5 month old w/extreme gas pain

[babesful]

Hey all! My wife and I have a 5 month old baby boy and for the most part he is happy go lucky. That is when he doesn't have what appears to be extreme gas pains. From what we've encountered it seems a majority of his discomfort aside from his teeth is gas. We are constantly having to give him Mylicon or else he wont be able to sleep, eat, etc. After my wife feeds him (exclusively BF) we do try and burp him before we lay him down. Sometimes that takes a few seconds and sometimes it can be up to 10 minutes. It's hard in the middle of the night as we are both tired and half asleep but do give it our best effort. We brought this up to our pediatrician and she didn't really seem concerned as he hasn't had any vomiting, bloody stools or foul breath. She is great but I think sometimes she looks at the situation as black or white. Just because he isn't showing any of the following symptoms doesn't mean he doesn't have some sort of gastric issue.

Any suggestions to try and get rid of or limit the amount of gas and discomfort? We also do try and rub his tummy but that usually ends up giving him the hiccups. We are struggling as he never seems to be at ease due to what appears to be gas.

 

[katrina2017]

@babesful Do you notice his gas being worse with certain foods your wife eats? If she is only breastfeeding, then potentially a diet change, or just take notice it some foods cause more gas and others don’t.

I know it’s already super hard breastfeeding and thinking about a diet change may be overwhelming for her, but that’s the advice I’ve gotten. My LO is pretty gassy also, but it usually doesn’t really bother him much unless he is actively pushing one out.

 

[springregen]

@babesful If he's in that much discomfort and gas drops, tummy massages, warm baths etc. aren't working - and you aren't convinced by your pediatrician's response - is it worth getting a second opinion from a different ped?

 

[babesful]

@springregen I agree! I mean this Ped is someone we’ve used for years and is a top notch provider but I do think she now sees too many patients and might not spend the time to really diagnose the problem until it’s severe. I will certainly mention it to the wife. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[rescuedsheep]

@babesful This was like one of our pediatricians! Even after knowing my daughter had a cow milk protein intolerance, one of our pediatricians who was highly respected, harvard-trained, excellent reviews, etc. basically said "well, research shows that kids grow out of it so you don't *need* to change anything!". As if I would just happily listen to my baby scream from discomfort and do nothing! It really feels like so many pediatricians dismiss GI issues in babies as just gas and reflux and call it a day!

 

[katrina2017]

@babesful What color aré baby’s poops? Are you 100% sure it’s gas? Ie: does baby fart & burp and then is relieved?

 

[rescuedsheep]

@babesful Since he's exclusively breastfed, it could be a cow milk protein intolerance. Your description sounds a lot like my daughter before we figured it out. There's not really a test or anything to confirm it, but my daughter struggled with the same symptoms for multiple weeks before she finally had some tiny specks of blood in her poop. We saw multiple pediatricians during that time, and all of them just said reflux or gas.

It's definitely not a walk in the park, but the only way to see if it helps is for your wife to cut out all dairy and see if it helps. Avoid even trace amounts. Look at all ingredients on packaging, look for allergen warnings that say "contains milk". It's not enough to just cut out obvious sources like not cooking with butter or milk in her coffee. It has to be absolutely zero traces of dairy. If it's a cow milk protein intolerance, your son's symptoms will start to improve in ~4-5 days, but it takes up to a month for all of the dairy proteins to clear from your wife's system. It's not forever. It does NOT mean that your son will be allergic to dairy in the future. Most kids grow out of by 12 months. I started eating cheese again at 10 months and my daughter now gobbles string cheese like it's her job.

ETA: I always hear that cow milk protein intolerances are pretty rare, but anecdotally, out of my friends and coworkers with kids, it seems like almost half ended up having to cut out dairy for at least a couple of months...(I'm in the US. I think it's more common to be dairy-free from the get go in certain parts of Europe)

 

[hisloveinart]

@babesful Probiotics, anti-gas medicine and diet changes... none of these helped. The only thing that at least made our LO release more gas, and thus relieving some discomfort, was rubbing Arak on her tummy. If you're unfamiliar with it, Arak is a distilled Levantine spirit of the anise drinks family. You gotta gurgle it for a minute to get the acids broken first. Rub a small amount for a minute, wrap warmly and wash a couple of hours later.

 

[dtom]

@hisloveinart Hi can you tell me about this more?? I’m so late but I am desperate lol. You gurgle arak in your mouth then rub it on baby’s belly??

 

[hisloveinart]

@dtom Yup. It's not necessarily gurgling per-se (in the back of the throat), but rather moving the liquid from side to side quickly in your mouth, like when washing it after cleaning your teeth. I'm not sure what the precise term for that is, but I hope you understand. It's not pleasant as the liquid will burn, but you don't need a lot of it. 20cc should be enough.

Have a cup of water ready nearby so you can wash your mouth at the end, as well as 2 small, empty cups or bowls where you can keep the liquid once it's ready. After a minute of gurgling, look down and slowly let the liquid flow out of your mouth into the first bowl. You will feel/see the difference between the clear(er) liquid coming out, and the foamy, thicker liquid that will remain in your mouth (it doesn't flow as much for being thicker). Spit the latter in the other cup/bowl and rinse your mouth.

Now, take some of the clear, filtered Arak with your fingers and put it on the baby's tummy. Rub it in circular motions and get a good spread. 5 times clockwise, then 5 times massage top to bottom. Repeat 3 times total and add some Arak each time. Wrap the baby warmly (or as warm as is sensible to do in your climate) and let it be. They prob won't like the rubbing, but they shouldn't mind the effect.

After half an hour, bath time. Our doctor didn't particularly recommend it, but that was the only thing that opened up our baby's gas system. She basically didn't fart until then, and since then it got much better.

Other things to note:

• brushing your teeth after the arak gurgling is recommended, but not before a good 20-30 minutes have passed. Otherwise, you'll damage them with the acid. You should rinse them thoroughly with water, though.
• If you're breastfeeding, don't let the baby suckle for more than 15-20 minutes on each side. They get most of the nutrients after the first 5-15 minutes, and past that, the amount of air that they take in increases. exponentially, which causes gas. Yes, it's hard to pull them away, but it helps.
• Warm bath before every sleep. This isn't for "routine" (they can't process time cycles at this point), but to help them (and you) sleep better. Keep a flow of warm water on their tummy for a good 10-15 minutes (or less, if thet get annoyed). We wrapped ours in cloth as we put her in the tub and kept the flow on the cloth (so it's not 100% direct). It seemed to help.

Let me know if you have any question. I'll be glad to learn if it worked for you as well.

 

[paterfamilia]

@babesful Maybe try a dr browns gripe belt? I’ve heard they work wonders for babies who struggle bad with gas