Tips for Gassy/Fussy Babies...

Just wanted to see if there were any good tips for gassy/fussy babies...we've moved to Similac Sensitive and are using Mylicon (sp?) but sometimes that doesn't help...any good tips?

Re: Tips for Gassy/Fussy Babies...

We always used the old lay him on his back on your knees and do "the bicycle" with his legs. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't but just a suggestion

Re: Tips for Gassy/Fussy Babies...

And rubbing the belly in circular motions with lotion.. even if she wasn't yet suffering cause I knew she would be suffering

Lots of burping when she was a lot smaller. I mean every 10mins regardless of what she had finished we'd burp her but mostly I'd burp her at least every 5 if I could stop her from eating long enough. Even if she didnt burp Id keep at it 5full minutes

Warm her belly with a warm blanket or my hand.

Lay her on her belly .. either on my thighs or my chest to relieve the pressure. Incline if on her back

Bicycle legs

avoid gassy foods or when it was just a bottle try not to allow air bubbles in... keep the bottle tilted so the nipple was always full, dont let her suck on air when done.

Re: Tips for Gassy/Fussy Babies...

I think gripe water works for my DS, plus I have him on probiotics (biogaia). He still farts like a MAN, lol but rarely seems to be in pain. He's 14 wks/

Re: Tips for Gassy/Fussy Babies...

thanks ladies! all great tips that i WILL try!!!

Re: Tips for Gassy/Fussy Babies...

Besides the above tips, I would put DS on his stomach across my knees. He was often more comfortable on his stomach.

Re: Tips for Gassy/Fussy Babies...

Oh boy, I've got a gassy, fussy monster on my hands over here. The gripe water does nothing for him, the mylicon is hit or miss and no matter how long I massage him, rub circles on his belly, cycle his legs, bathe him, etc., he cannot let go of the gas. BUT our miracle saving grace has been plain old warm water. In between every daytime feeding, I give him a half ounce of warm water. I don't know why it works so well, but it does. If he doesn't get this, he is a screaming mess and cannot poop. My dd was the same exact way. I just cannot wait until he outgrows this stage. Now, I'd say once every few days he'll have a fit from having gas, but usually it's because i forgot to give him water.

Re: Tips for Gassy/Fussy Babies...

AN old italian remedy is to boil water and then steep in fennel seeds (i would use a coffee filter to do the straining). You let the water cool down obviously and then give it to them.
I also used Gripe water
my uncle taught us this massage called the I Love You
Lay the baby on his/her back. Using your thumb and some baby oil press very lightly on the left side of the stomach making and I. Do that a couple of times and then extend to make the I and L after a few times doing that you bring it back up and the final motion should look like a U. I hope that makes sense

Re: Tips for Gassy/Fussy Babies...

I'm probably going to repeat everything above but these things worked for us. At times we'd do it all just to get DS to feel better.

1. Change the bottle, some bottles are gassier than others, chose one that he latches on to well. If your BF, consider that your latch isn't perfect and allowing baby to gulp air.

2. Warm bottles, always warm the bottle, at least to body temperature. If you put it on your wrist it shouldn't feel hot or cold to you.

3. Mylicon drops in the bottle. Not after, not before, But IN the bottle.

4. A pro-biotic, like BioGaia, takes 1-2 weeks to show any results, but I think it helped tons.

5. Baby Yoga - and other "exercises" and belly rubs, but we love the Yoga routine! DS still thinks its a great game.

6. Our miracle potion: chamomile and fennel tea with brown sugar, always given warm. My mother suggested warm water, but that wasn't enough. This potion always got him to poop if he was constipated, and always calmed him down. We take this with us to doctors appointments and if DS gets crazy after shots we are prepared with this!

7. Gripe Water, a quick, short term pacifier. Instantly he'd calm down and reassert his cries. I just squirt some in his mouth. He loves it. IMO its just candy, taste it! It taught me that a baby can be gassy and still be calm and sleep. It has some baking soda in it that is supposed to neutralize gas, and some have fennel, ginger and chamomile, depending on the brand.

8. Lay them on their left side after meals. My ped suggested this and this is how they put him to sleep in the hospital. DS used to only sleep this way! After about week 2 we started swaddling religiously and he learned to sleep on his back.

9. When he gets too fussy, I swaddle, and I swaddle tight! The pressure on the tummy really helps. Like others said, a warm towel, or warm belt on their tummy, some pressure there, helps a a lot. But swaddle with their legs loose, they need to kick to get that lower gas out!

10. They say it will take a few days before you'll notice if a formula is better than another. We tried Similac Sensitive, Enfamil Gentlease, Gerber Good Start Gentle. Hands down Good Start was the best one for us. DS actually was gassier on Similac Sensitive than on regular Similac that we got free from hospital.

11. Invest in Happiest Baby on the Block DVD. This saved our lives. You can watch clips of it on YouTube. When DS was just unreasonable, I would hand him to DH, run to the DVD watch it again, come back and do the technique. We'd be calm happy family again. Eventually DH learned and then soon after forgot the technique...
Heres is the method in action


DS also recently grew out of the gassy phase, at about 12 weeks, completely! I even find that he will just burp himself if I sit him down in the swing or bumbo right after meal... timing was impeccable, just as he started teething