Hellobee Boards

gripe water?

This isn't necessarily a tip, but an "it-gets-better." I remember going to T's 1 month appointment and describing exactly what you described. His gas was literally waking him up and I just couldn't comfort him! My ped told me that 4 to 6 weeks is the biggest time for them figuring out digestion and that it would pass. I remember at 6 weeks it was a complete 180 - suddenly he was able to comfortably pass gas.

Eta: I was reading over my post and laughed to myself at saying "it will pass" - didn't mean that pun!

We had all those issues with DD1 - she was impossible to burp and you could tell she had such painful gas bubbles! What worked for us was probiotics. We started them at 5.5 weeks, just a quarter of a teaspoon (I think) mixed with a bit of BM in a bottle, and her gas troubles disappeared overnight. As our midwife told us, you could treat the symptoms (gas drops) or you could treat the problem (probiotics). Their little digestive systems aren't quite mature yet and helping them grow the healthy bacteria through probiotics can solve a lot of problems. For us, it worked brilliantly.

http://www.metropedsnyc.com/metropedsnyc/q&a_constipationtreatment.html

I never got this desperate, but plenty of people on my local moms list serve swear by the Windi (and I even saw it at CVS last week!)
http://www.amazon.com/Fridababy-Windi-Colic-Relief-10-Count/dp/B005IGTTIA

@Littlebit: I did gripe water as needed (when LO was fussy) and probiotics in the morning, just so I remembered I did them

We've had good luck with the "I love you" massage:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_a-fathers-guide-to-infant-massage_3834.bc

After each step, we put our thumbs behind her knees and pushed them to her chest. It helps!

We've also had good luck with gripe water. We would give it to her either before or after she ate. I also avoided broccoli and beans for a while, because they seemed to be a problem earlier. They're not so bad now at 6 months, though. Good luck!

Subscribing! My guy is 4 weeks today and has a lot of the same issues as @littlebit:. But I've been thinking it is reflux because he spits up like its going out of style. In fact spit up makes it sound tame. It's way more than normal spit up.
But maybe it's gas or a combination of reflux and gas. Seeing a pediatric GI tomorrow so we'll see! But the probiotics I find interesting.

Some of the others have already mentioned this but it seems like 4-8 weeks is about the worst. Our doctor explained it that their digestive systems are "sleeping" those first 4 weeks and then when it starts to wake up you seem to have the most problems.

Since you're breastfeeding you could also take a probiotic yourself - then it is passed to the baby in the breastmilk. Might be easier to remember than giving the baby something each day. Also, the football hold (on the babies left side) seemed to work wonders. There were a couple weeks where that position seemed to be the only position he was 100% comfortable in.

Good luck! It will pass.

I read somewhere that trying to burp them more than 3-5 min is actually counterproductive and can create more discomfort so I stop burping him if I can't get one out of him within 5 min. I also have a super gassy baby and he also has reflux. He was breastfed until recently and I cut out dairy and caffeine while nursing as well as avoiding any and all "gassy" foods and it did seem to help him slowly. It's so tough watching them strain and grunt - hang in there!

I know when we used to do tummy time, L would try to lift his head and he would fart a bunch. Maybe some tummy time??