My son did the same thing. I tried Mylicon which didn't help. My doctor had me keep a diet diary but I couldn't find anything that was directly causing the pain. Eventually I learned how to calm him using a pacifier and rubbing his tummy. It was hard to see my son in pain but he eventually grew out of it (2 months).
Sounds like he is swallowing some air when he is feeding. Is he latching on properly? Is he pooping regularly? Maybe a little stomach massage, always massage to your right like an upside down U. I used to do an I a I love you pattern (ILU). Dont give up! You are doing the right thing! It will get better as his system get more mature.
All the best,
Alicia
hi danielle -
first off, congratulations on being a new mom!!! i had this problem with my daughter, lily, since my let down came very fast, too, and she was gulping so loudly, making sure to get every last drop of breast milk, and swallowing lots of air in doing so. try pumping a little first to get the milk going. usually, the milk will slow down after a bit of pumping. then latch him on. that worked for us. good luck!
- jenny & lily (12 weeks)
my 5 month old was very gassy in the beginning as well. i was only breastfeeding him, so I took out gassy foods from my diet and when i started supplementing formula, I switched to the enfamil powder brand with the purple label. i think it is called lipanese or something like that. it's for gassy fussy babies. maybe you want to try that, but ask your dr and if you go to the enfamil website and register your information, they often send good coupons to you for $5 or $7 off. babies r us stores sell the product.
Did you consider avoiding dairy products yourself? I breast fed 2 out of 3 of my children, all now in their 20's - they were all lactose intolerant and 1 still is at 29. My oldest (the 29 year old) went on a soy based formula, then the breast fed two (now 24 and 26) did better if I avoided dairy. I got my necessary calcium via a vitamin until they were finished breastfeeding.
Hi Danielle,
I had the same problems with my son when he was a week old. I found that my son had really bad gas when I ate anything with tomato sauce, milk products especially cheese (cheddar cheese didn't seem to bad but mozzerella & velveta cheese were bad), caffeine (chocolate, coffee, tea, etc.).
Besides cutting these out of my diet, I would give my son Baby's Bliss gripe water before I fed him and sometimes just before he went to sleep. Mylicon did not seem to help us much. You can purchase Gripe water for about $11.00 at most organic health food stores. If decide you want to purchase a large supply of gripe water, check out viacost.com. Viacost.com sells gripe water for $7.08 per bottle with a minimal shipping charge of only $4.99. I would purchase 10 bottles of gripe water at a time. Gripe water can be given to infants up to 6 times a day.
Try avoiding milk products and eggs for a while!! Also try pumping some milk prior to feeding so he does not swalow as much.
Thanx
I have a very gassy 5 month old little girl. I pump at night so her daddy can feed her, and I've noticed that she has less gas when he feeds her. We use the Dr. Browns bottles. They are really good. She usually doesn't have to burp when we bottle feed her, but when I beast feed her, she does. It doesn't take care of all the gas, so I give her Mylicon. It only works if I give it to her with every feeding. I hate having to give my baby medicine so many times a day, but she is in so much pain that I feel bad if I don't. I lay her on her back and "pump" her legs- pushing them into her chest and pulling them back down. It helps loosen up the gas bubbles so she can push them out. Nothing elsde works on her either, so I don't really have a lot of advice that you haven't already heard from other moms. Just be patient. It'll get better.
Oh gosh, hang in there! Random thoughts: try nursing in different positions? Try changing your diet? Maybe he's getting gas from dairy or beans or something else that you're eating? Good luck!!!
Congratulations...It might not always be from him eating too fast. Check your diet...stay away from gassy foods like broccoli, sauce etc. I was nursing my daughter thinking I was eating healthy steamed veges....wrong... the dr said to stay away from those things.
Hi. I am now Grandma to 5 and thought you might be helped by something my son and his wife endured with their middle son. He was born with reflux disorder but more importantly, he was a severe cholic! I have new respect for parents of a cholic baby now. They went through almost a year of it with him until finally we found something online called "colic-ease". It is a liquid, all natural formula, has been approved by the FDA and it was a miracle in a bottle for him. It cost about 22.00 with shipping and handling, but I used to buy two bottles at a time to make sure they always had one on hand because it worked that well. The baby's pediatrician liked it so well he started telling other patients' moms about it. The link is http://www.colicease.com. Good luck and may God Bless.
Try burping him more often. Also, definitely discuss this with the pediatrician. He may have reflux. Good luck.
For gas try giving him a dose of "Gripe Water" found in most produce markets (east coast) or buy it online. (no sugar, no alcohol-all natural)
To slow down his intake pump your milk and put it in a slow flow- no bubble bottle and ou will be amazed at the difference.
He can still breast feed but at least one a day of the slower feeding will help train him to slow down
Hi Danielle- it's so awesome that your nursing. One thing you want to be careful of is too much dairy. Milk especially can make the baby very gassy and you as well. Also, as good as it is for both you and the baby, broccoli and other vegetables can add to the problem. Just watch what you're eating and eliminate one thing at a time to see what makes the difference. Try the milk first- I think your little guy will be much happier. Best of luck!
The same thing happened to me. I'm still not sure if it was GERD or dairy intolerance. Basically, I started to feed my baby at a 30-degree angle and burp her for 15min after feeds--this helped. Cutting out dairy altogether (in addition to other foods--can be useful to keep a food diary, my baby was sensitive to spicy food, coffee, onions, and OJ!) was actually really helpful. That meant (per a La Leche leaguer) no milk, yogurt, cheese and (if you're hard core about it) nothing that contains these items. Apparently, you can reintroduce milk products after 4 months when their GI tract is more developed. I did this for my baby and she was better in about 1-2wks. Hope this helps. Good luck!
You should watch what you're eating.
Try stopping the feeding and burping after every five minutes.
I have two thoughts.
First, possibly you have strong let down which makes the milk flood his mouth quickly, causing him to gulp to keep up with the let down. If this is the case, you could pump until after you initial let down has happened and then put him on the breast when it's flowing more slowly.
But, my stronger idea is that possibly he's having a reaction to milk in your diet. This happened with my second son. Within a week of my getting off ALL milk products, no more gas for him or post-feeding screaming. It's an easy test to do. Just stop eating all milk products for a week or two and see if you notice any changes in him.
Also, you might want to attend a La Leche League meeting. I received so much support over the years from them.
Good for you for breast feeding!
-Nina
One thing that my help is watching what you eat. I know I stayed away from broccoli, garlic and to much dairy. Hopefully that does the trick. My son was gasses but more toward the evenings so my ped. told me to ease the gas pain start giving mylicon around noon, b/c once they have the gas pain mylicn doesn't help. Have to give it before the gas is bad. Also try burping him more frequently during a feeding.
You may be experiencing 'over supply.' This happens to a lot of women around 3 weeks. You are probably making a lot of milk (which is great!) but it causes an extremely fast 'let down'. This happened to me & I worked with a lactation specialist on how to slow it down - & it worked. First, I did same-side nursing. This means that you feed from one breast only at a feeding, even if it's 30 minutes long. You don't want to stimulate both breasts. Second, I worked with gravity. I would lie almost flat on my back and have my baby nurse on top of me - so she had to suck up, instead of it rushing down her throat. Also, if you are pumping after feeds - STOP - at least for now. That creates over supply. When my baby was older (about 3 months), she was able to handle the faster let down. Good luck & hope this helped!