Dont give up! Talk to a lactation consultant. You could have an oversupply of milk and your little one is getting alot of the foremilk and not enough hindmilk. Lots of good info on Kellymom.com but this is a quick one pager from another site I found helpful. http://www.breastfeeding-basics.com/html/oversupply.shtml
Good luck!!!
My son had the same problem and it turned out to be reflux. We put him on Zantac first and then another one I can't remember at the moment and it helped, then he grew out of it.
Breastfed babies are less likely to be gassy because they don't swallow air the way bottle fed babies do. However your baby may be sensitive to something you are eating. "They" say to avoid foods like broccoli and beans while breastfeeding... I had to eliminate dairy for a while bc my baby was VERY gassy. I drank soy milk instead and within a few days she wasn't gassy anymore. After a couple of months I switched to lactose free milk and she was fine. then a few months later I started with dairy again. I think a lot of babies have a hard time with dairy when they are very young. Also try giving your baby Mylecon or Little Tummies gas drops before nursing. It also helped a lot. Stick with breastfeeding if you can. It's so healthy for them. I nursed for 15 months and she is NEVER sick. Not to mention formula is expensive. Good Luck and hope this helps.
HI Dawn,
Breatfeeding is truly the best you can do for your baby. Start keeping a journal of all the things you eat and when. Also keep note of feedings and reactions from your little one and see how they compare. Does he cry alot before you feed him? Crying babies can take in alot more air causing gas-that what I heard. After breastfeeding my son, I found it helpful to keep him upright for 1/2 an hour afterwards before putting him down to sleep or rest. I had a baby carrier, so it was easy to do and he often just fell asleep there. Good luck.
Nicole
Hello, my name is Rachel. My son, who I breastfed for a year, used to be gassy. I thought the same thing. Is there something wrong with him? Well, it turns out it was my diet. I had to cut out dairy all together along with tomato sauce, orange juice, citrus fruits, garlic, caffeine and chocolate. It was a struggle, but I was determined to continue to breatfeed my son for a year. I made due with what I was able to eat. For help with your diet, you can google diet and breastfeeding. There are sites that can give you very helpful tips. It is all trial and error. You will have to keep track of what you are eating and if it bothers your baby or not. After a while, it will all come together on what you can eat and what bothers your child. Good luck.
Hi Dawn, I found that while I was breast feeding my kids I had to be extremely careful with what I ate. De-caffe was out of the question so was anything else like chocolate or gassy vegies. But most importantly I had to stop drinking milk myself. This really caused alot of problems. Also I found that after I fed my daughter I would keep her in her car seat (that I brought in the house) so she stayed upright for a while, otherwise her meal would constantly make her uncomfortable. Good luck, I hope this helps. My daughter is now 9 and is a great eater!
Hi! Try to avoid "gassy" foods like brocholi, beans, etc. Also talk to the pediatrician, some babies suffer from a form of acid reflux (can't remember what they call it). It may be that. I don't know if there is any treatment for it but it sure won't hurt to ask! I found if I ate the "gassy" foods my daughters were fussy and I paid dearly for my love of baked beans at summer BBQ's!!! I have also heard some friends say if they ate too much dairy their babies were fussy. Check your diet and check with the doctor!!! Hope it helps! Alberta
Formula is renowned for making babies more gassy. If for some reason you do decide to try formula, be sure to pump really regularly to keep your supply up in the event the formula doesn't help and you want to go back to nursing. Even if you were to stay on formula, you could always use frozen milk when you start feeding solids and cereal. He will come through this at some point - though it feels like forever until that day! Good luck, Larissa
I am having the same problem with my 1 month old daughter. She makes a lot of grunting noises especially at night, which of course means that I can't sleep. My doctor said the grunting is because her digestive muscles aren't fully mature yet and she should grow out of it. She just has to put a lot of effort into working the gas and poop out! Try thr OTC gas drops. They seem to help a little. Good luck!
Oh Dawn! I went through much the same thing. YOu have to do what works for you, but here is a little of my story. I had a very fussy baby, too and drove myself crazy with changing my diet, etc. I finally was down to eating just chicken and sweet potatoes! But, I did stick with breast feeding because I really believe it is what is best. Also, my baby was diagnosed with reflux at 6wks of age. He started taking prevacid and that seemed to help (although I still had to really limit what I ate.)He breastfed with some formula supplementation until he was 7.5 months old. Things really got better with his fussiness and my eating around 3 months - I imagine his little digestive system just caught up with him! His spitting up stopped at 12months of age. I am really glad I stuck with the breastfeeding. In the final months of it, it was really the easiest and most special thing. So... good luck and I hope you stick with it!
When your're breastfeeding, you should burp him in between the 15 min on the one breast. Try feeding him in the "football" position so that this way his head is on a more slant position and he doesn't suck in more air, also for the restlessness put a pillow under his crib mattress so that while on his back it will be easier to bring up any gas his may have. He should be in a 45 degree angle both feeding and in the crib.
I could be your diet. Then again, some babies are just gassier than others. My daughter was around 2 months old and I had a chimichanga with spicy sausage and black beans...poor baby! The gas drops straightened her out though. My friends with babies have scared me to death about broccoli. I haven't had any since she was born...that or curry.
Are you patting his back hard enough to burp him? Is he giving you good burps? I had a couple friends who had similar problems with their babies and their Doctor had to teach them to pat more firmly. Check with your doctor of course, you don't want to pat too hard!
Don't give up on nursing! My baby is 4 months now and her gassy issues have gotten better as she's gotten older. I'm not tempting fate by eating broccoli yet though. Good luck!
Hey Dawn,
It sounds like your baby might have reflux or possibly milk oversupply. My son had both of these problems and they often mimick each other.
I have spoken to several GI specialists and really what you eat should NOT make a difference.
Don't get discouraged, see your pediatrician. Or if you are still having problems talk to Dr. Smilie-the breast feeding specialist (shes a pedicatrician) in stratford. Her group is very helpful and treat a lot of babies who are fussy at the breast.
You aren't doing anything wrong and if you can handle it, the breastmilk is very benificial to little ones.
This sounds to me like the foods you are eating are causing the problem. For me, eating according to my blood type was the only way to avoid this issue. Have you heard of "Eat Right for Your Blood Type" and "Eat Right for your Baby"? Check them out.
Best of luck.
i had similar problems with my daughter .
i started with eliminating any possible problem foods out of my diet , it wasn't easy , i ended up not being able to eat anything , especially dairy or anything that even had the tiniest bit of dairy in it , baked goods included , it was amazing , she would react almost immediately whenever i slipped and took even one bite of a muffin or something that had butter in it , i would reintroduce foods to find out whether they were trouble or not , it was very challenging but worth the trouble because it has passed now , the more food she ate the less sensitive her tummy was and she is pretty good now ( she is 17 mths and i am still nursing )
she didn't spit up much though so you may want to ask your doctor about reflux also which has these similar symptoms , another thing i found was when i nursed her at night we didn't burp and she would be sleeping so would get gassy from lying down , so i weened her from night nursing and she started sleeping through the night immediately and was much happier so you could try that , we did it around 10 mths but you could do it sooner and it would probably be easier.
there are also homeopathic remedies that are helpful if you go to your health food store they are pretty available and there are many products that work well, and finally swaddling really helped us when she was little and sleep position could help too .
i hope this was helpful to you .
good luck
it gets easier.
Gala
It could be your diet. What I might suggest is to cut out the dairy out of your diet and see if that helps. My daughter was much the same way and it turned out that she was sensitive to dairy and soy in my diet. Once I figured it out and cut out all dairy and soy from what I was eating she soon returned to a happy feeding and sleeping baby. Hope this helps. Have a wonderful mothers day!!
no do NOT change formula will make it worse. he might have reflux. call ur doctor. try some mylicon. keep him elevated while sleeping. he can sleep on his sides as well. what ever you do do not switch.
me also my consultant told me it could be due to the food I was eating. I did a bit of testing at home. It turned out she was right
Try testing for overactive let down. Give a bottle of breastmilk and see how it goes. If there is less gas, it could be overactive letdown. Does he sputter when the let down comes? Just a thought, good luck!
Hi Dawn,
I would definitely keep track of what you're eating and try to cut out foods that might cause gas. Watch your dairy intake as well.
Best,
Stella