When a baby has trouble sleeping due to gassiness, it may be tempting to place them on their side or stomach to see if that helps their digestion. However, to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the best sleeping position for a gassy baby—and every baby—is on their back.
What is the Best Sleeping Position for Gassy Baby? 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!
Pay attention to positioning.
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.
Gassiness is often worse at night. This is due, on the most part, to baby's immature digestive system and has nothing to do with what mom does or eats.
What position should I lie in to relieve gas? Your side. Lying on your side with your knees bent can help to relieve trapped gas. If you don't feel relief after a few minutes, pull your knees closer to your chest or try alternating between straight legs and bent knees.
Specifically, lying down very soon after eating may cause indigestion, which can produce gas. Also, eating a large meal can trigger some conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). If a person eats their largest meal at the end of the day, they may experience gas at night.
Swaddling should have no negative impact on your baby's gas issues. If your baby is fighting the swaddle when gassy, the swaddle may be putting some pressure on their tummy, making them uncomfortable.
Gas troubles often start right away or when babies are just a couple of weeks old. Fortunately, most infants outgrow them by the time they're 4 to 6 months old, though for some, baby gas can last longer. Infants are usually gassy because they have immature digestive systems and swallow air during feedings.
Some babies squirm, grunt, and even wheeze at night as they develop their breathing muscles. Their breathing patterns change and they breathe more slowly when they are asleep, which can cause them to grunt. Check that your baby is breathing calmly and there are no other signs of distress.
Using a pacifier.
“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.
Let the formula settle
Shaking and blending naturally introduces air bubbles into the mix, which your baby can swallow, resulting in gas. Try using warm (but not hot) water, rather than cold or room temperature water, to help the formula dissolve more effectively and produce fewer bubbles.
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.
Place your baby on their back and move their legs like they're cycling. The greatest sleeping posture for a gassy baby is also on the back (and the best and safest sleeping position for all infants until their first birthday). On the tummy.
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.
So, can pacifiers cause gas? While pacifiers are not the major culprits of producing gas, they are one of the minor causes. “Babies can swallow air during feeding, when using a pacifier and while crying,” Natasha Burgert, M.D., wrote in Forbes.
When a baby has gas, tiny bubbles develop in their stomach or intestines, sometimes causing pressure and stomach pain. Many gassy babies are not bothered by gas, but some become restless and cannot sleep until they have passed their gas. Others cry for hours.
In healthy babies, gas is caused by the air and should not be a source of distress or pain. But babies have immature digestive systems, which means the food does not move smoothly from time to time, and the result can be a bit of uncomfortable gas.
An abdominal massage can help release gas, stop bloating and ease period cramps – here's how to give yourself one. Bye, bloating. An abdominal massage, also known as a stomach massage, is not something we give ourselves often—but it should be.
It is recommended to sleep on either side or even your front, but not sleep on your back as that would make the bubble move away from the macular hole.
If you are lying flat, the air tends to pass downwards causing gas in the stomach. This can result in bloating after eating and a hard, swollen tummy. The gas eventually enters the small bowel (small intestine) and escapes through the back passage (anus).
Excess upper intestinal gas can result from swallowing more than a usual amount of air, overeating, smoking or chewing gum. Excess lower intestinal gas can be caused by eating too much of certain foods, by the inability to fully digest certain foods or by a disruption in the bacteria normally found in the colon.