Gas problems any ideas welcome

Amanda - posted on 02/13/2009

I recently went through all of this! My baby is now 5 months old. We thought he was a gassy baby combined with colic that made him cry a lot throughout the night. One thing I did was start giving him Bio Gaia probiotic drops, You can look them up online and print out a sheet to bring to your pharmacy and they can order them. They are expensive ($25 for a small bottle) but giving my son 5 drops a day really helped. Finally at 4 months we went to a gastrointerologist. He thought he might have a food intolerance. I gave up all dairy and egg products (look on the food allergy network website to see all the ingredients you need to look for) After 4 days, my baby was going to bed 2 hours earlier and not waking up screaming in the night. It was amazing. Don't give up on the breastfeeding if it is what you want to do!! By the way, he was going a long time (11 days at one point) without having a bowel movement. Now he goes twice a week, which the GI said is fine for a breast fed baby.

Rynecia - posted on 02/13/2009

one teaspoon of apple juice for baby's,2-3 times per day

Jacey - posted on 02/13/2009

My girl didn't tolerate my milk at all, no matter what I ate or didn't eat.  Her ped said some babies just don't tolerate breastmilk and it is absolutly okay to give her formula.  She also had really bad gas, like a man!  :)  We tried a lot of different formulas and settled on Enfamil Gentlease.  It worked like a charm from about 3 weeks to 4 months old.  Then her ped diagnosed her with reflux and changed her formula to Similac Sensitive RS and gave her Zantac.  She is doing so much better. 

Also, I found that when she was having bad gas pains that gas drops, etc wouln't help, I would place her in the fetal position and rub her back.  It helped the gas come out.  She is now 4 1/2 months old and the gas has subsided back to normal.  I don't know if that helps, but I hope you find out.  I know how hard it is to see them in pain.

Rachel - posted on 02/13/2009

My son had acid reflux as a baby and still has it now and he is 5.  I don't have a clue if this is your problem, but Zantac did not work at all for my son, we ended up having to switch to Omeprazole liquid (generic of Prilosec) that we put in his bottles and we still put in his soy milk for him.  The downfall is that our insurance would not cover it at all (we pay $50/month for a bottle) but since it was the only thing we could find that worked and he was not miserable anymore, we have just stuck with it.  We are now just looking at switching to a chewable for him for cost reasons and since he is old enough.  He is also lactose intolerant, so still is off any dairy and is on all soy products and vegan butter and such.  Like another mom had mentioned, if you are going to continue breastfeeding, maybe try to cut the dairy out for a while and see if that makes a difference along with the Zantac.  Dairy is usually the biggest culprit.  You said you changed your diet, but didn't say exactly what you changed.  I've also known of women that have had to switch from the breast to bottle because the baby wasn't tolerating their milk, as much as they hated to make the switch.  I know for my son's reflux, we put a little cereal in his soy formula per the recommendation of his pediatrician so that it thickened it up some.  Well, good luck to you!  Hope you figure out what is bothering his tummy!

Mary - posted on 02/13/2009

I forgot that... Goat milk. thanks for reminding me.

Melinda - posted on 02/13/2009

Hi. I did not personally have these problems with my sone, but my mother had my brother late in life and since I was much older I helped out alot. My brother had the same problems and we would switch from breastmilk to formula so many times. After awhile one doc told us that he could be allergic and to try goat milk or soy. We did both and he responded very well to the goat milk. He can drink regular milk now that he is older but while he was an infant all he ever got was the goat milk. I dont think you should do this without checking every other option and asking your doctor, but it might be worth a shot if it helps him. O and also, my brother had gotten to the point where he would not eat anything and if he did he would just throw it up, Good Luck.

Mary - posted on 02/13/2009

It could be what you are eating. My daughters reacted to eveything I ate while breastfeeding. so a long term problem is something you have every day.

try removing one thing like dairy , wheat or caffine (I know, you would think nursing moms are using it but you would be surprized) for one week and see if there is a change. Dairy tends to set off irritability and upper resp. problems, where as wheat tends to set off digestive. Sugar is a problem also. Look at what you eat for the answer.

Charlotte - posted on 02/13/2009

hey hun i had the same problem with my little one (bottle fed), she was only tiny at birth and found it difficult to digest properly causing her to get a little constipated and gasy. As she also suffered from colic we gave her infacol which worked wonders with her constipation. We also found lifting her legs up and down to her tummy helped with the wind ( with her layed on her back). You could also try a little cooled boiled water during the day which may help him to pass his stools better, the health visitor also said to put a tiny amount of fresh orange juice in ( 1/4 of a teaspoon) as the fibre in the orange helps, although we didnt feel we needed to do this as the alternatives helped ease it. Hope this is some use to you :)

Rebecca - posted on 02/13/2009

Ok I realize I left out one very important detail, he has acid reflux and is on baby Zantac, could this be causing it? Perhaps if I gave it to him later in the day he wouldn't be constipated in the middle of the night?