Gasy or Colic?

Try lying him on his back and bring his knees up towards his chest. Slowly move his knees back and forth, side to side. This should relieve some of the gas. Also, remember to watch what you are eating when breast feeding. Onions and garlic will make the baby more gassy. At this point, I think I would just consider using a bottle and using a soy formula. I think it's the best thing for the colicy baby. Good luck!

Having a colicy baby is the worse thing. I went through it with my oldest. I found that Mylicon Drops were helpful. If can be very frustrating. Good luck.

my kids were gassy and mylicon always worked....and fast. My friend's little girl would scream at night. Her little belly was so bloated. Gave her mylicon and within a few minutes her belly wasn't bloated and she was happy and sleeping! Some say it doesn't work, but I'm a true believer!

I am going thru somethign similar with my daugther re: gassiness. My doc suggested probiotics, and I think it's helping some. There's some literature to suggest that it can help gas and colic, eg:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/11...

If it's gas than you can try drinking Mother's milk tea this will help as well as watch what you eat and try using Dr Hyland's Bubble BE gone. This is a natural remedy for gas. Mylicon is synthetic. You can find some really great stuff at www.vitacost.com for great deals on Hyland stuff
hth
V.

Just wondering if you've read THE HAPPIEST BABY ON THE BLOCK by Dr. Harvey Karp. I'm not huge on books, but this is one that I always recommend - I found it so helpful during those first few months. It may give you ideas as to how to help soothe your son, whether it's gas or colic.

Best of luck and best wishes,
H.

Hi J.,

Have you considered food allergies? There is a mom in my MOPs group that had similar problems with her son. After fighting with drs that it wasn't just colic they had him tested and he is allergic to dairy, soy, nuts, etc. She cut them out of her diet and it helped. Good luck!

Is he spitting up alot? If so - could be reflux.

Hello J. I know actualy what you mean i was breast feeding and now my daughter is getting ready to be 3 months but i had the same problems with her breast feeding gave her gas but you have to look at what your eating that plays a big part like spicy foods & certain veggies. When your breast feeding it's like you have to eat everything blan for the gas to stop. You can also try the gas drops they have for babies if it continues alot.

I'm a mother of two with a 7 year old daughter and 3 month old daughter.

Hi. I know this can be frustrating, but I used a product called Gripe water for both. I swear by it! Homopathic, and no side effects! Cant get any better than that, except maybe getting a break! LOL. Google it, try it...They can not have anything to eat 20 min before and 20 min after you give it to them or it will not work. Health food store is where you could this....Also if you are breastfeeding....you take it too.....Drink mothers milk tea, and fennel.....same concept......Gripe water is fennel....AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi J.. I can feel your pain. I was in your shoes not that long ago. My son is now 7 1/2 months old. He was diagnosed at three months old with a milk allergy. I was nursing as well. A milk allergy is very sensitive (which is completely different than lactose intolerance), so if you are getting any dairy in your diet while nursing, it gets into your milk and to the baby.
I certainly am not diagnosing your baby. It's just something you might want to look into. My son started out exactly that way. Some symptoms to look for were frequent stools (any where from 8-12 a day), excessive gassiness, and mucus in the stool. Ask your pediatrician if they will test his stool for microscopic blood. Towards the end of the three months I started to see blood strands in his stool, but in the beginning I could not. However, my pediatrician was able to test the stool and it came up positive for blood.
Good luck and find hope in knowing that it get's better!

it is hard when they are gassy. when breastfeeding watch what you eat that will affect them. for example broccoli and green peppers are two things that can make them gassy.
try mylicon drops,gas drops. you can buy them anywhere but they are probably cheapest in walmart or target. another thing to do is to take the legs put them together gently bend them and move them around in a counter clock wise motion and back and forth. hopefully his bm's are regular. rub his tummy also with your hand in a counter clockwise motion. hopefully he will outgrow some of this. try the medicine,it should help. good luck and happy thanksgiving.

Hi J., if he is gassy you need to look at what you are eating! Start writing down what you eat and how he reacts to it...try to keep away from spicy foods, foods high in acid like tomatoes and oranges. Remember what you eat and drink, he gets through your breast milk. You might want to think about introducing a formula (pick a set time when hubby can give him a bottle) one or two bottles of formula a day might calm his tummy down without effecting your breast milk supply. If you can't seem to pin-point what is effecting him. Hang in there, it will get better!! Best wishes.

J....I feel your pain....we have a 5 month old daughter and that's how she use to be until I stopped breast feeding her and went to soy...Everyone has there opinion on everything when it comes to babies and gas....my girl did not do well with breast milk ..she was beside her self ,crying...it was horrible.....try if you want to to supplement and see if that changes....good luck...your his mom and you have been a mom ,do what you feel is best for your baby.

J.,
Are you absolutely certain you are burping him enough? All babies are different when it comes to the amount of burping they need and also it changes with the amount and flow of your milk. I'd begin by taking extra care to get all the burps out. One of my children I had to remove from the breast after the first minute ( yes, it wasn't fun) to get one big burp out of her and then she could settle in to nurse completely and be normally burped. Was your first an easy feeder? Maybe you didn't have to learn all the tricks, turns and positions with burping. There are many ways to do it and some days you need to try every one of them. It's trial and error with the situation, but if they begin with air in their tummies, there are only two ways it can come out! And if he is crying, he's putting more air in! Or...
You can experiment with the foods you are eating. There are lots of lists of gassy foods moms shouldn't eat.
I think I'd try the extra burpings before I'd go through the food elimination regimens.

I agree with several other posters - try cutting all the dairy out of your diet for 2 weeks. If it's a milk allergy, it will make a huge difference. And don't panic, MANY newborns have a milk allergy that they outgrow before they turn 1.

J.,
Have you tried gently bicycling his little legs when he seems gassy? It usually helped my son.
We also used to put a warm hand towel (heat SLIGHTLY AND CAREFULLY in the microwave) while he was being held and comforted when his tummy hurt. Worth a try! Good luck.

If it is gas, use mylecon drops. It helps with gas buildup.

Can't help with colic though. My kids never had it.

Good luck.

You could be talking about my son! He is 7mo now, but I had the same issues when he was brand new. Bicycling the legs works, but Mylicon only works for burp gas. The warm compress helps too, also holding him face down on your arm so his belly is pressing against your arm. As for the colic, swaddle, swing, and shhh! It helped us immensely! Swaddling is awesome, and helps them feel secure. The swinging is comforting. They say since the baby is used to be held tight and moved 24/7 in your belly, holding them is important. make sure to put him down when sleeping though, I made that mistake and my son took FOREVER to sleep alone! :) Good luck!

What have you been eating. Many foods that can cause gas can pass through your breast milk. I also had a child that was very gasy. I used a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel or receiving blanket and put it on the baby's stomache in a vibrating bouncy chair. The weight, heat and vibration helped work out the gas.

Get something called gripe water it is sold at childrens medicine shops. It will work....great product or go on ebay.
jade

I breastfed my son for the first 12 months and there were times when he would scream for a full day and I though it was colic until my doctor told me to write a food journal and sure enough any time I ate gassy foods he would be affected. Like broccoli for example. So try to keep an eye on what you eat. If he seems affective by something don't eat it for awhile and then introduce it back to your diet when he gets a little older. Also I used to use gripe water to help soothe him from the gas. They sell it at babies r us and a few other places. Two other things that helped me with the gas was massaging his stomach and bycicling his legs. Hope this helps.

I too had a colicy baby. I found she loved to move. So we went and bought a papasan swing and she loved it. I also tried to burb her a lot during feedings to make sure she got out some of her gas. They do have homeopathic colic tablets however I would check with your doctor as to how young they can take them. Also I know it is getting cold out but some ideas for soothing ideas are drives around town. Which I guess you could play some I spy games with the 3 year old or sing some songs. And also a quick walk around the block with a really bundled up baby. As I just finished ready your posts again the getting things done around the house bit is hard but maybe a sling or baby borne could help soothe as well. Good luck.

I have a 3 week old lil girl and she is really gasy to. At first i thought it was colic but i wasnt sure. Im pretty sure its not now thanks to the baby milacon. shes been using it for 2 days and it seems easier for her to go to the bathroom and everything. she was pulling her legs up and constantly grunting like she had to poop. we also noticed that she burped alot for a baby really loud even when we wasnt feeding her and had killer farts. She was having bowel movements but when she would try to go she would cry. It has seemed to really help and her pediatricion recomended it. good luck!!!

Pay attention to the foods that you are eating. The gas could be caused by an intolerance to a food that you are consuming such as dairy, onions or anything acidic. I breastfed both of my children & found that they each reacted differently to different foods that I ate. My 3 year son became extremley gasy if I ate dairy & actually had reflux due to his dairy intolerance. I cut it out of my diet for 10 months & then gradually reintroduced it without a problem. My 14 month old daughter never had a dairy intolerance but became gasy if I ate spicy food & onions when she was a newborn & she has since grown out of that. It takes up to 11 days for dairy to be completely eliminated from your system. If you choose to go that route be patient & you should start to see an improvement within a few days if that is the cause. In the meantime rub your sons belly in a counterclockwise motion to break up the gas & push his knees gently towards his belly & then straighten them back out & repeat until there is no longer resistance. If it is gas you will have a slightly tough time pushing his knees towards his belly the first few times.If it truly is gas you'll feel what I mean, this is one of the best tricks that I teach to all of my friends w/newborns that have gas issues. Beware it could lead to a messy diaper change shortly after the gas is "broken up"! Good luck!

Hi J.,

My son had wicked bad colic and it was due to what I was eating--I breastfed. The main thing that helped was to cut out ALL veggies from my diet--but especially garlic, onions and peppers--that and mylicon. within hours he was fine. it sucked to eat meat and cheese and potatoes only--but MUCH better than the colic.

At 5 mos, his colic cleared up, but he has had serious trouble with constipation since. after mnay attempts at homeopathic cures, we put him on miralax. He's 3 now, and still needs it. it's much, much better to give him the stool softener than a suppository.

hope that helps, R.

My advice....See or call a doctor soon. I nursed a son for weeks, but he was only maintaining weight- not gaining. We had a underlying medical problem. He's happy and healthy and 8 years old now.

At the time I was a 2nd time mom that assumed he was colicky or or gassy- even the doctors thought the same until I brought to their attention some other symptoms. What's his belly like after he eats. Go with your insticts...Write down all of the symptoms and observations! IT could be nothing...but you never know. Good luck!

Hi, two things that worked for my gassy babies, colic calm drops, it's like a gripe water with activated charcoal in it, you can find it in some health food stores and on line, and gently massaging the tummy and abdomen area, and gently pushing babies bent legs up toward the belly and back down, or bicycling the legs, this moves the gas bubbles through the digestive tract and relieves the pressure.

I am so sorry you are going thru this. I went thru this for nine months with my daughter. At first we gave her the mylicon drops. They helped a little but not much. Then they thought she had colic. My daughter ended up having an allergy to dairy. So write down what you are eating. See how it works when you eliminate spicy foods, acidic foods, even sauces like pizza and pasta cause acid and gass. If that doesn't work I would consult your pediatrician. They may want to to try a special formula. I know breast milk is best. But in my daughters case it was not due to the allergies. Will keep you in my prayers. Have a fabulous holiday.

My daughter was like this - exactly. She did have colic that was caused due to being allergic to milk. I had to cut ALL dairy from my diet (milk, cheeses, etc., so it didn't get passed to her in the breastmilk) BUT, I saw a difference in just a few short days. Give it a try and see if he is showing a difference in a few days. My daughter did out grow this allergy - she tolerates dairy fine now. Good Luck.

Hi, J.!
Congratulations on your newest addition!

Ok, so first of all, as I'm sure you know, babies are just gassy little creatures. Sometimes, it's just something that they need to outgrow.
However, you can do a few things to help things improve. The first thing I suggest is getting some good quality Gripe Water from your local health food store. The fennel in it often helps quite a bit. You can also drink several cups of Cammomile tea a day, as some of the calming, soothing properties will travel to your milk.

You can also take your son to a good chiropractor for some adjustments & craniosacral therapy (I have a FABULOUS dr. in Forks Township/Easton that I'd be happy to suggest!).

Lastly, I wonder if your son is "high needs".--Have you ever read anything by Dr. Sears or looked at his site? --www.AskDrSears.com has some great info on it! If he is high needs, at the risk of sounding like a sales girl, I really can't say enough good things about baby slings! Even if your baby is not colicky--they're just a life saver!!! Again, not to sound too sales pitchy, but I make baby slings & am actually having a huge sale on Friday (along w/ everyone else!).
If you go to www.ThingaMaSling.com on Friday & enter coupon code "Black Friday" it will get you 15% off your entire purchase! It's good all day long, but only on Friday.

I hope that you find some relief. Don't worry--it WILL pass!!!
Happy Thanksgiving!
A.