Perform Infant Exercises To Get Things Moving
Does your baby need a workout? Not quite. There are, however, some exercises that you can do to help your babys gas move through the digestive system. We recommend the following exercises to reduce discomfort associated with gas:
- Bicycle legs: Place your baby on its back on the upper portion of your legs . Slowly and gently bring the babys knee toward the chest and then bring it back down. Alternate the babys legs so that as one leg goes up, the other is coming down.
- Tummy massage: A baby who is struggling with gas might have a belly that feels slightly firm. You can help break up the gas by gently moving your hands in a circular motion around the infants stomach while the baby is on its back. We suggest you go clockwise as this follows the natural pattern of the digestive system!
- Lifted feet: Bringing your babys feet up above the belly button when he or she is reclining can help relax the pelvic floor. This is why many women choose to give birth in this position! As the pelvic floor relaxes, it more easily allows for gas to escape.
Why Is Your Baby Gassy In The First Place
Babies usually experience gas troubles almost right away, even after only a few weeks of life. Most infants grow out of it by around four to six months of agebut sometimes, it can last longer.
Most infant gas is simply caused by swallowing air while feeding. Other times, though, it can be caused by sensitivities that could be affected by a breastfeeding moms diet or a certain type of formula. Heres how to tell if your baby is gassy:
You notice that your baby is fussy for about an hour or so per day. Again, baby gas is normal! But if you notice it every single day with no sign of improvement, its time to call your doctor.
Your baby seems unhappy most of the time. This is a good indicator that your babys gas is above a normal newborn gas level.
Your baby isnt eating or sleeping well. This can have a lot of different causes, but gas is definitely a common one.
When your baby cries, you notice that they get red in the face, or they seem like theyre in pain.
Your baby is squirming a lot. If your baby seems uncomfortable, is squirming around, or pulling their legs up to their chest, it could be a sign of gas.
Burp Your Baby Correctly
We cant stress enough that your babys digestive system is still developing so dont skip the burping stage! In some cases, you might want to burp them twice.
This means that midway through a feeding session, let them take a break and burp them. Then you can continue feeding them, and burp again once youre done. Be sure to follow different positions for burping and always work the gas from the bottom up.
If youre breastfeeding or chestfeeding, you may not need to burp your baby as frequently, since nursing babies usually swallow less air which results in less gas. Babies with lots of gas may need to burp more often.
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How To Prepare For Your Pediatrician Appointment
Some degree of infant gas is to be expectedin fact, a happy, gassy baby is perfectly normal. But if youve implemented the tips above and are worried, or if you think your little one is in pain, call your pediatrician for an appointment.
Follow these tips below before you meet with the pediatrician. Also, when you book the appointment, ask your pediatrician if there is anything additional or specific you should do in preparation for the visit.
Got A Gassy Baby 6 Tips To Relieve Infant Gas
No one likes a grumpy newborn: not mom, not dad, and certainly not the baby! One of the most common sources of infant discomfort is trapped gas. While its certainly frustrating, there are several steps you can take to reduce gassiness and get your little one back to feeling good.
Here are six tips and tricks we recommend for relieving and reducing infant gas:
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How Is Colic Diagnosed Or Evaluated
A healthcare provider will examine your baby and obtain a medical history. Questions might be asked about how long and how often your child cries, if you have noticed anything that seems to trigger the crying, and what comfort measures are effective, if any. Blood tests and X-rays or other imaging tests may be done to determine if there are other problems present.
My Newborn Isn’t Pooping What Should I Do
For breastfed babies, constipation is rare, but fewer than one poop a day in the early weeks could mean your breastfed baby isn’t getting enough to eat. Later on, around age 6 weeks to 3 months, the rate could slow down to one a day or even one every two to three days. Call your pediatrician if your baby hasn’t pooped for more than three days in a row.
Formula-fed babies typically go a little longer between bowel movements. Check in with the doctor if she doesn’t poop for more than five days as that could be a sign of constipation.
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Is My Baby’s Poop Normal
What’s normal for baby poop depends on whether you’re breastfeeding or formula-feeding. If your baby is breastfed, her bowel movements will often be mustard-like in color and consistency, sometimes loose, even watery, and sometimes seedy, mushy or curdy.
If she’s formula-fed, the stool will usually be soft but better formed than a breastfed baby’s, and anywhere from pale yellow to yellowish brown, light brown or brownish green.
Does Massage Help With Baby Gas
Infant massage is another way to help your baby move tummy bubbles. Massage also supports bonding and sensory stimulation between an infant and parentZeevenhooven J, Browne PD, LHoir MP, de Weerth C, Benninga, MA. Infant Colic: Mechanisms and Management. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2008 15:479-496. .
Choose a time of day to perform infant massage, typically first thing in the morning or as part of the nighttime routine. Baby-safe lotions or oils can decrease friction during a massage, but are not needed. Move your hand across your babys tummy in a clockwise motion to push bubbles forward. You can also move your babys legs like theyre riding a bike to encourage gas release.
Infant massage should be pleasant and soothing. Watch your baby for any signs of increased distress, and stop if your baby seems uncomfortable.
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How Can Parents Deal With Colic
Learning how to interpret your baby’s cry can be helpful in dealing with colic. It does take some time for parents and babies to become accustomed to each other. Remember, babies will cry for a certain length of time every day under normal circumstances.
What works for one baby may not work for another. Other suggestions include the following:
- Make sure your baby is not hungry, but do not force feed if he or she is not interested in the bottle or breast.
- Change your baby’s position. Sit him or her up if lying down. Let your baby face forward if you are carrying or holding him/her facing your chest. Babies like to see different views of the world.
- Give your baby interesting things to look at: different shapes, colors, textures, and sizes.
- Talk to your baby. Sing softly to your baby.
- Rock your baby.
Why Medications Don’t Work
There is a huge array of medications on the market which are used to ‘treat infant gas’ and/or colic. The majority of these products aim to reduce the amount of gas in a baby’s stomach by helping to facilitate a big burp.
Some medications act as muscle relaxants to “aid the passage of gas through the bowel”. Of concern is that many of these medications contain alcohol or drugs that provide a sedative effect. In theory, these medications claim to relax the bowel, but in practice their effectiveness in the treatment of gas in infants remains unproven. What is often perceived as an improvement from their use may be due to the fact that they make the child sleepy.
Whatever these products aim to achieve, they are limited in their effectiveness in treating gas in infants by the fact that they do nothing to correct the cause of excessive gas and/or a baby’s distress . Medications do little to resolve the problem of a distressed, crying baby other than to provide exhausted parents with some relief by sedating the child.
Almost all medications have side effects. The side effects may outweigh any benefits of using medications to treat infant gas or infant colic. See Colic medications for more on the effects and side effects of commonly used medications.
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Getting Help With Your Baby’s Breastfeeding Latch
If your nipples are inverted, breastfeeding may be more difficult but not impossible. Some moms find that pumping helps. Others use a nipple shield or shell between feedings to make the nipples easier to draw out.
From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author of What to Expect When You’re Expecting. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses only credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected health organizations. Learn how we keep our content accurate and up-to-date by reading our medical review and editorial policy.
Is There A Difference Between Formula
Even though breastfeeding can be very helpful for babies with acid reflux, for example, gassiness can be an equally bad problem for babies who are fed formula and fed breastmilk.
This is because a baby can swallow air while breastfeeding just as much as while being fed through a bottle. If you are nursing, make sure that your baby is latched on properly, keeping any extra air out.
On the other hand, what a mom eats can also cause gas for a breastfed baby, so keeping an eye on your diet and avoiding foods that contribute to gas build-up can be helpful.
Foods that contain lots of fiber even though they are great for your digestive system should be avoided, as well as vegetables such as onions and broccoli.
Heres the thing, though: Completely removing foods that cause gas from your diet is quite difficult, and not every mom has the means to completely revamp her eating habit.
And even if she does, it might not completely get rid of the babys gas because they can still swallow air while nursing.If you are feeding your baby through a bottle, opt for ones that are designed in a way that prevents colic.
Such bottles reduce the amount of air the baby swallows while drinking milk, which helps with symptoms of colic as well as gas.
Naturally, switching formulas to one that might be a bit easier on the babys stomach is one of the first options that should be explored if your baby isnt being breastfed.
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How Many Calories Do You Need When You’re Breastfeeding
Just because you can make milk on a less-than-adequate diet doesnt mean you should. The goal when youre nursing should never be to deplete your bodys store of nutrients. Thats too risky for your short- and long-term health, and it will short-change you on much-needed energy as well as potentially interfere with your milk supply.
Your body generally burns around 300 to 500 extra calories a day while you’re breastfeeding depending on whether you’re nursing exclusively or not .
So while you don’t need to be hyper-vigilant about counting calories and consuming more, definitely keep your extra nutritional needs while nursing in mind. As long as you stayed within your doctor’s recommended weight gain during pregnancy and your postpartum weight is within normal ranges, you shouldn’t have to take in any more or less than that, but check with your pracitioner if you’re not sure.
What Are The Symptoms Of A Gassy Baby
A babys stomach is a very delicate system that can easily be thrown off balance and cause all sorts of trouble for both the parents and the baby. And by trouble, I mean constant crying, sleepless nights, and hours spent on Google looking for a solution.
As babies cant communicate what is exactly wrong with them or where it hurts, we have to play a guessing game to determine the exact cause behind all that fussiness and crying.
For adults, gas is a pretty harmless occurrence, so many new moms get quite surprised when they realize that a gassy baby isnt too happy about all the extra air trapped in their tummy.
If your little one is crying at times when you know theyre not hungry or want to sleep, then you can be certain that he or she is probably having problems with gas. The crying can also be accompanied by your baby passing gas.
Other symptoms to watch out for include a bloated tummy and your baby lifting his or her back and legs.
While gassiness is entirely normal for infants, you should get in touch with a pediatrician in case your baby is crying as a result of gas for more than an hour every day or seems to be really fussy almost all the time.
Excessive gas and bloating can even result in the baby not getting enough sleep or food, so finding ways of relieving gas is really important.
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What Are The Foods That Cause Gas In Babies
11 Must Know Food That Cause Gas In Babies 1 Every baby is unique. 2 Beans. Beans are definitely one of the top foods that cause gas 3 Broccoli. This nutritious green vegetable is also notorious for causing gas in your baby. 4 Cabbage. Just like broccoli, cabbage is also high in
Adjust The Feeding Position
While bottle-feeding or nursing your infant, adjust their feeding position to prevent a bloated baby belly. Keep their head higher than their stomach.
This position helps the milk move to the bottom of the stomach and the air to the top, which helps the baby burp. You can also use a nursing pillow to provide support and tip the nursing bottle slightly up so that there are no air bubbles in the nipple.
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