OT anbody have suggestions to help with a very gassy baby

[jtaylor102481]

Hey ladies  i figured i would post this question in here to see if any of the other moms have an suggestions to help deal with a very colicky gassy baby. Lil Avery is 15 days old today and the poor lil thing is miserable. Now i have have three other children and i have dealt with the fussy gassy colicky before but for some reason everything i try isnt working with this lil miss. She is bottlefed ( i couldnt breastfeed due to have gastric bypass surgery they were worried that i would make myself to nutrional deficent by doing so) and she is  on gerber good start formula ( that is the one that WIC provides for us )  and everytime i feed her we spend the next hour to hour and half dealing with her screaming and spitting up. WE cant even lay her in her bassinet with elvated so that she and we can get some sleep the only place she is comfortable sleeping is when we have her against our chest wth her belly against us. Now i am not one to hold the baby constantly seeing as i have three kids that i care for at home but i just relly want to know if there is anything else i can try with her. i just can stand to see her so miserable and uncomfortable. NOw i called her pedi today and they told me to try mylicon to see if it helped her but so far nothing and they are going to see her in the am if she is no better in am and then we are going to talk about maybe  switched her formula . but in the meantime is there anything else that i could try to help my lil girl
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[trying43]

Try gripewater.  You can get it at walmart its a natural herbal treatment.  The mylecon gas drops only made things worse.  Good luck

[jtaylor102481]

well so far so good with the formula change she has been a lot more comfortable today not a lot of spitting up either and she hasn't been as gassy so hopefully the change to soy formula stays working

[Michele, Katy, TX]

With one of mine, she had reflux.  She was BF and was put on Zantac at first and that worked for a short time but then stopped working.  The ped then put her on Prevacid and she was like a new baby.  That may end up being what needs to happen.

[jtaylor102481]

she spits up whenever she eats but we just left yhe pedi with her and we are switching her to soy based formula but they hve us giving her pedalyte for the next few feedings to give her belly a rest.  he doesn't think its reflux but he wants to see her back on few days to see if the formula change helps
she grunting and like sje has to poop then she starts screaming and spitting up
hopefully the formula change will help

[Heatherm4]

Sounds a bit like reflux to me too. But if it is the formula then you could always try probiotics or make a switch to lactose free or soy to rule out a milk allergy or lactose intolerance.
My son was quite colicky due to gas issues but I breastfed. Along with bicycling his legs I would rub his tummy in a clockwise manner to get things moving in his tummy.
Does your baby spit up often?

[LosingMyMindInGA]

When she gets fussy, is she arhing her back or grunting?  If it is reflux it could explain why laying on your chest helps her.  A doc explained to me that with reflux, laying on the tummy is actually more comfortable because it makes it harder for the stuff to come back up.  He went through the technically reasoning but I don't remember it all.  4 out of 5 of my kids had reflux to varying degrees.  My oldest was the most severe, it was due to an immature digestive system.  

Gas tends to make them more squirming or they grunt like they are trying to poop and when cry like they are in pain.  Reflux, they will cry in pain but it's a different type of pain and therefore a different cry (from the acid coming up) and arch their back.  Making sure she eats at atleast a 45 degree angle, and keep her propped for atleast a half hour after each meal. Is she spitting up a lot?  Reflux is typically (but not always) characterised by excessive and/or projectile spit up.  DD8 could shoot it a good 5 feet behind me sometimes LOL.

As NicMom said, Zantac could be a great help.  I've never used the Gerber Gentle Formula.  But I can tell you somethign from experience  I used the isomil soy formulas with 3 of my reflux.  2 of them were partially breastfed.  They all 3 stayed on meds til around 10 months.  With the fourth, I breastfed exclusively until 3 months then switched to Enfamil AR (it has added rice starch and is designed for reflux etc).   I stopped his meds shortly after putting him on the Enfamil because he didn't need it.  With number 5, I breastfed exclusively until almost 6 months then went on the Gerber Good Start and she has done just fine.  

Some babies do good one one formula while others need somethign else  It's pretty much a hit or miss kinda thing.  Some people believe in this, some don't: but sometimes adding a little bit of rice cereal to the bottle helps with reflux.  Just keep in mind that switching formulas can add new headaches for a short time - digestive problems for baby as she adjusts to digesting a new formula, that's why it's probably better to try the Gerber Gentle first since it will be relatively close to what she is already one.  Good luck! Let us know what doc says.

[jtaylor102481]

thanks ladies I am just going to stick out till morning I will try the bicycle leg thing again I have be
laying her across my legs and rubbing her back its just horrible when they are like this
nicmom- thanks for info about reflux o was thinking more along those lines with her she is already on the Gerber. good start gentle formula but I am also going to discuss a possible formula switch I went through this with my oldest and with a formula switch she was totally different baby. hopefully they can help us out in the am it just hurts to see my lil one so miserable and uncomfortable.

[meatloafintheoven]

make sure you stick to one formula, if using formula.  Might have to try diff formulas to fig which is best.  I had same prob.  Was using similac, then switched to enfamil gentle i think it's called??  that did the trick.  rub his/her tummy

[NicMom]

It might be reflux and not gas. You said the gas drops didn't seem to work? Gerber also has another brand that wic covers Good Start Gentle that might help. It sounds like you guys are doing everything possible at this point your best bet is to stick it out until morning and see what the dr says. Be sure to ask about reflux medication (they can write a script for baby zantac) and the Gerber Gentle formula. Good luck.

[LosingMyMindInGA]

It may be best to switch to a soy formula, with a doctors script Wic should cover one.  Other than that, if the mylicon isn't working, sometimes laying baby across your legs and rubbing in circles counterclockwise on their back helps.  Also doing the "bicycle" with their legs works sometimes too.  I found that with my kids sometimes laying them sort of upside down..more inclined though so their head is below their belly level, do that a couple times and sometimes it helps the bubbles to work their way out.