8 Ways to Relieve Your Baby’s Gas
Reading time: 2 minutes
Like us, babies get gas, but they don’t have the necessary core and lower body muscles to work the gas out themselves, so they become uncomfortable and pained. In most cases, if you’ve met your baby’s needs and he/she continues to cry, it’s likely gas. Here are some ways you can relieve your baby’s gas.
1. Limit crying – Often crying causes your baby to gulp air in quickly, which gets caught beneath incoming food. Try to meet your baby’s needs before they arise so your baby doesn’t have to cry to get your attention.
2. Slow the feedings – Gulping down breastmilk too quickly can trap air, so introduce some short breaks into the feeding. Break your latch, pause for 10-15 seconds, then resume. Take a 30 second break between breasts.
3. Give multiple burps – Adding a second burping to the routine can help greatly. Gas is caused by air caught under incoming milk. Pour enough milk in and you’ve created a heavy trap. But if you burp more often, you get the air out while there’s little resistance. (Trapped air can also cause your baby to feel full when she/he really isn’t – this is a good way to get more food in there.)
4. Give a massage – If the old-fashioned burping isn’t doing the trick, give a gentle massage to try and work the air outward (any direction is fine!). Rest baby on his/her back and massage the tummy in a clockwise motion.
5. It might be diet – Just like us, certain foods can cause certain people to experience gas. You’ll have to experiment to isolate the offending food and eliminate it from your child’s diet. If your child is exclusively drinking breastmilk, you’ll have to eliminate the food from your diet.
6. Check the bottle nipple – If you’re pumping at work and the caregiver is feeding with a bottle, check that the nipple isn’t too large and letting in excessive air.
7. Feed in the right position – When you nurse, make sure your baby’s head is elevated higher than his/her stomach. This will force the milk to sink to the bottom of the stomach and the air to rise to the top. This way, when you burp him/her, the air will have no resistance to come out.
8. Talk to your pediatrician – There are some over-the-counter options available that might help. I don’t want to recommend anyone in particular because I can’t guarantee their safety or effectiveness, so it’s best to speak with your doctor.
Do you have any tricks to help your baby deal with gas?
Written by Melissa LaHann, Founder and CEO of Happy Fig, LLC
Like many moms before her, Melissa cradled her hungry, crying baby as she clumsily adjusted her bra and sat uncomfortably holding up her shirt. Before she knew it, her baby was squirming, her shirt was falling, and the nursing session was interrupted. She needed a better solution, so she created LatchPal, the first nursing clip of its kind.
LatchPal is a breastfeeding shirt clip that holds up a mother’s shirt during breastfeeding. It eliminates shirt re-positioning and feeding disruptions, and helps a mom nurse hands-free in comfort to maximize milk flow. LatchPal was designed with moms in mind. The multi-use solution only requires one hand to latch. It’s a must-have breastfeeding accessory and essential for post-partum moms, pumping moms, and nursing in public.
Interested in writing a guest blog for LatchPal? Send your topic idea to pr@latchpal.com.
All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. LatchPal makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, current-ness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis.
