Bad Gas?

[akrab]

ok so a friend of mine (on line friend lol ) had a baby recently, her second child. She is having trouble and looking for any help / advice.. here is her post to my Nov2002 group..

I'm at my wits end on how to help my little man. As you kow, Ethan
had reflux that we started treating at one month of age- so I
unfortunately know all of the symptoms to look for regarding GERD.
But Ian's issues don't fit the symptoms of GERD.

Mostly at night, but often all day, he will nurse really well and
then burp. He burps really well, sometimes three or more times after
a feeding. He shows no signs of discomfort while eating or burping.
Then about 5-15 minutes after a feeding he will start fussing. He'll
pull his legs up close to his chest and then stick them out
straight. Sometimes he passes gas when he does that and sometimes he
fills his diaper. Often he will give a short scream like he is in
intense pain. Otherwise he whimpers and grunts.

Even after he passes gas or fills his diaper- or spits up- he's still
pulling his legs up, fussing and generally unhappy.

I've tried gas drops, keeping him upright for 30 minutes after
feedings, giving him formula instead of nursing ( in case it was
something I ate), letting him sleep in his swing or bouncy seat, and
cutting spicy foods out of my diet. Nothing seems to help.

Because he's so uncomfortable he spends the majority of his time
curled up on my chest. Needless to say I'm not getting much sleep-
or time for anything like showering, taking care of my 3 year old or
doing work. My pediatrician is NO help.

Any ideas?

Anyone have any advice/help/tips to help her out?

[mamamac]

Tell her to try Gripe Water. It is sold at natural food or vitamin stores. It has fennel and ginger and something else, but that was a life saver for when my daughter was little. It is something that I always give new Moms at their baby shower. She is explaining pretty much the same thing that we went through. HTH!

[keegans_mommy]

I agree with the PP!

Also, have her fill a tube sock with rice and warm it in the microwave. Place this sock (or even a small reclosable cloth bag!) on his tummy. That could possibly help his tummy troubles too.

[Okiemunchkinsmom]

If the baby is being treated for reflux, is he also being treated for slow motility? Sometimes the 2 go hand in hand. I have 2 with slow motility, and even though they are older they still get the same type of symptoms after eating (if they don't take their medicine). And it's always worse at night and in the mornings for some reason.

Hope she finds a solution soon, I know it's terrible to see your child in pain and not know why.

[childers521]

is she nursing or formula feeding? has she considered an allergy of some sort? possibly to dairy? When ds 1 was an infant (before we figured out the dairy allergy) after he ate, he would get gassy and fussy, fart a lot and spit up a LOT. There were times when he would just scream or cry inconsolably. There was no such thing as sleep at our house for a few months until we figured out the culprit.

If she is nursing, tell her to cut out ALL dairy from her diet for about 2 weeks and see if it makes any difference. She will need to be vigilant and read the labels on everything. I could tell the difference in a couple of days with DS1.
I have no idea what to do if she is FF, I don't have any experience with that.

[CarrieMF]

I agree with Gripe Water, but have her get it from Canada instead of the US she'll save money.

She should see if nursing more often(if the baby will) helps.

Baby Massage can help get rid of gas.

[littleways]

Maybe she coudl try cutting dairy out of her diet - my dd use to have bad gas problems esepcially at night until I cut out diary, I just started her on rice cereal and missed that it had some dairy products in it and it was a disaster again. I hope that she can figure out whats wrong really soon - poor little guy.

[CMamma]

My 4 mo old was EXACTLY like this. I can't even tell you how aweful it was... I illiminated milk/dairy from my diet & he is a NEW baby. Turns out he had a milk protein problem. He also had reflux & it actually has gone away since illiminating dairy ( that took about 2.5 weeks after no dairy to totally go away).

[a_cthelen]

Originally Posted by mamamac Tell her to try Gripe Water. It is sold at natural food or vitamin stores. It has fennel and ginger and something else, but that was a life saver for when my daughter was little. It is something that I always give new Moms at their baby shower. She is explaining pretty much the same thing that we went through. HTH!

YES, YES, YES!!! It's the best stuff on earth for gas/colic.