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.
Must Know Food That Cause Gas In Babies
Gassiness in babies is a common case. It can cause great amout of discomfort to your little one. To understand what foods can cause gas in your baby, look at those that cause the same in you. Your little one has the ability to process foods the same way as you. In case you are aware of the foods that cause gas in you, those can be best avoided.
How To Help Relieve Gas In Babies
This article was co-authored by Laura Marusinec, MD. Dr. Marusinec is a board certified Pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, where she is on the Clinical Practice Council. She received her M.D. from the Medical College of Wisconsin School of Medicine in 1995 and completed her residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Pediatrics in 1998. She is a member of the American Medical Writers Association and the Society for Pediatric Urgent Care.There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 98,272 times.
Gas pain is a very common in babies and it can cause your babyand youdiscomfort.XResearch source Gas is often caused by swallowing air when crying or feeding or from the digestion process.XResearch source Even though gas can cause pain for your baby, it is generally harmless. By promoting the release of gas and preventing it, you can help relieve your babys gas.
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Gas Relief For Babies
Watching a gassy baby struggle in pain can break any parents heart. Luckily, there are several baby gas relief options to help release the gas and soothe the discomfort. Read on to learn how to relieve gas in babies.
Swaddling. Wrapping baby up tight can soothe your gassy baby by mimicking the coziness of the womb.
Rocking or bouncing. As with swaddling, OConnor says, the motion of rocking or bouncing simulates the environment in your uterus, helping to relax baby.
Using a pacifier. Almost all babies will find some baby gas relief by sucking on a pacifier, OConnor says, because the sucking action releases endorphins that will soothe them.
Infant massage. Simply rubbing your childs belly may be helpful, since massage can help calm the nerve signals in babys immature intestines.
Tummy time. Some babies find gas relief from the gentle pressure thats put on the stomach during tummy time. Just make sure theyre supervised while doing this, Grossman cautions.
Encourage movement. If your gassy baby is in severe discomfort, try the baby bike ride. Lay baby on their back and move their legs in an up-and-down pedaling motion. This helps move gas along physically, but also helps soothe and calm nerves in the intestines.
Switch up babys formula. For a formula-fed baby, you can try a different formula thats made for gassy babies, Grossman says.
Do Special Infant Formulas Help With Gas
Since gas is made as a normal byproduct of digestion, its impossible to eliminate all gas from being formed. However, there are infant formulas marketed for gassy, fussy babies. These formulas typically are formulated with more digestible proteins or alternative carbohydrate sources.
There is scant evidence to suggest hydrolyzed formula or reduced-lactose formula may decrease gassiness in formula-fed infantsDaelemans S, Peeters L, Hauser B, Vandenplas Y. Recent Advances in Understanding and Managing Infantile Colic. F1000Res. 2018 7. . Most doctors recommend an infant formula be tried for two weeks before making a switch, unless the baby is having a significant worsening of symptoms. Check with your pediatrician to see what they recommend.
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What Can I Do To Help Prevent Gas In My Breastfed Baby
Check and adjust babyâs latch
If your little one is not latching deep enough, they may be swallowing more air. A painful latch or a âclickingâ sound made while baby is feeding may indicate their latch needs adjusting,13, 14 Shallow latches are often remedied with a new breastfeeding position along with some minor latch corrections. If youâre able, get in touch with a lactation consultant who can help with proper technique.
Note that if every position is painful even after corrections, call your babyâs health care provider to check for other causes, such as tongue-tie or flat / inverted nipples.
Have questions about your little oneâs latch? Chat live with our Happy Baby Experts for free breastfeeding support. Chat now!
Read more: Top Latching Tips
Help baby deal with your strong let-down
If you find your breastmilk sprays out forcefully during the first few minutes of a feeding, causing baby to cough, clamp down, or pop off the breast, you may have a strong let down or oversupply.25 Trying to drink milk so fast often causes baby to also take in quite a bit of air.
Here are some tips to help your little one handle your overactive let-down:
Learn more: How and When to Hand Express
Is babyâs gas caused by food?
Learn more: Is your baby reacting to something in your milk?
Breastfed Baby Gas Relief Via An Elimination Diet
A culprit food will usually take two hours after consumption to cause any discomfort in a baby. If after keeping a food journal for a while, you have noticed that your baby is sensitive towards something in your diet, you can try to eliminate that specific food for a week and see how your baby reacts. Some foods may take longer to completely clear from your body, but you should see an improvement within days of elimination. Have a chat with your local la leche leader, they can asses your specific situation and their services are free.
Once you have removed a particular food from your diet, know that you can at a later stage reintroduce it. Most babies outgrow food intolerances.
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Loose Latch To The Nipple
Sometimes infants do not latch the breast nipple or bottle nipple properly due to bad positioning of the baby or the bottle. This might leave a considerable hole between the nipples and mouth by which air can get into the stomach along with the milk. This is one of the common causes of gas in babies.
Breastfeeding And Gas Pain
As with a formula-fed infant, breastfeeding moms should usually only consider gas a true issue if it is excessive or accompanied by other symptoms. Before restricting your diet too much when your breastfed baby has gas, consider eliminating all milk and dairy products from your diet for a week or so.
If this helps your baby’s symptoms, then they may have a milk protein intolerance , and the milk proteins from your diet that are passing into your breast milk could be causing a problem. However, that isn’t necessarily a reason to stop breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding mothers can also try avoiding a few other foods known to cause gas. Or they can try avoiding foods that seem to cause their babies to have a lot of gas.
If you have a foremilk-hindmilk imbalance , in which you time your feedings and don’t let your baby nurse until they are finished on one side, then they may have gas because they are getting too much sugary foremilk.
Your baby may have less gas if they breastfeed until they are finished on each side and receive more hindmilk, which has more fat and less sugar.
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Be Mindful Of Feeding Times
Try to feed your baby before you start hearing her hungry cries. This can help her eat at a leisurely pace and not gulp down her breast milk or formula too quickly. If youre a breastfeeding mama and your milk lets down quickly, you may want to unlatch baby for a moment and then re-latch. That can help her manage your milk flow more easily.
Do you have tried and true tricks you use to soothe your gassy baby? Let us know in the comments section on the page.
Watch For Allergies And Reactions To Something You Ate
In certain cases, if your little one is allergic or reacting to something you ate, removing that item from your diet may be the only way to solve this problem if you want to continue breastfeeding.
Indicators of allergies in babies can vary in intensity and are personal, but theyll go beyond just gassiness. Typically food allergies will appear within a few hours of consuming the allergen. The most common symptoms are:
- hives
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What Can I Do To Help My Baby With Gas
- Make sure your baby has a good latch so he doesnt swallow too much air.
- Burp him throughout the feedings to help get rid of the gas.
- Try not to let your baby overfeed or feed too quickly.
- Keep track of when your baby is gassy and look back at your diet. Try to learn which foods work and dont work for you and your baby, and remember, each baby is uniquely different.
- If you have further concerns regarding your babys feeding, infant gas or increased fussiness, be sure to discuss these with your babys pediatrician and/or a lactation consultant.
Each year during the first week of August, over 120 countries across the globe come together to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week. During this week, public health organizations work to publicly encourage breastfeeding in an effort to improve the health of babies around the world. This years theme is BREASTFEEDING: Foundation of Life.
To learn more about Texas Childrens Lactation Support Services, Milk Bank Services or breastfeeding services offered at Texas Childrens Pavilion for Women, please follow the respective links.
Does A Mom Need To Watch Everything She Eats To Avoid Having A Gassy Baby
The idea that certain foods in any moms diet will cause gas in her baby is incredibly persistent but is not founded in research. If certain foods in moms diets were an overall problem for most babies, we would expect that cultures that emphasize those foods would have more gassy and fussy babies, but this does not occur at all.
This is not to say that certain foods would not bother a particular baby this does happen occasionally . However, there is no list of foods that every mom should avoid while breastfeeding. In fact, most babies are fine with any food that mom eats, so there is no reason to avoid a food unless you notice an obvious reaction in your baby every time you eat a particular food.
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Most babies are gassy from time to time, some more than others. Gassiness is often worse at night. This is due, on the most part, to babys immature digestive system and has nothing to do with what mom does or eats. Because so many people promote the idea that food in moms diet causes gas, many a breastfeeding mom will immediately assume it is due to something she has eaten if her baby is gassy.
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When To Speak With A Doctor
While most baby gas cases are fairly harmless, there are times when you should seek professional help.
If your baby exhibits excessive crying, has long crying bouts three or more times per day, or just recently began crying after reaching their first month, contact your pediatrician.
Also call the doctor or seek medical help if your little one isnt eating, peeing, or having regular bowel movements.
Older Children With Gas
Although it can also be normal, older children with gas can have an underlying medical condition causing their gas, including lactose intolerance, irritable bowel syndrome, malabsorption, or celiac disease.
Fortunately, they are often better at describing associated symptoms, such as bloating, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, etc. Older children also often recognize the association between their symptoms and specific foods, including milk, fruits, or vegetables.
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How To Prevent Infant Gas
Now that youve learned about a few possibilities as to what causes infant gas, it’s worth knowing some tips for helping to prevent it in the first place. Read on for seven simple ways to help avoid gassy baby bouts.
1. Start a baby feeding diary: As we discussed, certain foods and ingredients at mealtime may be causing gassiness. Try writing down what youre feeding your baby, what time they ate, and any occurrence of excessive gas to see if you notice any trends. You can also review what youve recorded with your pediatrician to see if they spot any common themes and potential causes. On that note . . .
2. Know what to look for in baby formula: The majority of baby formulas on the market are made from cows milk, which can cause gas in babies in generalbut especially in infants that have a sensitivity or allergy to cows milk. You may want to talk to your pediatrician about different options, such as one made from soy milk . Other alternatives are tree nut milks, rice milk, and hypoallergenic formulas, some of the latter of which can be tolerated by at least 90% of infants with allergies.
3. Use gravity to your advantage: Whether you breastfeed or bottle-feed your little one, the position you hold them in matters. Get some help from good ol gravity by being sure that their head is positioned higher than their belly. Holding them like this can help encourage any forming gas bubbles to rise and come out as a burp .