Ugghh....Gas Pains!

[gumby74]

Any tips and advice on how to relieve gas in an infant? Any positions that help when I hold him? He's incredibly uncomfortable and I can't figure out how to relieve his pain.

[SabbathD]

stradle him across your thighs or try the colic hold. walk with baby facing down across arm with hand under abdomen, applying gentle pressure.

eta: you can also lie baby on their back, and bring both of their legs up to their stomach and bicycle kick their legs (pretend they are riding a bicycle), and that can work some gas down. Have you tried Mylicon drops? Or gripe water?

[Treehuggin'Mama]

So far the only thing that helps dd is Gripe Water. Amazing stuff. (She didn't like the taste of Mylicon, and it didn't seem to work as well for us anyway.)

[Yin Yang]

YOu know I was just taking a shower and thinking about the whole colic with babies. My first DS was very colicky and this one has ZERO colic. They are both VERY different in their eating habits.
So far from what I have learned I can tell that the reason my first DS had so much colic was due to overeating.
He'd NEVER spit up, he was very hard to burb, and he just kept eating and eating which was making things much worse.
So this is just my theory that applies to my children, but who knows, perhaps its true with others too.
My DS2 spits up a lot and burbs easilly and he NEVER overeats. He gets really mad if he only wants to suck and there's milk coming. If he keeps nursing despite of that, he WILL puke EVERYTHING out soon after that. His body will just get rid of it. Whereas my DS1 would keep eating and never spit anything up. So if I compare those two - my DS1 was way too full, the milk was obviously fermenting in his intestines because of that, causing his pain and gas, which led him to wanting nurse even more. If I knew this before I'd buy him a pacifier so he can suck on it and not overeat himself. Hard to say now if it'd work since he's 3yo now.
I also noticed that when they need to burb they act like they are still hungry. It seems that gas and air in their bellies/stomachs give them fauls signals and they think they are hungry. :

[gumby74]

Yin: I think you are definetly on to something about the overeating component. I have started to think that this is why Andrew has as much gas as he does. We use the pacifier, but I also wondr if he is sucking in too much air with that as well? Hmmmmmm

What is Gripe water and where can I get it?

[fenwickmama]

tricia-the storebought kind i have (baby's bliss-google it if you want-i dunno how to include a link) (was in a baby care package gift) has anise and fennel in it but here's a recipe a friend makes for her triplets and it works wonders for her...

1/2 teaspoon each ground ginger, crushed anise seeds and baking soda steeped in 1/2 cup of boiling water for 20 minutes. 1-2 teaspoons (or as much as they'll take!)

hth,kel

[annarosa]

best gas position I've found is to sit dd on my leg and fold her over my arm so she kind of hangs (she is 6 weeks old) then rub and pat her back until something comes up
sometimes if nothing happens then I keep her sitting there but straighten her up more and support both her back and her front and rub and tap on her back until something comes up

the forward bend is good because it puts pressure on her stomach and on her intestines - so gas is kind of forced through both ways