Was your bf baby gassy and fussy?

I have a newborn who gets very fussy after nursing. He can be up for 3 or more hours in the middle of the night in this cycle of eating, pooping, burping, fussing, not burping, eating more, needing to burp but fussing instead... By fussing I mean:screaming/arching his back, hard belly, making himself really stiff. He obviously has some gas issues, and possibly some reflux, although he doesn't spit up a whole lot. (I had a reflux baby, so I know what real spit up is!) Anyway, I did some reading on-line today and found conflicting information...

Kellymom.com claims that most babies really won't improve with dietary changes in mom... that things like spicyness of food or even dairy aren't passed on through the bloodstream, so it doesn't affect milk.
Dr. Sears (which ironic Kellymom linked to) claims that lots of moms have found that dietary changes do help... but that contrary to a lot of advice about cutting out every blessed ounce of dairy and waiting to see a change after weeks of this...that most babies will improve after cutting out most dairy in about 3 days...and if you don't see a change it's probably not the dairy in your diet that's really affecting the baby. And both sites seemed to say that lots of babies just have immature digestion where it's just going to take time for the baby to be less fussy with gas...

Okay so that long winded spiel to get to my question... If your baby had similar symptoms did changing your diet really help? And by 'help' I mean fairly quickly. Lots of moms IRL will tell me their dietary changes helped, but after like 3-4 weeks...and to me that might just be the baby adjusting on his/her own really regardless of the dietary change. If it takes until 8 weeks for your dietary change to help your baby, then maybe it's just the baby's system maturing regardless of what you are eating. Hope this makes sense. And lots of moms I know claim they have to cut out dairy, and yet their babies are still really fussy..

Anyway, I'm going to try to cut out most dairy for the next three days... I'm not going overboard and cutting out anything with baked-in dairy (like my muffins!) ... but I'll cut out the milk and cheese, which is pretty much the only dairy I was consuming anyway. But in my mind if a dietary change isn't going to help him, then one of us might as well be happy with our food, and I'll keep my grilled cheese and milk!!

 

P.S. Did anyone think mylicon drops actually helped with gassy babies??? I've used them on occasion with my other kids and never felt like they really did anything... but at this point with this baby I'd be willing to give it another shot! LOL.

 

What you are writing sounds a lot like reflux. My twins were fussy but they are not allergic to milk. I never changed my diet though. Good luck!

 

I did cut out dairy for a while - but this was later, after my twins were eating solids but still nursing. My son had a lot of gas and constipation, so I took us both completely off dairy for several months. It made a huge difference in his gas and constipation probably within a few days, I wish I had figured it out sooner. We had him tested for dairy allergy and he wasn't allergic, but I think his system was just immature and wasn't ready to handle it yet. We've been back on dairy for a while now, we re-introduced it gradually, and he handles it just fine now. But he will get pretty badly constipated if we let him have too much dairy without also having a lot of fruit and/or veggies.

Prior to going off dairy, we went through a lot of mylecon and I never was sure if it made a differnce. One thing that did help when he was really little was massaging his stomach (always only in a clockwise direction!), with quite a bit of firm pressure you could almost literally squeeze the gas out. Also holding his legs up and bending him in half, or doing a bicycle like motion with his legs - also to help him squeeze the gas out.

 

I'm the biggest cheese/dairy freak you'll ever meet (hence the screenname!) and am now dairy free. I had a boy who at about 2 or 3 weeks old became progressively fussier (yes, SCREAMING) at all hours, was gassy as all get-out (my 'non' gassy twin would often wake out of a sound sleep, scream until he'd fart, then fall right back asleep), they both sounded like Darth Vader & he'd have greenish, mucous-y poo. It does take a couple of weeks to get dairy out of your system, totally, but I did notice a difference by about day 5. I did 2 weeks completely dairy free, (yes, no processed food with dairy in them), then a 'test' day. He screamed for 3 hours straight. My boy is SO HAPPY now, I don't regret it. Yes, the cheese isle at the supermarket is really hard. Yes, sometimes cheese pizza calls my name. Then I remember the HOURS OF SCREAMING... it's so not worth it. Usually it is an intolerance, not an allergy, which most kids grow out of starting around 6 months (according to a research scientist friend of mine who had to go dairy free for her 3rd kid). There are alternatives for you if you need the processed foods- for example- Duncan Hines brownies and cake mixes are usually dairy free.

I wish you the best of luck and hope your boy feels better!

 

Did you steal my baby? LOL Sounds the same except mine is also quite the spitter! I haven't completely cut out dairy but I am avoiding milk, cheese & ice cream. The last few days Blake seems to be spitting up much less, fussing less and not so gassy. I'm not sure if it's because of the dairy I'm avoiding, my supply evening out or just his digestive system maturing but I hope things continue to improve. I used Mylicon a few times with my girls but I haven't tried it with Blake because like you I never really felt they helped.

 

I cant tell you the name of the research right now (its 4am and Im just up pumping) , but I just attended a lactation education class and one of the things they noted was Mylicon drops are ineffective so save your money

 

Pretty much my own conclusion based on my prior kids...but you know...wishful thinking on a magic bullet!

 

Yup, I'm grateful he's not a spitter. His symptoms are almost the same as my twin ds was, but without the massive amounts of spitting up! I'm pretty sure he is having reflux, but just without the spitting up. So I decided to cut out dairy for a week...see if that helps. We'll see if I can make it...I'm a total dairy queen! Ironically he did fine last night... and I had a grilled cheese sandwich at lunch and cheese enchiladas at dinner! Not to mention a few glasses of milk yesterday! So who knows?!

 

Another mom here who saw major difference after cutting out dairy, and I don't even eat that much dairy to begin with so i didnt really think it could make that much of a difference. I gave up my milk in my coffee and with a bowl of cereal, and even that little did make a difference.

I actually think the mylicon helped, but I dont know if it was just a soothing taste, cause she would stop screaming immediately after i gave it to her

 

What you are saying pretty much described all my babies during my "test" periods. My first was so unhappy, until I had her tested (at 10 months) and she was allergic to dairy, soy, wheat and eggs. So, after my 2nd was born, and was fussy, I took those foods out of my diet and saw a new baby (within days, btw). With child #3, my allergist had told me to avoid those foods in my 3rd trimester, so I did, and his allergies were much shorter. By 1.5 he was able to eat those things. Same with the last 2. My "test" periods were the times I would eat some and check to see if they still reacted.

However, my kids had a couple other symptoms. My oldest had the chronic runny nose (huge dairy allergy symptom) and they all got spells of eczema (still do during environmental allergy season).

 

I don't think this little one will wind up with actual allergies to it... at least my twin ds didn't. Although... he does have really runny stools most days and sometimes I wonder if that's due to eating dairy. (my twin ds that is...) But I'm glad to hear the stories of the changes being almost immediate. My concern is just that I torture myself by eliminating a bunch of stuff from my diet only to not ever really know if it was diet or just time that improves him! With my twin ds I didn't bother changing my diet, and his issues began to gradually get better on their own. But I also wasn't ebfing him until he was 10 weeks old, long story. So I didn't have this early phase with him being on just bm. He was still horribly fussy, but I couldn't connect it to just bfing, so I didn't think to change my diet.

 

I was going to ask a similar question myself.
Drex is really gassy (but not a spitter upper--not even once) he's able to pass gass well and actually loudly tooting much of the day. His stomach also makes quite a bit of noise. He's settled into a a giant runny poop every 48 hours routine since last week. He's really fussy for 30 minutes before pooping.

I've also read in my mothering multiples that diet change is ineffective since mother's intenstines break down everything. Others books say to cut out cabbage family veggies. My girls favorite veggies are broccoli and coliflor so I actually eat quite a lot of those, like 4 or 5 times a week. I'd hate to have to cut that out.
I also eat quite a bit of dairy since I don't eat a lot of meat. We have meat like twice a week. I'd also hate to have to cut that out.

I don't know if it matters, but since giving birth I'm also really gassy! I've been drinking anise and fennel tea but that doesn't seem to help.

 

Confession time here- my friends and family are so disgusted by my gas. I can literally clear a room. I'm not eating dairy, I don't eat broccoli, cabbage or califlower (for the reasons mentioned above)... I have no idea why. But it's gross. ardon: Mexi, you are not alone.

 

My girls had TERRIBLE gas until they were 4 months old. We went to stay with my sister for a week and she was appauled by their smell. I called it "pizza and beer gas". I never knew a baby could fart like a grown man. I tried changing my diet, I used mylicon (I think they just liked the taste, I'm not sure it helped), but ultimately i think it just took time for their bellies to calm down. Sorry, I'm not much help!

 

Oh my gosh girls, I'm soooo in the same boat! I thought something was really wrong with me! I don't remember this after my other kids! Honestly, last week I started eating yogurt thinking that my intestinal tract was just wiped out from the IV antibiotics I had during labor. And it seemed like it was working. I was feeling a LOT better eating yogurt every day. So yesterday, my first day sans dairy, I felt really gassy again- No yogurt. And today towards afternoon I was feeling really bad. This is way TMI, but I pretty much got sick, if you catch my drift. My intestinal tract seems bent on emptying itself right now. So I caved and ate a yogurt after all this upset. I felt a bit of a twinge below my ribcage similar to two previous gall bladder attacks I've had years ago...so now I'm worried that I'm having some kind of hormonal adjustment affecting this. My first ever gall bladder attack was 3 weeks after I had my first baby. I thought I was dying and called the ob/gyn on it. Thankfully it lifted after about 6 hours. But I totally think it was hormonally related. The other time I had a gb attack was shortly after weaning my twin ds. Again I think it was hormonal. My gb bothered me for weeks until I went on a diet of pretty much just yogurt, salad with olive oil and grape juice. I'm not overweight at all. Anyway, I just feel like crying now. My twin ds has had a fever for the past 3 days...dh took him to the pedi today, no strep... but between him and me and the baby I just want to cry. I'm exhausted. And now I feel like I can't eat ANYTHING. Can I just hit the fastforward button and jump about 6 weeks?

 

P.S. I think I'm going to have dh look for acidopholus capsules at the store... maybe if I can get it this way then I won't need the yogurt??

 

Mylicon did not help.
I had good luck with probiotics, I got the baby powder ones at Whole Foods, he was a happy boy with in 2 days.

Good luck

 

Well, in spite of the yogurt, he slept 5.5 hours last night!!! yahoo!!! I'm not sure if it's the dairy being cut out, but he's definitely been easier to deal with the past 3 days!

 

I'm glad he's getting easier for you. I agree with cutting out dairy, I too feel like I have no clue what to eat. What is the most frustrating about it is that I'm not even sure the dairy is an issue.

 

So I think it might be the dairy.... I had a glass of skim milk this morning and he's been much more fussy. He normally will fall asleep on me for a nice morning nap, and instead he's been eating and fussing all morning again. I think I finally have him out for an afternoon nap, but he was definitely harder to burp and in more gas pain.

 

Okay... so no milk today and he's still been really gassy/fussy this morning. I give up. I'm not going back to the milk, but I can't cut everything out of my diet!!

 

It takes 2 weeks to know for sure... & processed foods with dairy can really affect them. I promise you can do it for 2 weeks then test with whatever you are missing most. What are your favorite foods normally (other than dairy?)

 

dairy, dairy, and dairy! LOL. I've been good though... I didn't even eat the pizza my kids had on friday! It's just that I've also heard some people say certain veggies are out as well as peanut butter! I feel like without the dairy I need something substantial to eat... so I've been having stuff like pasta (no tomato sauce though...that's out. and no cheese...so we're down to a little olive oil and salt!) and I've had peanut butter bread as a snack here and there...some people rule that out, but I just can't yet. I had a little bit of broccoli the other day, which might've made him gassy, but I have to have some veggies. Can't just eat bread and pasta all day! I've been careful about anything out of a box or bag, to look for dairy ingredients. And of course I love chocolate, but I've tried to be better about that too. I cheated a bit last night, my sister sent home-made chocolate cake, so I had 3 small bites of that!

I seem to recall my other two ebf babies being this way to some extent, and it gradually clearing by 12 weeks. I remember my last baby being really hard to burp during the first 6 weeks or so. And it seems like Caleb's big issue is the burping one. When he relaxes enough to burp he sleeps longer stretches. When he fights it then it's almost impossble to get the gas out. Last night he only slept 1 hour stretches, and I could feel the gas rumbling around in his belly all night. He didn't burp all night long in spite of my efforts. I tried every burping position under the sun aside from hanging him upside down! LOL. And I could hear it rumbling up, but he just wouldn't let it go. So he's in pain until he passes it out the other end in his sleep! Poor thing.

I did have dh get some gas drops tonight...desperation to try something else in addition to the diet! Gave him a little tonight, and he promptly spit it up. LOL. I think about the only thing gas drops have ever done for my kids is calm them down while they are wailing due to the sudden sweet taste in their mouth! Oh well, at least I know I'm trying everything I can.

 

LOL. Ok. I really like potatoes, so I'll have baked potatoes with salt, pepper, bacon bits & 'butter'. Earth balance makes a whole line of fake butter products dairy free. Eggs & dairy-free toast with the biggest glass of juice you can imagine is breakfast. I love pizza & have adapted to pepperoni and bacon on what I call my saucy crackers. Wendys is ok, mcdonalds hamburgers are fine, but www.godairyfree.com breaks that down better than I can. I couldn't do pasta without cheese, either, but usually red sauces are fine. Almond milk on sweet cereals are good- tastes better than soy. Soy ice cream or coconut ice creams are really good, too. Duncan Hines cakes are dairy free, usually, as are Oreos (I'm addicted to Mint Oreos right now).

Stay away from soy cheese- everything I've tried is revolting. My dh also makes a mean stir fry-Asian, kosher and vegan foods are all great!

The best news is that your taste buds change. I still love cheese and milk, but know this is a phase. I will live to eat a hunk of Colby Jack again!

You can do it!

 

Any possibility of thrush? Gassy & fussy are 2 things that can accompany thrush...

 

I've thought about that too, but don't they normally have white stuff in their mouths with thrush? I have had occasionaly stabbing pain while nursing, but honestly I think it's just him getting lazy and clamping down a bit too much with his gums. I just take him off and reposition him when this happens, and it's normally gone then.

He seems like he's been a little better the past few days. He's definitely gotten better about burping. I think the big problem last week was that he would just hold it in, no matter how long I tried to burp him. Now he's been letting it out more. So he seems more comfortable then. Ironically I've been cheating more on the dairy!

I feel more concern over the spicy/acidic foods right now just because that's what would give me heartburn during my pregnancies...anything citric or tomato based I've been avoiding as well as dairy. But honestly, the last two days I've had milk in my cereal and he's actually seemed happier... he's spitting up more, but he's not wailing his head off over it whereas last week he wasn't spitting up, but he was arching his back and wailing in pain. I can deal with the spit-up, it's the painful crying that bothers me!

 

sounds like a potential food intolerance to me - and dairy is the most common one and first one to try. but you ahve to go dairy free for 2-3 weeks in order to see if that's the issue. all other foods take 4-5 days, but dairy protein stays in our systems much longer.

if you can be careful reading labels and go 2 weeks, you'll find out. definitely try -- my sons had a dairy intolerance, one of them was more severe and there are long lasting behaviors that we've been dealing with that can be directly related to his 5 mos with me on dairy. he was dairy free for 2 yrs (now he eats it no problem) but I kick myself that we could have stopped his collicky-ness much earlier, if I just went dairy free sooner.

Cheers

Teri D

 

I think he's improved a lot over the past week. He still will have an 'off' day occasionally, but overall he's been a lot happier the last week. I, however, have been cheating on the dairy. It hasn't seemed to bother him, at least not in a predictable way. I've had my own digestive problems going on, and they just started in full force when I cut the dairy out. It's counterintuitive considering most people agree dairy is hard on your digestive tract. My only conclusion is that I'm such a dairy queen that my body just flipped out when I cut the dairy out completely. Or perhaps I need the yogurt every day. I don't know. It's bizarre. But I've been feeling soooo completely miserable that I just decided to throw back in some regular foods to see if I would be okay again... we'll see.