Gas! Help! « Back to Group Discussions

[Christy1980]

Isaac has been having gas issues the past week.  I have a pretty active let-down, which apparently causes him to swallow air.  He's also still having some latch issues which are causing him to suck in air when he first tries to latch on.  i burp him often and always get a good 1 or 2 from him, but cant get it all out.  It doesnt bother him til bedtime, though, and then he is inconsolable for several hours.

What do I do??  i gave him gas drops lastnight that didnt seem to help.

[CherryBombMama]

Maybe "bicycle pedal" his legs right before his usual evening gassy time?

That's what I did with DS1, and it seemed to help.

[piratemere]

If you think he is getting gas from your over active let down, what about expressing yourself until you have a let down and let it pour into a diaper or something.  Then, when the letdown is done, latch him on.  I used to have to do this.  I would usually let DS nurse until I felt the let down, pull him off and let it into a diaper (I'd actually do it topless so that both breasts could let down freely) and then latch him on for the slower flow.  Even if I had multiple letdowns, the subsequent ones would usually be much less forceful than the first, so I didn't have to worry about them. 

[saudade]

In addition to gas drops, Little Tummies makes "Gripe water" that is ginger and fennel that helps for gas/"colic" and digestive issues. What I've noticed is that it seems to work short term, but I would end up having to give the gripe water several times before the discomfort would let up.

[Christy1980]

Well, I think we've gone from just gassy into colicky territory.  :(  I tried pumping before putting him on, and leaking/letting down before putting him on, and that seemed to help some.  But he's now been consistently screaming in discomfort from 8pm until 10:30pm every night.  DH has been researching stuff for me as I'm busy w/ baby all day, (he's sleeping right now), and wants to get gripe water and infant acidophilus. 

Anyone have experience w/ giving a baby acidophilus?  I'm nervous about it, but he seems to think it will really help.  Apparently, DH says some babies don't have the bacteria in their gut that they need and have yeast in there instead, which causes the gas.  Adding the right bacteria w/ the acidophilus balances out the bacteria in their gut and stops the gas produced by the yeast.

I'm totally on board w/ the gripe water, just not so sure about the acidophilus.  Gas drops don't seem to help at all, or help for just a few minutes. 

I'm also cutting broccolli, dairy, and onions out of my diet to see if that might also be the problem.  Not sure though, as it all seems to happen at the same time every day, fits more with "Granny Hour" or colic.  :(

[adoremybabe]

Christy - I've heard of using acidophilus for babies and mom who have thrush. It gets put on the nipple before a nursing session so the baby can easily take it when feeding. So it should be perfectly okay to use.

Kudos to your DH for checking things out!

[flavorfull1]

Christy- we like and use baby probiotics. totally safe. Just dab some on your nipple before a feeding and it is definitely enough. I use baby Jarrow probiotics.  Just make sure you don't over do it or else baby might be more gassy.  I would just start slow.

We are in the same boat with over active letdown. I have been trying to just let it stream when she starts gulping and then put her back on.  soon enough I feel like she will get it.  It is sad though because DD has very short awake times of actually being happy, the rest is either fussy or trying to get back to sleep.  I am doing a lot of walking and rocking.

[saudade]

What do you guys think of this explanation of The Period of "Purple Crying" as an explanation of "colic"? One of my local hospitals at least is all on board with this information and they are educating new parents who  deliver there about it so I was curious and did my own reading. I'm not sure what I think of it yet, though.

http://www.purplecrying.info/sections/index.php?sct=1&

[Rasa]

Saudade, I have a lot of thought about that campaign (though I had never heard of it and only know of it what I've read in your link) but to try and summarize...I guess i'm afraid that it is too broad an acceptance of severe crying for too long of a developmental period...especially with the notion that this severe crying resists soothing no matter what, I would be afraid that some tired parent may just give up trying other ways to soothe way too early and go 'eh?! (shrug) they say it's normal!' (an easy 'out'). I think severe crying could sometimes be 'nothing' in the sense that a fragile neurological or whatever developmental period predisposes the infant to a heightened state and the reaction (severe crying) is out of proportion to the cause (like we're all probably more likely to be irrational in the evening when we're worn out) but it also may be SOMETHING. (my baby will go straight to screaming her head off with almost no warning if she wants to feed sometimes but calms immediately once feeding... if I 'decided' for her that she shouldn't be hungry or need to suckle for my own reasons I'd be seeing her turn purple and maybe not try to offer a reasonable solution because according to this, crying is to be expected...even though I DO think offering the breast is reasonable and would always do that, I could totally see someone thinking 'that must not be it' and not even try). The caveats in this campaign, like that it usually happens in the evening, may get glossed over and someone may think, oh I just have a kid who is predisposed to purple crying at any time. I guess ultimately I think that sometimes there could be a major reason why an infant is screaming like this that could be rectified and even if we can't ever figure it out we owe it to our vulnerable infants to take their communications seriously, even if they seem overly strong, and see if we can keep researching alternatives to soothe. I wouldn't want to be given a 'pass' to give up trying to help my child. OK, I wasn't as brief ad I'd hoped, but anyway, just some of my thoughts about the PURPLE crying thing.

[Marnica]

We use infant probiotics as well. Over active letdown is associated with an oversupply. These two things can cause colic like symptoms. I am dealing with this as well and really thought Charlotte had colic, but I started block feeding and taking her off when I have a letdown and it's like night and day....still not perfect, but heaps better. The oversupply issue causes a foremilk\hindmilk imbalance that causes gas and irritability. What color are your Lo's poops?

[RosieL]

About purple crying: there are cultures where babies don't cry at all...usually when they have 24/7 instant access to the breast. Due to this I'm very skeptical of then purple crying hypothesis.

We are going to see about some gripe water to see if Odin's fuss is bass related.

[saudade]

Originally Posted by RosieL 

About purple crying: there are cultures where babies don't cry at all...usually when they have 24/7 instant access to the breast. Due to this I'm very skeptical of then purple crying hypothesis.
We are going to see about some gripe water to see if Odin's fuss is bass related.

Yeah that is why I'm skeptical too!

[Christy1980]

Thanks everyone!  We ordered the Jarro-dophilus...should have been here yesterday, but our post office sucks.  >:-(  So dabbing a little on the nipple is better than diluting in water and giving w/ a dropper?  I would not have thought of that!

Marnica:  His poops are bright yellow with seed-sized curds in them, sometimes with a slight green tint, and almost no smell.  He's had some issues with his bum being red, we think his poops have been acidic and causing him irritation on his bum and his anus.  He does have "explosive poops" where it all comes out with a huge fart, and I understand that is common with foremilk/hindmilk imbalance and overactive letdown.  We've been looking into both issues, and they both seem to fit, so we're nursing on one breast only for 2 sessions in a row, then switching to the other breast.  Apparently, this is supposed to help w/ both issues.  We just started this last night, so we'll see how well it works.  And still letting them leak out a bit prior to feeding.

I've cut a lot out of my diet, fruit juice, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, cheese, beans, and cabbage...which sucks b/c those are all my favorite veggies, lol.  I told my SIL it means all i can eat now is water and potato chips, lol.  I cheated and ate some beans and saurkraut the other night, (not much, I swear!), and Isaac was totally inconsolable later, so diet is definately a factor, too.

Thanks for the link, Suadade.  I'll have to look into the purple crying more.

[daylicious]

Ooooh I'm having these exact same issues with Holden. Good colored poops, but super gassy, gagging on milk, screaming at the breast. I have an oversupply on the right side, but not left. Called the la Leche league and the lady said to offer the left breast first until he's done, then offer the right. If it gets too engorged, manually express a little until its comfortable. Fingers crossed this works!