helps.

Totally agree with Julie V - they ought to call a baby's week 5 of life "Hell Week" because, as she mentioned, it is a peak time for fussiness.

Pick one method of feeding and stay consistent with it. Constant switching can be confusing and even harmful to a baby's delicate digestive system, further worsening the problem. If, after a few days, problems still exist THEN switch if you feel you need to. Again, allow a few days with a new method of feeding before moving on - it might take a few days before comfort appears.

My daughter got terrible gas if I fed her formula right after nursing...the two didn't agree with each other...i agree with previous postings saying to hold him upright after feedings, burp a lot and maybe feed a little less. Hang in there!