My baby is almost seven months old now, and she still wakes to fart. She is breastfed, and to some degree what I eat tends to affect her, but she has been allergy tested negative for everything including milk, and I have cut my diet to nothing but fruit, potatoes, and rice. She still won't sleep through the night or even through her naps. Naps might be 50 min long and sometimes I can nurse her back to sleep for a longer nap; night sleeps tend to be an hour and 50 min long. Doc says it could be IBS or a missing enzyme or lactose intolerance, but no matter what she should grow out of it. Meantime, I am exhausted, desperate, and confused. Anyone else been through this? It is definitely gas; she arches her back, screams, and then passes gas.
UPDATE: Yes, I have Mylicon, and it doesn't work. She has also been prescribed Hyoscyamine and Prevacid, neither of which work, but she's still on both.
As for food, I am on plain white boiled potatoes, arborio rice, and rice noodles. None of them have sunflower oil or soy or anything as the ingredients--although, like I said, it's not a food allergy, apparently. Since the allergy testing I have allowed myself to go back on the prenatal vitamins and also some skim milk. My little girl also suffers from constipation. She tested negative for Celiac's disease.
I can't help but wonder if you should add a bit of protein to your diet. Are they regular potatoes, and how are they prepared? Is it white or brown rice? Today's foods just don't have the nutrients they used to years ago, and the preservatives used are not good either.
Do you have your children on good children's vitamins? So many things can contribute to a child's misery: the food they eat, the air they breathe, as well as the cleaning products you use. They are also sensitive to our own emotional ups and downs, but with an 8 yo, I'm sure you know that already.
Have you tried giving her gas drops like mylicon? Our pediatrician had us give them to our son when he was little (he's now 2) and they really seemed to help.
I'm sorry that I can't provide any suggestions other than my heart goes out to you. I have a 3.5 month old girl who struggles with sleeping but nothing like you've described. I too am breast-feeding and wonder if her constant night wakings is because of something I'm doing or not doing. Hang in there and good luck. I'm very impressed that you are still breastfeeding and functioning on little to no sleep! Hats off to you!
maybe the breast milk is too much for in itself you may want to see about switching to a lacto-free formula... some children's stomach just can't handle it
www.LLLI.org is a huge resource for breast feeding mom's with problems like these. You could also contact your local LLL group for some help. Allergy test can be inconclusive if done before the age of 3. Could the rice be a problem. I don't know if you can be allergic to it or not. Maybe get a second pediatrician to look at her. There's no reason to switch to formula unless she tested positve for PKU. Plus formula of anykind could make the constipation worse.
Are you feeding her any solids yet? If not, then fruit and some veggies should help her regulate her system better so she isn't so constipated. I know some foods can make a baby more constipated but your breastmilk shouldn't be one of them.
I know that my son had horrible gas and stomach cramps when he was a newborn. I had to cut out milk and ice cream from my diet until he was 4 months old but was able to eat cheese and drink soy milk without causing him problems. I'm sorry that despite your best efforts that you are having so much trouble finding a solution for her. How difficult for both of you.
One other thing you could do is to help her get as much exercise as possible to help regulate her bowels. Bicycle her legs and if she is ready try a jumperoo. The jumping would be great stimulation for her and hopefully help her poop more regularly. I have a feeling that if that regulated for her the gas wouldn't be so painful that she would have to wake due to the discomfort.
One last thing that did work great with our son was to pull knees up to his stomach and hold them there for a few minutes. Doing that helped him pass gas much easier and a little pressure on his belly is supposed to feel good. We often times did this right after he ate and before we put him down to sleep. More often than not he would pas gas. Maybe if you could help her get some out of her system before sleeping she would sleep longer. Good luck as I know you are feeling pretty desperate. You are doing a great job. Please keep us posted.
Have you tried infant massage? There are a couple of massage techniques to help babies relieve gas. I'm not an expert in it, I've only taken a one hour seminar, but you might look into it.
Have you tried gripe water? My daughter had really bad gas and we started using gripe water which can be found at your local health food store or target. We also did essential pepermint oil on a q-tip rubbed on her belly button right before I breast fed which also seemed to help. I would get the pepperment at a health food store as it was around $20 at target. Hope you get some sleep soon.
I work with a lady that has a new baby and she has been using "gripe water" and she says it works so much better than mylicon drops. She puts a small amt in the baby's bottle. I would suggest taking the baby off the medications - just because of side effects. At least to see if the gripe water works fo her. My last child had the same problem but mylicon seemed to work for him. I would lay him on his stomach and rub his back and that gave him relief..or at least stopped the screaming. The gripe water is available at Walgreens. I know its difficult and I pray this works for you.
My son had some of those sypmtons and he is allergic to MILK. Try some formula call nutrimagin (sorry I know that is spelled wrong) you can find it at Wal-Mart. It is a little expensive but it worked for my son and he started sleeping, stopped farting as much, and started using the bathroom on a normal bases.
God Bless
Sarah Jane
It might take a couple of weeks to see a change. This is something worth trying. I just did it one day because the doctors were not sure what was wrong with him. When it worked I told the doctor what I did and He said my son was allergic to milk if that formula work. That is because all that formula is is vitamins.
I can't answer the question about gas, my kids were breastfed and always had bad gas too,they outgrew it by about a year, and also about the time they were weaned. It may not be diet at all, it may be a latch issue. You can talk to a lactation consultant and see if they may have an idea the Dr didn't think of. Maybe pumping and giving it to her in a sippy cup (mine drank breast milk from a sippy at 6 months cause they hated bottles and all nipples except mine were evil), or trying harder to get her to burp after feedings.
I am concerned about your diet, you (and the baby) need more protein. I don't know if you were vegetarian before, but if not get some meat, and iron in your diet or you will become anemic and the baby can too, it's not fun because I had anemia and an anemic child and it can get serious.
If you are vegetarian, finding non gas producing proteins are hard because most of it will come from beans and legumes which produce gas. You may need to go on an iron supplement, but they are hard on the body, it always made me sick to my stomach.
My daughter was sensitive this way as well. I found after restricting diets, that it was more about protein amounts for Madi, if I stopped the white potatoes, rice and went back to more protein, chicken, beef, and green beans, peas, etc she did much better. The constipation did not let up for a while, but her sleep improved greatly. My son could not tolerate me eating white rice at all. You might Add yogurt to your mix as well, it seemed to help all fronts for us.hugs, Sweetie
try LITTLE TUMMYS gas relief drops. they only sell it at Walgreen's and Babies R Us. You can give it to her before you feed her and right after. For some reason, this is the ONLY thing that worked for my daughter. She is almost 3 now and we still give it to her.
Hi, Have you tried Gripe Water? It is a natural remedy that they sell at natural Markets. It was the only thing that worked for my little one when she got farty!
Are you going to a pedi GI specialist? Have they considered dysmotility as the cause? My last 2 kiddos had very similar symptoms. My now 3 year old, finally got better at 11-1/2 months after a lower GI was performed. While they didn't find anything, that was when he got better. My now 8 year old got better after I introduced food into her diet.
The main thing that our GI doc had me & the baby do was low-carbs. He believed that the sugars slow down the emptying of the stomach, creating air and additional gas & constipation.
It was a very long, frustrating process. There were days when I wasn't sure I'd make it - truly! The best help I had was from my dr. He was understanding and supportive when others simply couldn't understand. We would joke that the weekly appointments were more for me than my child.
Good luck to you. I would be happy to give you more info if you want it.
Hey ya. I have a bunch of kiddo's. My youngest baby had the same issue as your daughter. The gas was terrible when he was a tiny baby. He seemed to not even beable to popo either. He and I lived in warm water baths. Once he entered the warm water, he'd pass gas forever. When the water cooled down, I would drain the cool water and start over with warm. Once my little guy hit over 1 year everything has been so much better. I am glad to report that my family spends more time with a happy, giggly little guy rather than the screaming baby we once had. So, you doctor is right, it gets better. Honestly, it seems to get better once the baby can walk and run. PS... i am also a breast feeding momma.
The little boy I watch has some trouble with constipation & gas. Her doctor told her to give him prune juice. He is older, he'll be two in Aug. You might check about giving prune juice with your doctor. She might be to young?
It's a little messy if it works, but worth not seeing them struggle.
Savvy, Gripe Water worked well for our third baby, who had major gas. It's organic and homeopathic, so no side effects or worries about giving too much (we used to use Mylicon and it always freaked me out that that was even a possibility!). Wellements brand is the one we use, we get it at Vitamin Shoppe. Some friends also had good luck with Colic Calm, which is also all-natural.
I would also recommend, especially with your mention of IBS, that you and the kids all take a good probiotic. We use a couple of them, but one we like a lot is called BerryDophilus (made by NOW brand) and it has four different strains of probiotic in it. I've read a lot about pro-b helping IBS.
Dear Savvy, I am a registered nurse and have done lactation consultating in the past, and also breast fed two children. One of my children also had this problem, and as I remember, he did not sleep much over 15 minutes at a time. His was due to candida (moniliasis) in the gut, an din his mouth. This is a type of yeast infection he contracted in the birth canal during delivery, as I had had alot of problems with vaginal yeast infections during the pregnancy. Young babies can have yeast infections even without you having had one, as their immune systems is not fully developed yet. If y our child has taken antibiotics or if y ou have, yeast grows readily as the antibiotics kill not only the bad bacteria but the good also that protects against yeast infections. Your diet is far too restricted, and since doing this has not helped your child, I would broaden it to include all food groups, especially vegetables, and protein, as your child will not be getting all of the nutrients she needs since you are not including them in your diet. I would avoid gas forming vegetables (the cruciferous ones) and beans, but include all others. I would also include a probiotic (strains of good bacteria), in y our diet and hers. They are available for infants as well as adults. My favorite is Bio K. It comes in an infant preparation, and can usually be obtained in your local health food store. Sometimes it requires special order. Their website is www.biokplus.com if you would like to research the product. Also, my pediatician prescribed mycostatin for my child and I used gentian violet on my breasts to kill the candida. It worked well, although being a purple dye, was very messy. I know how frustrating and tiresome it becomes. I still remember how overwhelmed I felt when my child would not sleep and had constant gas. Hope this is helpful to you. Barbara S. RN. CCM.