Gassy infant

[isabel]

DS is about a week old. I have overactive let down and I think he swallows a lot of air when eating. He spits up a fair amount and gets really fussy because he can't burp. I've tried different feeding positions to work against gravity, but they don't seem to be helping. Any tips for getting him to burp consistently or are there gas drops I can give him that would help? I'm going to call our pedi in a bit, but wasn't sure if gas drops for such a small baby is a stupid idea.

[livinitup]

Are you swaddling? My newborn was super fussy unless she was swaddled. Then she was very happy - a tight swaddle and a pacifier was her idea of heaven. It wasn't about gas but any time she wasn't in a swaddle I thought she had gas.

[robyn]

We used gas drops with DD a lot. She was gassy and was (and still is) the queen of spit up. The pedi's office okayed the gas drops from very early on so I"m sure you're fine to use them. We also used gripe water to help. I too had an overactive let down. I burped DD every 10 minutes or so, and gave the gas drops prior to each feeding. I also nursed her reclined back using the football hold so essentially she was laying on top of me while nursing. That seemed to help. For burping we would sit her up with one hand supportive on her chest and her kind of slumped over the hand, and burp with the other hand. When it was gas we knew - screaming, red faced, arching her back, very tight feeling tummy. It could just be general newborn jerky behavior. Have you tried swaddling, offering a pacifier, rocking and shhshing?

[bullsgirl]

We used Bliss Water pretty early on. I thought it helped. I did get the okay from our pedi first though.

[isabel]

We are swaddling and he likes that a lot, but when he's gassy, it does nothing. He's not a huge fan of the pacifier either.

robyn, the screaming, arched back, tight tummy is exactly what's going on, so I'm pretty sure it's gas. Plus, if we work hard enough, we can generally get him to come up with a pretty big burp and he'll settle down. I'll call the pedi and see if they're comfortable with us using gas drops. I'll also try to recline even more when feeding him.

[robyn]

Apr 17, 2015 13:51:27 GMT -5 isabel said:

We are swaddling and he likes that a lot, but when he's gassy, it does nothing. He's not a huge fan of the pacifier either.

robyn, the screaming, arched back, tight tummy is exactly what's going on, so I'm pretty sure it's gas. Plus, if we work hard enough, we can generally get him to come up with a pretty big burp and he'll settle down. I'll call the pedi and see if they're comfortable with us using gas drops. I'll also try to recline even more when feeding him.

Yep, sounds just like DD. Bicycling her legs really helped. I would lay her on my lap with her head toward my knees and her feet up by my belly and work them. That helped calm her down. Sometimes, us holding her standing up with her laying on her tummy  across our arm helped too. Sometimes it made it worse. Also, have you heard of the Windi? It sounds totally made up, but a girl in my breastfeeding support group swore by it. It's made my nosefrida. www.fridababy.com/shop/windi-for-gas-relief/. I never bought one because by the time I heard about it DD had pretty much outgrown her gassy issues, but from what others have said, I would give it a shot. The lactation nurse in my bf-ing group said back in the 70's and 80's they used to use a similar idea for c/s patients who were having trouble with gas. I could never find one in store near me, but you can buy it on Amazon.

I also cut out most dairy from my diet and that seemed to help quite a bit. Especially things like milk, ice cream, cream. Slowly but surely I've incorporated most back in and she hasn't shown any signs of trouble over the last 2 months. Otherwise, just remember it will get better. It totally sucks when you're going through it, but by about 3 months DD was mostly clear of it, and now at 8.5 months it's just a distant memory.  She toots all the darn time still, but it doesn't seem to bother her.

[teatimefor2]

We had the same issue. We used gas drops a lot. Also I nursed him almost tummy to tummy with me leaning back to slow down my letdown and that helped. Plus we did a lot of bicycle legs and a warm rice bag on his tummy. I also cut out dairy and soy and added it back in around four months.

Our pedi showed me how to touch/squeeze his tummy to see if he was gassy. His tummy actually made a crinkly sound and that sound is the gas.

[Deleted]

DD is fairly gassy and spits up a lot. I burp her at least 2-3x every nursing session, that helps a TON. I get her high up on my shoulder, so her head is over my shoulder and her tummy is pressing into my collarbone. And I pat pretty hard until I get at least 2 burps. I also bicycle her legs and press them up into her tummy, then repeat. She is much happier when I am vigilant about that routine.

[isabel]

Sounds like I need to cut out dairy as well. Ugh.

Thanks for the advice!

[robyn]

Apr 17, 2015 14:11:23 GMT -5 isabel said:

Sounds like I need to cut out dairy as well. Ugh.

Thanks for the advice!

If you do end up cutting the dairy, try Silk Dark Chocolate Almond Milk. SO GOOD! When I cut dairy, I was still able to do a little bit of cheese, especially harder cheeses like cheddar. I mainly tried to stay away from dairy like cow milk, ice cream, whipped cream or other forms of heavy cream (cream cheese, sour cream), and a lot of cheese at once.