Gas, reflux, what's the problem?!?

[JamieLyn822]

Lately my 7 week old has been having some issues. He'll be happily nursing for a while and then just pop off and start screaming like he's in pain. I'm wondering if its just gas or possibly reflux but I don't know to tell. He does gulp down some air when he first gets started and is a very gassy baby always burping and farting. Gas drops seems to help sometimes and not really others, its hard to tell if they're doing anything or not. The reason I'm thinking possible silent reflux is sometimes he does the back arch and sometimes a little while after eating he makes like a little gag sound and then starts screaming. He spits up but not very often at all, like maybe once or twice a week. He has a weight check apt tomorrow so I plan on talking to the doc because he's been just miserable lately. Sometimes it'll start while he's eating like I described and other times it'll be a few minutes after. I don't want my baby to be in pain! What can I do for him?

[aimhawk]

Do you nurse on demand? Try gripe water for more gas help. We nurse on one side until DS pulls off and then I make sure he has a really good burp, then offer him the other breast. It kind of sounds like your little one is getting to full. But it will take several weeks for your milk and baby to get evened out together.

[JCHovey]

Im betting it is gas. My 3mth old has problems with both though so maybe a combination?

[JCHovey]

If it is reflux try and keep him up right more after he eats, have him sleep in an up right position, etc. If it is gas try burping him more often or gripe water.

[amandae21]

My LO has reflux and doesn't spit up much at all. Once I started researching all the symptoms, I found that he had a LOT of them. The biggest thing that made me wonder what was going on with him was the same thing you're experiencing - he'd pop off angry and arching his back, wobbling his head around as he seemed to fight to figure out whether he wanted to latch back or not. He randomly screams. He grunts a LOT without a BM or passing gas. He gags randomly. I can hear what sounds like him spitting up but he swallows it back down.

He started Zantac yesterday. Doc said it'll take about a week to see the full effect of the medication. Fingers crossed!

My first child had raging reflux and was BF. It got much worse when I went back to work and had to start using formula along with BF.

[collinsmommy0]

It is most likely either oversupply/overactive letdown or a cows milk protein sensitivity.

[JaxMomma78]

mine was like this around 6-7 wks. he was (and still is) a very gassy baby. and at that point he was miserable bc on top of gas he was going through his growth spurt so he was super fussy!!! try giving the gas drops before u feed him and burp as often as u can. also look up 'baby massage for gas' on youtube and do those on down time. plus bicycling is legs. the key is to help settle gas between feedings as well as burping and gas drops. i never tried gripe water but i heard it does help some babies. gas drops help shrink the gas but doesnt make it go away. i did the drops every other feeding. now i only do it before his last feeding, he is almost 6 mo.

[mom2gr8tgirls]

That's exactly what my DS was doing. He was diagnosed with silent reflux. We did the meds for a bit and they seemed to help a little. We ended up taking him off the meds and taking him to a chiropractor. By about 6 months, he'd outgrown the relux.

[gdiamante]

There are a couple of things that look like reflux but are NOT reflux. One is dairy sensitivity. The other is overactive or fast letdown. From what you write, I'm thinking the latter. The fix is crazy easy... sit leaning back. Put baby on TOP of you, tummy to tummy, and latch. Gravity stops the fast flow, which is what causes the gas.

And you've just taken care of the day's tummy time.

Lots of great info and images on kellymom. com... search the site for "fast letdown."

[tabi_cat1023]

Sounds like you might want to try block feeding and upright feeds..you can lean back with baby on top of you nursing OR you can nurse with baby in a seated position instead of him laying down. Block feeding is nursing on only one breast for 2-3 feeds