Dealing With A Gassy Baby
Does your baby yell and cry non-stop without any apparent reason? Excessive
gas in a newborn baby could be the culprit. Gassy and colicky babies present
a perpetual challenge to their parents. Welcome to the rocky world of parenting.
Gassy Babies
Accumulation of gas in baby's tummy can make her extremely fussy. Your newborn
has an immature digestive system that is prone to accumulation of gas. The kinks
will eventually straighten out but until they do, they can drive both you and
baby crazy.
Explosive bowel movements and passing gas are extremely common in newborns.
Some babies appear to suffer more than the others. The gassiness is sometimes
more severe during the night.
Was it something I ate?
Gassiness in baby could be unrelated to your diet. It was believed that if
a mom ate certain foods that caused gas, the gas would be transferred to baby
via breast milk. This belief is not entirely true.
But wait; this theory has not been totally disproved either. Try avoiding foods
like cabbage, broccoli, potatoes, beans and any other foods that are potentially
gassy. Eliminating them one at a time can help you detect the culprit.
Breastfeeding a gassy baby can be a Herculean task, but it is well worth it.
Pin the cause down
Your baby might be swallowing a lot of gas while she feeds. Suckling very vigorously
makes baby gulp a lot of air.
Bottle feeding babies tend to take in more air while feeding than their breastfeeding
counterparts.
Allergy to formula this could result in gassiness too. Lactose intolerant babies
cannot digest cow's milk, which makes them gassy.
Sucking pacifiers and empty bottles for a long time can lead to gas accumulation.
