Help with your top solutions for gassy infants

[megincl]

DD, 5 weeks, is super gassy. She can be fast asleep and then will be startled into a screaming fit by gas pains. I can feel the bubbles in her belly.

We've tried massage, bicycling her legs, etc, and it's hard to help her move the gas on through.

Onions and garlic definitely make things worse, and DW (the nursing mom) is avoiding them.

I'd love to hear what other solutions folks have for such gassiness!

Thanks

[Knitting Mama]

Gripe water and gas drops didn't work for us, but they're worth a try for you.

We didn't bicycle Cecilia's legs so much as we would do knees to belly, exert a little pressure, hold, release and repeat ad nauseum until she stopped tooting. It worked really well for my gassy little love.

Massage is good as well, as long as you make sure you're going in a clockwise motion on her little belly. It takes a little time but it works well to get gas (and other things) out.

Dairy is a big culprit too, from what I hear. I never did an elimination diet because we use donated breast milk along with my milk and so she'd still be getting the eliminated foods from her donor milk. We just rode it out. By around 3 months old her gas was way less than earlier on.

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

Dairy is a big culprit too, from what I hear.

i cut out dairy because of a sensitivity and bad reflux, and as a result gassiness went way down.

[isabchi]

Just my personal opinion. Take what would youlike and leave the rest.Lots of Babywearing, especially hiking and walks. I feel that EC helped my little to "hempty" better, plus you need to manueveur the baby to place him(her) in the EC position. Usually I feel lots of gases out in opne of the movements. I would check eliminaton diet or go straight to primal diet.
Best!

[lucy_v]

DD seemed to enjoy (and it seemed to help her gas) a series of movements. I'd start with "bounce, bounce, bounce" (bouncing her legs gently from behind her knees), then jogging, pedaling, hopping, and whatever other leg actions came to mind (she loved tapping and typing). I'd end it with a gentle squeeze of her knees upward toward her belly. Repeat as necessary/till babe gets tired of it.

For the couple of severe gas bouts she's had (e.g. shrieking cries), Mylicon gas drops were life savers.

For my niece, holding her on her belly (like across your forearm) worked best to relieve her gas.

[megincl]

When eliminating dairy, is it critical to do the complete complete elimination (ie- including butter, anything with casein, etc), or have people noticed a difference with just cutting out the major ones like milk, cheese, yogurt?

[MommaLura]

have you tried the "I love you" massage? I'd personally say if the nursing mom is going to try an elimination diet then do it complete and avoid everything related to dairy: casein, butter, whey, ect, and give it two week to clear the system before determining how well its working.

[KikaKika]

Probiotics!

If your baby has virgin gut (nothing but breastmilk so far), then mom can add probiotics, esp. Lactobacillus reuteri strain to her daily regime...
If baby had taken any supplements (vit D, gripe water, etc.) then you might want to check out baby probiotics. One that's highly recommended: BioGaia probiotic drops for infants.

Also, check out study from Pediatrics journal, for some light reading

http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...ull/119/1/e124

OBJECTIVE. The goal was to test the hypothesis that oral administration of Lactobacillus reuteri in a prospective randomized study would improve symptoms of infantile colic.

METHODS. Ninety breastfed colicky infants were assigned randomly to receive either the probiotic L reuteri (108 live bacteria per day) or simethicone (60 mg/day) each day for 28 days. The mothers avoided cow's milk in their diet. Parents monitored daily crying times and adverse effects by using a questionnaire.

RESULTS. Eighty-three infants completed the trial: 41 in the probiotic group and 42 in the simethicone group. The infants were similar regarding gestational age, birth weight, gender, and crying time at baseline. Daily median crying times in the probiotic and simethicone groups were 159 minutes/day and 177 minutes/day, respectively, on the seventh day and 51 minutes/day and 145 minutes/day on the 28th day. On day 28, 39 patients (95%) were responders in the probiotic group and 3 patients (7%) were responders in the simethicone group. No adverse effects were reported.

CONCLUSIONS. In our cohort, L reuteri improved colicky symptoms in breastfed infants within 1 week of treatment, compared with simethicone, which suggests that probiotics may have a role in the treatment of infantile colic.


Take care!

[Nicole730]

probiotics here too. it was an instant change.

[Knitting Mama]

I forgot about probiotics! We do those too.

[nervousnelle]

nak

where can i buy infant probiotics? whole foods?

[KikaKika]

BioGaia is sold through Amazon, and bunch of other online sources.
I know that this site ships only Mon-Wed, so it arrives during the week - and weekend is skipped (temp. control):

http://www.colichelp.com/shop/biogai...tic-drops.html

But, even better, you can check with your local pharmacy, or visit this page:
http://www.childrensprobiotics.com/buy.aspx

and find local distributors if there are any, or just have it directly shipped.

L. reuteri is most beneficial, and it's proven, so I would get that one.
For breastfed babies - you just put several drops on the nipple.

Of course, educate yourself about virgin gut .

Udo's choice has infant probiotics, but more strains in one and that one is usually beneficial for older babies/toddlers, and it is sold in HFS's and online (Amazon).

Nature's Way also has L.Reuteri mixed with other (L. acidophillus, Bifidobacterium infantis, etc. (in powder form, and this is for older babies/children and adults, and since it's in a powder form, it's easy to dilute into any liquid):

- I never travel without this one ( I always run out of capsule-form probiotics, since people around me need it, and I've never had a chance to run out of the powder):

http://www.vitacost.com/Natures-Way-...F-033674142417

[KikaKika]

Originally Posted by Nicole730

probiotics here too. it was an instant change.

It's so cool to hear this! I've met many moms who tried everything and probiotics were the only thing that really helped.

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

I forgot about probiotics! We do those too.

Cool!

[Knitting Mama]

I get my infant's probiotic at a natural foods grocery, similar to Whole Foods but way cheaper.

[Tattooed Hand]

In addition to cutting out dairy, adding probiotics, I wore DD tummy to tummy in the Moby and that would help get gas out too.

[rhiOrion]

For DD her gas was also related to reflux, so we had to go the zantac route to help that.

But for the gas itself, mylicon actually does work for her. Also, burping her the old fashioned way of patting her back rarely helps. Instead putting her in that same position and jiggling her up and down helps the most.

Cutting out dairy helped a lot.

[doulawoman]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

Gripe water and gas drops didn't work for us, but they're worth a try for you.

We didn't bicycle Cecilia's legs so much as we would do knees to belly, exert a little pressure, hold, release and repeat ad nauseum until she stopped tooting. It worked really well for my gassy little love.

Massage is good as well, as long as you make sure you're going in a clockwise motion on her little belly. It takes a little time but it works well to get gas (and other things) out.

Dairy is a big culprit too, from what I hear. I never did an elimination diet because we use donated breast milk along with my milk and so she'd still be getting the eliminated foods from her donor milk. We just rode it out. By around 3 months old her gas was way less than earlier on.

yes, this, especially knees to chest. gripe waterdid help us...as well ashaving he over my thing and gently rolling her side to side. we had an amazing homeopath who helped us aLOT.

[megincl]

Thanks, lovely mamas, for all of these great suggestions.

We've done infant probiotics since birth, particularly since DS had some big allergy/sensitivity/gut issues.

DW is cutting out dairy, starting today, and will go whole hog -- so including casein, etc. This will be a challenge! I think we'll check in at the two week mark, and if things are still tough, try taking out gluten, too, as DS is still sensitive to that. Fingers crossed, though, that it doesn't come to that.

Gripe water hasn't done much for us. Mylicon drops help sometimes. And definitely as much movement of the legs, rubbing of the belly, I love you massage, etc. We're trying to piece it all together.

But any other thoughts greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!!!

[KikaKika]

Just hang in there! Babies mature rapidly in this period...

Which probiotics are you using (product name, and probiotic strain)?

[Llyra]

Time....

A lot of it is really just related to the maturity of the nervous system and GI tract. The peak of fussiness seems to be about six weeks, and then it declines after that.