Killer GAS!

My sons have such bad gas!! I don't know WHAT to do. They are breastfed but I have stripped my diet down to almost NOTHING due to their food allergies/sensitivities so there is literally nothing left to remove. I eat: grilled chicken, sweet potatoes, bananas, green beans, pears, brown rice, and occasionally grapes or a rice cake. I season things with iodized sea salt and olive oil. That's IT, pretty much (unless I'm forgetting something but if so it's along the same lines).

My boys are having troubles falling asleep and waking up many times per night because of GAS. Every time they wake in the night and won't go back to sleep with a paci, as soon as I pick them up they will either pass gas or burp.

I burp them a ton. We also give Mylicon at EVERY feeding. I tried gripe water last night and it was our worst sleep night in months (due to gas). I don't know what else to do.

Is this what everyone else is experiencing, too, or is this something I need to talk to the pedi about? Or am I missing something?

I know gas is common in small babies, but we are approaching 5 months next week. Shouldn't they be outgrowing this a bit?!?

We're considering letting them CIO because they wake so often, but then every single time they wake they have gas that they need help expelling... so, it's not really fair to let them CIO through that... and I don't think they'd be able to self-soothe with all of this gas.

I desperately need sleep, and I need babies who are not so cranky from all of this gas and interrupted night sleeping!

Any thoughts are MUCH appreciated... I am so thankful for TS. We;re in a really rough phase right now. Thanks to all of you!! :hug99:

 

Have you tried lying them on their backs and pumping their legs like little bicycles? That usually helped alot. Also massage. Massage to your right and that will help get the gas out. Mine also slept with hot water bottles sometimes (filled with warm water) to help with gas. I hope it gets better for them soon! I've always had gassy babies too!

 

QUOTE(melissao @ Nov 6 2007, 06:44 AM) [snapback]483366[/snapback]
Have you tried lying them on their backs and pumping their legs like little bicycles? That usually helped alot. Also massage. Massage to your right and that will help get the gas out. Mine also slept with hot water bottles sometimes (filled with warm water) to help with gas. I hope it gets better for them soon! I've always had gassy babies too!


Yes, we do tons of clockwise/ right side tummy massage and leg pumping. It helps, but there's always more gas!

 

Agree w/ Melissa's suggestion of a hot water bottle or hot compress.

I think you're probably right about not doing CIO yet. If anything, it would probably make things worse, since they'd swallow more air with all the crying.

That much gas really does sound unusual. Have you thought about seeing a GI specialist?

 

Gas is normal....but THAT much gas at 5 months might have me a little concerned. You're right about your diet--there's nothing left to take out! (talk about committment---you are amazing for giving it all up to BF) It just sounds like something isn't quite working as well as it should in their tummies. I'd make an appointment. Poor little guys! I hope they get some relief soon.

Reyna

 

NO advice here, but just :hug99: :hug99:

We went thru the same thing for WEEKS. I felt like i should have bought stock in Mylicon. But last week we noticed that the gas issue had resolved itself, for the most part, and had been replaced by (what we think) is teething pain. But just as soon as we have things figured out, they change again. Now, it's not so much teething pain as it is that they are just wide awake wanting to play. What a rollercoaster, huh?

If your pedi gives you any advice, please share!

 

I used to give DD a mouthful of mylicon right before bed - whether or not she had just eaten...I had to do this for months - it was the only way she didn't wake up needing to blow her diaper off in the middle of the night! Even now she occasionally wakes up rolled up in a ball with a gas pain....some babies are just gassy according to my pedi...

 

No help here just wishing it to go away so you can get some sleep. I was going to say though I don't know about bf but Iknow when I eat sweet potatoes I get gassy from them... just a thought. My girls are really good about passing their gas. It does sound like a lot of gas for 5 months.

Missy

 

Poor them, and poor you! That does seem like a lot of gas for this age -- I might ask the ped if you should see a GI specialist, as someone else mentioned....

Do they have bad poops as well -- is that why you stripped down your diet? Or did you actually have allergy testing done on both of them?

I have a good friend who went through that with her DD -- she breastfed exclusively, and no matter what, her daughter seemed to be affected, and she stripped down her diet until she was eating only rice, beef and chicken. Her kiddo *still* had problems.....and after a long road, they finally discovered that she had a nasty bacteria called C. Difficile, which they were able to treat. Turned out that the baby never had food sensitivities at all -- it was the C. Diff all along.

There was also something else, that I'm not recalling -- something about an enzyme that the kiddo's body didn't produce that affected her immune system -- I can't remember what it is now, but I will ask if you're interested.

Anyhow, her kiddo was like a whole new baby after they discovered and treated these problems, and it took multiple GI specialists to diagnose them -- if your guys really seem to be struggling, I would pursue it and see if there's something else going on....

Hugs to you!

 

My boys had really bad gas too when I was bf'ing. I took things out of my diet as well but nothing worked. I got too tired of bf'ing at around 3 months and switched to Enfamil w/Iron. They went from fussy to super fussy. I quickly put them on soy formula (Enfamil ProSobee) and they have been so much happier ever since. I'm not saying you should stop bf'ing but it was the best decision I made for me and my kids.

 

QUOTE(2BMommyof2 @ Nov 6 2007, 10:04 AM) [snapback]483694[/snapback]
My boys had really bad gas too when I was bf'ing. I took things out of my diet as well but nothing worked. I got too tired of bf'ing at around 3 months and switched to Enfamil w/Iron. They went from fussy to super fussy. I quickly put them on soy formula (Enfamil ProSobee) and they have been so much happier ever since. I'm not saying you should stop bf'ing but it was the best decision I made for me and my kids.


I've thought about that MANY times, but one of my guys won't take a bottle (he will only take about 2 ounces from a bottle, and it has to be EBM-- he refuses formula). We tried all different kinds of formula with him, but he's dairy AND soy sensitive so he has to take Alimentum. The other one drinks regular formula (Good Start) but has lots of trouble with his tummy, too. His is the worst actually. But they both only get 1 bottle of formula at most per day.