gassy 4 week old- WTD?

[is it puppies?]

So my lil girl has been getting gassier and crabbier. She is EBF and she eats like a little piggy and until about a week ago would sleep for 3-3 hour stretches no problem at night (with a diaper change and nursing between). The worst we had for problems was the odd giant spit up if she ate too much too fast without a burp. The giant burp ups became more frequent if I wasn't careful, and then the farty gas pains became more frequent.
Now she has started to wake up screaming (or even scream in her sleep!) and be stiff as a board until she burps and farts and possibly poops. These episodes are getting longer and more regular- yesterday she had one around lunch time plus two or three last night. It's terrible it sounds like I am torturing her!
What do I do? Is this just the 4-6 week fussies coming on or do I have to start eliminating foods or something?
I am thinking I'll start with simethicone drops, none of us have any food intollerances.

[mom2happy]

You could try cutting out wheat, dairy, eggs, and soy for two weeks and see if it helps. If it does, then slowly start eating those foods trying one at a time spacing each trial for 3 days and see if you can find the culprit.
Sometimes the trace proteins from allergens can effect the baby.
If that doesnt work, maybe its because you have a lot of milk and its coming out to fast (like me) It causes gassy baby with poop explosions!
Try feeding from the same side or getting some of the milk out first.

Also massaging the belly in a clockwise circle with you fore and middle finger can help ease out gas bubbles. Bringing the knees up to the belly and kind of pressing them in gently and moving her in a circle really gets fart out.

[is it puppies?]

would she not have had problems before if it was an allergy? I hear so many mixed things about cutting out foods and the actual value in it.

also- should I contact LLL for help or what do I do about possibly causing the problem with overactive letdown or too much milk? I know I had something like that going on but I thought it was better. I'm not sure what to do about it the way my breasts are shaped I think I can't feed with her on top of me, only in front, and if I recline I don't think it seems to make a difference it only makes my arms and hands really sore from trying to hold my boob up and her in a place where she can breathe and eat.

[lalemma]

Have you looked at kellymom.com? She isn't a big believer in food intolerances in mother's milk.

My baby went through various fussy/gassy phases. I think it's very tempting to think "This is because I ate chili yesterday!" but for us, I think it was just developmental, just his gastric system coming online.

YMMV, every baby is different, etc. But I would definitely check out kellymom before launching an elimination diet.

Good luck!

[HoneybeeWaterfall]

I'm vegan so never any dairy in my diet or other species milk protein in my milk but I have a gassy one too. I'm with kellymom on the food intolerance thing. Not to say it couldn't happen to some folks though.

I am taking some (non-dairy cultured) probiotic powder in hopes of accelerating the colonization of her gut. But this is my 2nd ebf baby and I think it is just being a baby.

Good luck!

[is it puppies?]

I think it was kellymom that kind of confirmed for me that I really don't think it's an intolerance. I guess I just can't be sure, unless I try to eliminate. I don't think I'm ready to try that yet.

Any other thoughts/ideas? Would LLL help if it's oversupply/forceful letdown?

[AFWife]

Originally Posted by is it puppies?

Any other thoughts/ideas? Would LLL help if it's oversupply/forceful letdown?

Yes, they should be able to give you tools to help deal with that if it's the cause.

Have you tried block feeding?

[Ruthla]

I would try changing sides less often (aka, follow the "foremilk/hindmilk imbalance" protocol on kellymom.com) before making any dietary changes. While food allergy/intolerance symptoms can start at any time, hindmilk/foremilk seems to be a better thing to try first. Elimination diets can take weeks for noticable effects (although sometimes you see some benefits immediately) but you can fix a HM/FM imbalance within a day or two. If that doesn't help, you can start eliminating foods from your diet- but if it does help, you won't have to.

[is it puppies?]

I did actually go to block feeding when DD started having green poops at about 2 weeks, I think that's when I thought first OH NO MILK ALLERGY! but that fixed it. I do tend to feed twice off each breast but she's been draining them pretty good lately so now I'm not doing that as much- I wonder if it would help? I find that since I've been taking her off to burp, she's not necessarily interested in going back to eating after a burp.

Does anybody else hear gurgles sometimes while babies drink? like she's swallowing air sometimes, I have started to pull her off to burp whenever I hear that but I'm not sure if there's a point. I think I have to re-think how I am feeding her.