Now here’s a glamorous topic for you… gassy babies! Amalia was a great eater and sleeper for her first 3.5 weeks, then all of a sudden, gas and spit up hit with a vengeance. The first day, I thought it was something I ate, so I spent the next few days watching my diet super closely and being extra careful, but nothing changed.
I talked to our doctor, our lactation consultant, a friend who’s a nurse, and some mom friends, and learned that babies often get gassy from 4-6 weeks because their digestive systems are still forming. How fun for us!
It will literally keep her up for over an hour sometimes at night, and it breaks my heart. Luckily she doesn’t cry or scream, she just gets super fussy and red faced trying to get it out.
I’d love to know what tips you guys have for gassy babies. This is what I’ve tried so far:
1. Feeding her at a more elevated angle. That seems to help a lot with spit up, but not gas.
2. Avoiding dairy, “gassy” veggies (like onions, cabbage, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower, etc), chocolate, and caffeine. I’m trying not to be too crazy, but I’ve noticed that when I eat these foods, it’s worse for her. Not worth it!
3. Giving her Little Remedies Gas Relief Drops after every afternoon/evening feeding and that tones it down.
4. A reader (Hi Laura!) emailed me yesterday recommending the Fridababy Windi. I actually had it but was too afraid to use it. Today, I tried it for the first time and it was magical! Within a matter of minutes, Amalia was calm and asleep after using it. I like the idea of using this instead of over-the-counter products when possible. Obviously only use this when absolutely necessary as babies can get dependent on it.
5. Putting her in the Rock ‘n Play for daytime naps so she’s elevated. This helps with spit up more than anything else.
6. Pumping her legs like a bicycle to help the gas move through her tummy.
So tell me what’s worked for you… I’ll take all the help I can get!
In addition to bicycling her legs, try this massage. It helped my super gassy baby. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmUZd89comQ
OMG baby massages! Now my ovaries are throbbing!!!
Haha so cute 🙂
First off, congrats! I’ve been following your blog since we left NYC, love it. My oldest was a spitter and both boys had some tummy trouble. Our first pediatrician who was actually a DO suggested giving baby a probiotic (Floragen for Kids) a few times a week. I would open up a capsule and mix it with some breast milk. I also ended up cutting out dairy completely, since their digestive systems are not fully developed, they can have trouble with the Caesin protein in all dairy. That’s our experience. Good luck and enjoy the newborn snuggles!
Great thank you so much! Will talk to our ped about probiotics 🙂
My pedi recommended the gerber soothe drops, but in the end we had 2 Dairy/Soy protein intolerant babies so we eventually ended up on special formula which worked wonders.
But I have had friends swear by the soothe drops!
You may also look up happi tummi band. I learned of this after mine were infants.
Poor baby! And mama. My niece loved when we flew her like Superman, i.e. held her with our hand on her stomach and flew her through the air gently. It makes sense because when our adult tummies are gassy, laying on our tummies helps push that out. 😉
Our little one is a few weeks older. She was pretty gassy around the same age. We tried gas drops which helped, but I think switching bottles was the thing that helped the most! I am breastfeeding but pump and give a bottle on occasion and we found her gas was worse when she got a bottle. We switched to the Dr. Browns vented bottles and this seemed to make a big difference!
I agree that Dr. Brown’s make a huge difference. They are the best bottles!
It’s also possible the baby is getting too much foremilk sometimes (although maybe your LC already ruled this out?). I think it’s pretty common to have an oversupply around this point, which can result in a forceful letdown and/or the baby getting too much foremilk during feedings – especially if you feed on both sides – and this can cause gassiness. I had a similar issue around that age and my lactation consultant recommended just doing 1 side per feeding for a few days to ‘down-regulate’ my supply a bit. I’d definitely check with your lactation consultant before doing this though.
Also, when my baby started sleeping really long stretches a few weeks later, she would occasionally spit up a lot in the morning, probably because she was taking in too much milk too quickly. I ended up pumping a little before the first feed for a while and that fixed the issue.
Either way, it’s definitely normal and something she’ll probably (hopefully) grow out of pretty quickly!
Are you using bottles? If so try switching to Dr.Browns, it really helped my little one. I was a total skeptic about it working but I gave it a try and it was all downhill from there.
Yes! We use bottles when I pump and Anel feeds her. She seems to like the ones we’re using but so many people are suggesting Dr. Browns that we might have to make a switch. Glad to know that actually works!
So many congratulatikns on your adorable baby!
For spit-up/reflux: burping several times while feeding helps to 1. Settle the milk down, removing the air and 2. Slows down baby’s eating. Elevation after eating was what really worked for us. The muscle involved in preventing reflux isn’t actually developed until about six months, according to my ped. Hope this phase doesn’t last too long for you!
Gas: some babies respond better to certain gas relief drops/remedies over others. Gripe water wasn’t effective for us, but Mylicon is our go-to. We also started Anastasia on an infant probiotic with vitamin D right around 3 weeks. Baby Gaia was the brand we liked best. Tummy time also helped a lot. Anastasia is still a gassy baby, but she has learned how to work it out most of the time.
Good luck!
Our son was super gassy / we lived on Little Remedies Gas Drops and gripe water, and tried every other remedy anyone suggested. One day, it just stopped. I can’t even tell you when it was – as quickly as it began, it was just over one day. I would say keep comforting Amalie the best you can, trying everything because why not, and knowing that this too shall pass. You are doing great, mama!
Oh man, I seriously can’t wait for that day! Glad to hear it might be coming though. Fingers crossed.
My Zoe was very very gassy. We used the Gerber probiotic drops and it helped! She also has a dairy/soy intolerance so doing a complete elimination diet of all dairy and soy for 2 weeks changed her for the better! It’s heartbreaking to see them struggle with gas! Stay strong sister!
Thanks Stacey!!
Our daughter is refluxy/gassy, too, and we found that the mylicon drops worked the best (& you can use it way more than twice a day!) and frequent burping. We also do bycicle kicks as was already suggested. It’s pretty cute, now she does them herself to get gas out!! It’s awful eliminating dairy – I don’t know if your having trouble but it’s so hard to say no to cheese plates and ice cream in the summer!
So cute that she does the bicycle kicks herself now, I love that! I had been dairy free for almost 10 years before I got pregnant so that part is a breeze for me, luckily 🙂
Cutting out diary, tummy massages clockwise, probiotic drops and Mylicon – only the combo of all of those seems to work! He’s 5 mo now. Good luck!
Thank you!
The thing that worked the best for us was Colic Calm. Worked every time and was a huge help. The gas is somewhat normal so don’t worry too much. Try CC – even the CVS store brand is great!! Hang in. It’s temporary.
Everyone keeps saying that I ordered on Amazon, so hoping it works for us too!
We had a very gassy baby as well. I saw someone posted about the baby massage, this was really helpful, especially in the evenings when he was particularly gassy (always worst before bed!). The Frida Windi was our secret weapon, I was a skeptic but it works! And, I was recommended these probiotic drops from multiple people, and found that they helped a lot as well. I think I used them during his evening feedings.
https://www.amazon.com/Gerber-Soothe-Probiotic-Colic-Drops/dp/B00CQNR64M/ref=sr_1_1_s_it?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1503491842&sr=1-1&keywords=gerber+drops+infant
We started doing the massage yesterday and it helped immensely, thank you so much!! The Windi is amazing. FYI we saw our doc today who said to only use it once in a blue moon when we really need it so trying to keep that in mind 🙂
Sounds like you’re doing a great job! This phase is hard especially during overnight feedings when you’re up all alone trying to console a gas baby. Try keeping her upright for 15 minutes after every feeding. I know it’s a pain, but it really helped my little guy. Hoping it helps your sweet babe, too!
I know this post is older but as a new mom with a 3.5 week old gassy baby, I’d love an update! So far the Little Remedies drops are helping her sleep, but like you I’m worried about giving “drugs” so often. What ended up working best for you and how long did the gassiness last? I feel so bad for our baby!
Hi Ellen! I feel for you, you’re in the toughest phase. But I promise it gets easier soon. The Little Remedies drops are pretty natural so I wouldn’t worry about those too much. I did a mix of Gripe Water (with every feed) and LR drops (3ish times a day) for those few gassy weeks. Then we used the Windi when things got really rough. I hope that helps!