Babies under 1-year-old should always be put down on their back. This not only keeps them safest at night – but, luckily, back sleeping is also the best way for gassy babies to sleep!
Helping a Gassy Baby to Sleep
The upright position helps eliminate gas and reduces spitting up, another common occurrence when babies feed. In this half-hour after feedings, keeping the baby calm and burping them may also aid with digestion. Babies should never sleep on their stomachs.
Some positioning tips: Feed your baby as upright as possible; lay your child on their back and pedal their legs with your hands to help expel gas from below; if your child is awake after a feeding, place them on their belly.
1) Knees Hugged to Chest or "Apanasana"
You'll want to do this simple stretch—also known as the wind-relieving pose—to potentially relieve bloating and gas pains. Lie down, relax, and inhale, placing your hands on your knees. Exhale, and hug your knees to your chest.
Gas tends to head from your stomach toward your small intestine when you're laying down on your back. “A lot of times, when people are eating soup or something liquid with a spoon, they tend to swallow more air,” Dr. van der Linden says. This can also happen when you slurp hot liquids, like coffee or tea, he adds.
“Almost all babies will find some baby gas relief by sucking on a pacifier,” O'Connor says, because the sucking action releases endorphins that will soothe them. Infant massage. Simply rubbing your child's belly may be helpful, since massage can help calm the nerve signals in baby's immature intestines.
Also, babies with colic may burp frequently or pass a significant amount of gas, but this is thought to be due to swallowing air while crying, and is not a cause of colic. The face may be flushed. The abdomen may be tense with legs drawn toward it.
Tummy time.
Placing a baby on their stomach while awake helps to relieve gas pains. By gently increasing the abdominal pressure, tummy time pushes gas bubbles up and out. Tummy time is also a great way to strengthen the head and neck muscles needed to reach early motor milestones.
While the best sleep position for a gassy baby is still on their back, sometimes, gas pains make it harder for your little one to sleep. If this is the case, you may find that swaddling your baby before bedtime will keep them warm and comfortable during the night, as well as reduce any discomfort.
Gas is particularly common during the first 3 months of life when your little one's digestive tract is still maturing. You may even notice it's worse at night.
How can you stop being gassy at night? Eating regular meals throughout the day may help to alleviate gas. Slowly increasing your fiber intake while simultaneously increasing your water intake can also help you to reduce gas. After your last meal of the day, consider some light movement, like a walk, to help reduce gas.
The warmth may help relax the stomach muscles, reducing pressure and releasing air bubbles. Just be sure to test the temperature and make sure it's not too hot.
If your baby moves their legs up toward the belly, it could be a sign of abdominal pain caused by gas. Your little one is trying to relieve the the discomfort with this motion. Reduced appetite. Another common symptom of baby gas is a reduced appetite.
One in five babies cry enough that people call them colicky. Colic usually starts when babies are about 3 weeks old. It gets worse when they are between 4 and 6 weeks old. Most of the time, colicky babies get better after they are 6 weeks old, and are completely fine by the time they are 12 weeks old.
Passing gas through the mouth is called belching or burping. Passing gas through the anus is called flatulence.
But when your infant has painful gas, especially if it's frequent, it can cause your baby to cry or become fussy—until it's passed; unlike colic, which causes crying and fussiness that lasts for hours across days and weeks. Gas can have distinctive symptoms, too, such as a swollen-looking belly.
In babies, sleep smiling is usually because of a reflex. Some babies also smile as they work out gas bubbles in their bellies. These reflex smiles are much shorter than genuine social smiles and aren't a response to something external like your voice or eye contact.
At nighttime, there's less movement and the gas can build up and get trapped. Additionally, babies tend to feed close to bedtime, and air introduced during this feed can become trapped. Also, our digestive systems are still very active at night and the results of digestion can be… gas!
Many newborns have at least 1 or 2 bowel movements a day. By the end of the first week, your baby may have as many as 5 to 10 a day. Your baby may pass a stool after each feeding. The number of bowel movements may go down as your baby eats more and matures during that first month.
While trapped gas may cause discomfort, it usually passes on its own after a few hours. Some people may be able to relieve pain due to trapped gas using natural remedies, certain body positions, or OTC medications. Avoiding known trigger foods or drinks can help prevent trapped gas from occurring.
Many of the foods that can cause gas are part of a healthy diet. Try eating smaller portions of problem foods to see if your body can handle a smaller portion without creating excess gas. Eat slowly, chew your food thoroughly and don't gulp. If you have a hard time slowing down, put down your fork between each bite.
Do you often feel bloated and gassy after you drink milk or eat ice cream? If you do, you might have a very common condition called lactose intolerance. It makes it hard or impossible for your body to digest a type of sugar in milk and dairy products that's called lactose.