Please Help With Severe Gas Pains For Baby

15 Replies
kimmersw23 - December 21

this is kinda long but i REALLY need help!! My son is 11 weeks old (he was born 10 weeks premature) and he is having pretty bad reflux and HORRIBLE gas. He just started taking zantac for the reflux so its starting to help a little. But he is having horrible gas and ALOT of pain with it. He is constantly grunting and crying in pain. I asked the dr. about it and all they said was give him mylicon. Well that hasnt helped at all. His dr. is very "laid back" I guess you could say. But I have only had about 3 hours of sleep in 3 days b.c. he isnt sleeping ( bad gas pains ) and I have tried everything I can think of. warm bath, rubbing his back, holding his legs up to his tummy, EVERYTHING. If anyone knows ANYTHING I am missing I would love to know! Any help would be amazing! THANKS Kim

 

Jamie - December 21

Lay him on his tummy on your leg, so that your leg is on the soft part of his tummy, below his ribcage...but make sure you keep a burp cloth on the floor under his mouth, cause he might spit up. Worked like a charm for my DD; if you can position your foot in a way to trigger a reflexive "jiggle" of your leg, that still puts my daughter to sleep, and it helps work out the gas bubbles...kind've like tapping the side of a cake pan to get the bubbles out of the batter.

 

Nerdy Girl - December 21

This was our best recipe for success - Mylicon drops, Dr. Browns Bottles, Enfamil Gentlease Forumula, and burp every 2-3 ounces of feeding. To be totally honest though, my son was not 100% comfortable until his stomach matured between 4-5 months of age. My son was just a really ga__sy baby. He was ga__sy like that even when b___stfed. He had a bad latch problem with both b___st and artifical nipple that caused him to take in a ton of air.

 

tinkri - December 21

My son was a very ga__sy baby and I found that laying him on his back and moving his legs like he was riding a bike...alternating knee to chest...usually helped. Also warm baths.

 

Kara H. - December 21

When Max's reflux was at its worse, he had lots of gas. (He was 6wks preterm) Our ped, who is the mommy of a refluxer too, said that most of the air in their tummy is air they swallow from crying from discomfort from the reflux. So control the pain and the crying, you will also control the gas. Keep his upper body elevated as much as possible. Let him sleep in his swing if you have to. Also, pick up a copy of the Happies Baby On The Block. You are right at the start of his colic-y window as well since he is just past his gestational due date, and the book will help tremendously with that. Everything that Nerdy Girl suggested will help too. Jamie's suggestion would have brough up stomach acid for Max, but you might try it. If you aren't seeing an improvement in a few weeks with the zantac, ask the doctor to Rx prevacid. It is a different cla__s of acid reduce and seems to do well when Zantac is not enough. Only thing Prevacid will take a couple of weeks to reach maximum effectiveness, so things could be worse before they get better. Max is a different baby since the Prevacid.

 

kellens mom - December 21

like trinkri said, riding the bike (pedaling dd's legs) worked the best for us. My doc explained it like this: As we give her milk, the stomach and large intestine force old food (milk, fluids and gases) farther down the intestinal tract. Pedaling helps to keep the gas moving through the system. During and immediately after eating, pay attention to feeling and hearing belly movement and sounds. You will likely start to feel the gas as it moves. The moving gas is not the problem. It is when it stops and causes an "air" block. This causes a great deal of pain and backs up digestion behind the air block. Ouch! We would pedal for 15 to 20 minutes (sometimes longer if we could really feel gas moving well) after dd ate. We pedal steady (not hard and fast). Friends and family loved to pedal or to listen to us as we pedaled because we would pretend to take her on rides through the country side or along our favorite city park. Mountains made us pedal harder...while down hills let us coast a little. Make if fun for you little one. It is time consuming, but in the end it beats trying to sooth a screaming child for several hours a night. Best of luck to you.

 

carol23 - December 21

DS was very ga__sy as well. We also did a combination of Mylicon, Playtex drop-in bottles (helped tremendously), and Nestle' goodstart DHA, ARA soy milk. We also did the bicycle movements with his little legs, and ma__saged his tummy. And then........... my mother suggested we mix his milk with chamomile (boiled some in water and used it to mix in with his milk). I never checked with the Pediatrician about it, but my mom used to do it with all of us, and all of my neices and nephews for gas, so I figured I'd give it a try. And that helped out so much. I only gave him chamomile milk for 2 out of all his feedings throughout the day. I made sure it was lukewarm and it helped soothe his tummy soooooooo much. This worked for us. But remember all babies are different. BTW DS is 14 weeks old and I started giving him Chamomile at about 11 weeks.

 

Bonnie - December 21

Gas and reflux are hard to distinguish at times. So I will just add to some of the things that the other mommies said. What works for some babies does not work for others. For example, Dr. Brown's bottles are very popular, but they did not help Mason. What DID help him was a wide necked LATEX nipple. He was able to latch better. We ended up going to the Playtex Nursers (after spending $100 on Dr. B bottles). Buy one of each major brand of bottle and test them out before commiting to one brand. If you hear any noises, the latch is not good and you need to try something else. Mylicon only works on gas pain in the actual tummy....and as long as it is not excessive. If the latch is poor, if a lot of air is getting swallowed, or if the formula is foamy, the drops will do nothing. So make sure to make your formula ahead of time and warm it up so it has time to "rest" verses making one bottle at a time. It's just one of those things you have to for ga__sy babies. If your baby has a formula intolerence (or allergy) and the gas is created in the intestines, the mylicon drops will not help with that either. AND....to add to all of it, it is possible the Zantac is not the right medicine for your baby. Again with reflux, what works for some babies does not work for others (Mason needed Prevacid because Zantac was not enough). And sadly, most pediatricians are not too knowledgable with reflux. You may need to become the "squeeky wheel" in order to get the help you need or a GI referral. It's like one big giant puzzle to sort out and in the meantime, your little one is in pain, mom feels helpless, and no one gets any sleep. The good news is that it really will get better. That doesn't help much when things are so bad, but try to remember that it's not forever. Can I recommend you join the boards at infantrefluxdisease.com There is a lot more information between reflux and gas there and some mommies who can understand. Hang in there!

 

Bonnie - December 21

Carol, chamomile is in gripe water. :) Gripe water I've heard doees wonders for gas....it won't help with reflux so it did nothign for Mason, btu I say anythign is worth a try.

 

kimmersw23 - December 22

Thank you all so much for the advice. We ended up having to go the the childrens hospital. I couldnt stand to see my little guy in any more pain. (of course when we got there, waited 3 hours, then FINALLY saw the dr. I swear ALL of his symptoms went away!!!) I tried EVERYTHING and it just wasnt working! But the Dr. gave him gas medicine (I forgot what its called) but she said its used with zantac alot and for colic babies. I REALLY hope he isnt going to be colic. I swear he has been the happiest laid back little guy....so far!! He is on b___st milk only, the dr. also thinks is may be the dairy upsetting him. So, we havea big change of diet for me now!! But I did hear about the "gripe water" but cant find it anywhere. Does anyone know where they sell it? Thank you all so much, I SWEAR I wasnt going to make it another minute!! Its like I have my normal baby back!! Biggest problem now is that while he wasnt feeling well he started eating every hours and only like an ounce at a time. So we are trying VERY hard to break that cycle!! I thought every three hours was hard! LOL

 

lexa - December 22

My lo has reflux and is also on Zantac. I hear that Zantac doesn't work on a lot of infants. Thank goodness our ped also put her on Reglan. With mine being on Zantac, the acid was still able to come up, but the Reglan keeps it down in the stomach. It works great!!! If it wasn't for the Reglan with the Zantac, then the Zantac alone wouldn't have helped. Just something to keep in mind. It is really hard to distinguish gas from reflux. Good luck.

 

mandee25 - December 22

Kimmersw23 you can buy gripe water pretty much anywhere. I bought the walmart brand (in Canada) but I am sure they sell it in the US if you live there. I use the gripe water for his hiccups.OVAL DROPS is another gas relief method to try. I use that when my little man has gas.

 

ang880 - June 4

I've successfully used babies magic tea for my reflux and gassy baby. This has given good results by ending all these issues.

 

Emmy_401 - November 12

Air swallowing is the number one cause of gas and colic pain In that case, you can use a special baby bottle that helps to reduce air and eliminate gas from the bottle during baby feeding.

 

 

tera123 - December 21

My baby girl had some very serious gas issue when 4 months old. Bicycle legs, tummy time, burping, gas reliever all helps some, but none was able to tackle the issue completely. Then we tried the "Babies' Magic Tea", after 2 days gas issue went completely away and she was so much happier.

 

qiaraau - October 4

Hi, I would like to reccommend probiotics supplements. Since the baby's digestive system is still maturing, it doesn't have all the beneficial system needs to digest the food thoroughly. As the healthy bacteria grows over time, it will aids the digestion process and helps reduce the intestinal inflammation, preventing gas pockets from getting trapped in the intestines. But consult your doctor first before introducing it to your baby. :)

 

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