excessive baby gas :(

[holdingmyson]

my 4 week old is miserable...I keep cutting out foods (dairy, wheat, broccoli, plus a ton more) and he is still excessively gassy. Gripe water sometimes works, but gosh I'd really like to sleep for more than 1.5 or 2 hrs at a time. I am trying to cut out vinegar next (some family thinks he has a yeast/digestive tract issue bc of the strep b antibiotics I had to take at his birth). Has anybody else had these problems? He used to be such a content, happy baby. Now he just grunts and sounds miserable.............

[Llyra]

Honestly-- I think it's the age. The peak of fussy crying for most babies is about six weeks, and that period between 4 to 6 weeks is often really rough-- they've "woken" up from the immediate neonatal period, and they're starting to feel overwhelmed by the big wide world, and by all the uncomfortable sensations of having a body, and yet their nervous systems haven't matured enough for them to have some ability to soothe and calm themselves. And so for a few weeks they seem genuinely miserable an awful lot of the time.

I would just give it some time. The gas is normal, even when it seems like a lot. So is trouble pooping, with a lot of straining and fussing and turning bright red and pushing. As long as the poo, when it comes, is soft, and baby is growing at a reasonable rate, there is very little reason to worry. The trouble is that they have so little control of the muscles that control these bodily functions, so that they struggle badly to pass even normal gas and stool.

So I would give it a few weeks, and in the meantime find ways to help him cope. Lying him down and cycling his legs might help him pass the gas. Carrying him face-out against you, with his legs pulled up to his chest, might help too.

But I wouldn't go crazy eliminating foods. I really wouldn't, not for something that's so likely to be just a normal phase that will pass on its own. If he's still miserable at 8 or 10 weeks, I'd be considering it then.

[pbjmama]

edit! I found out I was misinformed and don't want anyone to get the wrong info from my post!

[MamaMorgana]

My DS is now 3 months, and thank goodness his gas problems seem to be phasing out!!!! It was horrible for him. I did cut out a whole bunch of foods, but now I've been slowly bringing them back. (I'm still too nervous about nuts and dairy, but I'm starting to crave them bad, so it won't be long!)

He almost always responded immediately to simethicone drops, though! So much so that we started calling them the "magic drops." We have Little Tummys brand Gas Relief Drops. Usually he only needed a tiny drop, too, not even the whole dose.

[luckymamaoftwo]

Ah, I SO empathize and have experienced the very same. Unfortunately, I don't have any solutions and my DS is 3 1/2 months. I just wanted you to know that I totally understand.......

[lalemma]

I think it's the age, too.

Like Llyra, I would try less drastic measures before doing something like an ED. My baby liked to lay across my knees, tummy-down, while I rocked in the glider. I think the pressure on his tummy was soothing.

[holdingmyson]

Thanks everyone! I still am not eating vinegar because eliminating it immediately healed his poor, red bottom. I am going to reintroduce some of the other foods in a few weeks, slowly.
It turns out that my son had a hernia! A double one. His symptoms escalated to bad tummy gurgling, more fussiness, and general discomfort. I discovered the hernia and one Doctor told me he couldnt do the surgery til July and that the hernia caused him no pain or discomfort. Ha! My Mom and I searched stressfully for another Doctor, and a woman in an office, God bless her, got us an appointment with a Chief Pediatric Surgeon at a local hospital, and the surgery was done less than a week later.

I really liked him. He was straightforward, and told me honestly: he was taught in medical school that a hernia causes no pain or discomfort to a child. But in his many years pf practice, some parents have come back to him, so happy that their children felt so much better after surgery! Some children had no such results. His honesty was touching.

Anyway, 6 days after the surgery now, I can tell my son is so much more comfortable. No more gurgling, gas isnt painful for him, he smiles more, and will sit in his bouncer chair for a lot longer!!

[karika]

Originally Posted by holdingmyson

my 4 week old is miserable...I keep cutting out foods (dairy, wheat, broccoli, plus a ton more) and he is still excessively gassy. Gripe water sometimes works, but gosh I'd really like to sleep for more than 1.5 or 2 hrs at a time. I am trying to cut out vinegar next (some family thinks he has a yeast/digestive tract issue bc of the strep b antibiotics I had to take at his birth). Has anybody else had these problems? He used to be such a content, happy baby. Now he just grunts and sounds miserable.............

make sure you stay off dairy, soy and gluten. It takes up to 21 days for all the dairy and soy to leave your system, and gluten takes months.... Since you mention the antibiotics, the first thing I would recommend is opening a probiotic capsule and wetting your finger and dipping it in the contents, then put contents in baby's mouth. This will solve any problems with having no bacteria/ wrong bacteria in digestive tract. dairy and soy are not tolerated well by many babies though IMO and lead to gas problems, rashes and irritability.

[annettemarie]

As per the forum guidelines, I am going to move this out to the main forum.

[Llyra]

Oh, wow, I'm sorry it was something serious like that, but I'm glad it's been taken care of, and that baby is doing better. It's wonderful that you stuck with your instincts-- that something was really wrong-- and kept trying to find out what it was. So often fussiness really is just normal, but sometimes our mama impulses just let us know-- this is not right, get help. And we need to listen to those.

So I'm glad you didn't listen to me, and instead listened to your heart!

[holdingmyson]

Originally Posted by Llyra

So I'm glad you didn't listen to me, and instead listened to your heart!

Oh, don't worry about it! A lot of what you said helped!