Last week, I told you why your baby is gassy; which is important… BUT I know what you really want is information that you can put into action. You want to know how to help your gassy baby.

So, here it is. Not only remedies for once your baby is already having gas pains, but also tips to get the excess air out of your baby before it has the chance to hurt them.

Remedies

Massage

Rubbing your baby’s belly can be a big help in expelling gas. But it’s important to rub in the correct direction to ensure you’re following their line of digestion, and helping to create internal movement.

Luckily, it’s very simple. Use two to four of your fingers and put gentle pressure on your baby’s abdomen. Starting with a large circle, rub in a clockwise motion. As you continue, make the circle smaller and smaller. Once you reach the center of babe’s stomach, you can start again. You can do this for as long as you want, or, more realistically, as long as your baby wants.

Unfortunately, not every baby likes being massaged (mine included). After trying a few different techniques, I’ve finally found one that my son will actually sit through… The “I Love You” method.  I would recommend this technique to everyone – whether your baby already enjoys massages or not.

* Since your baby will be facing you, your left side and right side will be opposite of theirs. To make these instructions as simple as possible, I have written them so that they coincide with your left and right.

To do so, lay your baby down on their back – it can be either flat or on a slight incline, whichever your babe prefers.

I – Start by stroking down the right side of your baby’s stomach.

Love – Next, draw an upside-down L. Start under the ribs on your left side, stroke to the right, and finish by stoking straight down.

You – Finally, you’re going to draw an upside-down U. Starting at the left side of the lower abdomen, stroke up, to the right, and back down.

Make sure you look your baby in the eyes and say “I love you” as you stroke out the letters. Talking in a happy voice and with a big smile will make it more enjoyable for baby, and therefore, more enjoyable for you.

Gripe Water / Gas Drops

Both gripe water and gas drops are used to relieve gas in babies. So, what’s the difference? To me, it comes down to ingredients.

Gripe water is an alternative medicine, made from a mixture of water and herbs; the most common being fennel, ginger, chamomile, licorice, or peppermint – depending on the formula. Sodium bicarbonate is also a very popular ingredient. These natural components are intended to soothe a baby’s upset tummy.

Gas drops are a medical treatment. Their chief active ingredient is simethicone, which is an anti-foaming agent used to reduce bloating, and discomfort or pain caused by excessive gas. It accomplishes this by breaking up the gas bubbles in the stomach, making them easier to pass.

Now, how to choose? One way to determine what may help most is to observe your baby’s colic symptoms. If your baby responds well to soothing techniques (such as the ones mentioned on this list), gripe water may be the better option. But if your babe’s stomach is firm and you find that they bring their legs to their stomach to relieve built up gas, then gas drops may be your preferred treatment choice.

I will let you know that neither treatment has been proven to treat colic. And unfortunately, that last tip doesn’t work every time. It tends to be very baby-specific whether gripe water or gas drops are better to treat your baby’s colic. You just have to find which works best for you.

Warm Compress

I remember that as a kid, my grandma’s go-to for stomach pains was a heat therapy rice bag that she would warm up in the microwave. At the time, I didn’t understand how it worked, but it did.

I know now that using heat directly on the lower abdominal area soothes bowel spasms, de-stresses the muscles, and boosts the work of the digestive system. Simply put, it soothes the gas pains, and eases the gas itself out.

And now the part that you actually care about; how to use a warm compress for your baby. First, fill a small basin with warm water – no warmer than 100° F or 38°C. Strip your baby down so that their stomach is bare, and dip a cloth or small towel into the basin. Wring it out and place it flat on their tummy.

You can repeat this for as long and as many times as you see fit – or however long babe lets you, whichever comes first.

Warm Bath

Giving your baby a warm bath works the same as the warm compress would. So, the decision of which to do comes down to what is best for you and babe, in terms of what’s more convenient, what you have on hand, or simply what your baby would enjoy more.

For my son, he prefers a warm bath – but only if it’s with me or his father. That’s just what works for us. Take the time to learn what works best for you.

But if it’s the warm bath, do not forget the towels. Not only is it good for soothing gas pain, but it also works to relax constipation…

Baby Stretches

Baby stretches are an amazing way to help your gassy baby. These exercises help stimulate gas movement, making it easier for your babe to fart. These following stretches are among the most common and effective.

Pedalling – The pedalling technique, also known as bicycle legs, is nice and easy as it’s exactly what you would expect it to be. First, place your little one on their back on a firm surface, like the floor (feel free to through a soft mat underneath them). Next, hold your baby’s feet and and slowly move them back and forth in a pedalling motion.

Frog Kick – This one wasn’t was I was expecting, based on the name – but it’s a great stretch nonetheless. Once again, place your babe on a firm surface, with a thin layer of padding. Then, holding them by the bottom part of their legs, move them in a clockwise rotation. Start at the chest, rotate their legs to the right, rotate again so that their legs are aligned with their hips, rotate to the left, and bring them back up to their chest. Then, stretch their legs upright, lifting their bottom off of the ground.

Finish both of these moves off with the Knee To Belly stretch. Simply bend their knees, and bring them up to their chest, creating a gentle pressure on their stomach.

If the Pedalling and Frog Kick techniques don’t work, you can try these exercises as well. It’s always important to be gentle with stretches – but I recommend being extra gentle with these.

Toe To Nose – Hold your baby’s ankles and stretch their legs straight out. Then, slowly bring their feet up to their nose, or as close as you can get them without making your babe uncomfortable.

Toe To Shoulder – Once again, hold your baby’s ankles and stretch their legs straight out. Then, lifting them up, try to bring their toes as close to their shoulders as possible – first the left, then the right. Additionally, you can try the criss-cross version, by bringing both feet further to each side; so the right foot touches the left shoulder and vice versa.

Toe To Hip – Hold your baby by the ankles, and stretch their legs straight out. Then, bring both legs to the left side of the hips, then to the right side of the hips.

These exercises will do wonders for help baby fart – BUT they won’t work well if your baby is already upset, or if they have recently eaten.

Prevention

Burping

With breastfeeding comes a lot of false rumours, one of them being that breastfed babies don’t need to be burped. Although the reasoning makes sense – breastfed babies don’t swallow as much air – this doesn’t mean they don’t swallow any air at all.

Unlike with bottle feeding, where you can choose the size of the nipple and the speed of the flow, you have no control over our breasts. Likewise, we have no control over how fast our breast milk comes out. So, when you have a forceful letdown, and your baby has to drink a lot of milk quickly, they tend to swallow excess air.

A good rule to follow is to burp your baby between breasts, and, of course, at the end of the feed. This is a good rule of thumb – but for babies that only eat from one breast per feed (like my son), it just doesn’t work as good.

So what I suggest, whether your babe eats from one or both breasts per feed, is to burp every time there’s a lull in their feeding. Whether that be that they start to fall asleep, lose their latch, or simply stop eating, whether they stay on the nipple or not. Take a few minutes to burp them before trying to feed them again.

Tip: if your baby doesn’t burp right away, lay them down on their back for just a few minutes, and then try again. I know this may seem like a waste of time, but I promise you’d rather put the extra effort into the burping than put your baby through the gas pains later.

Here’s an extra tip: hold your baby in an almost vertical position while feeding. Keeping babe’s head above their tummy allows the milk to sink to the bottom of the stomach, and the air to go to the top – meaning it’s easier to get the burps out. But that’s not all; the slight angle will slow the the flow of milk into their mouth and down their throat, so your baby won’t be swallowing as much excess air.

Babywearing

The gentle movements of rocking and bouncing are said to help move gas along the stomach and out of your baby. A great and easy way to do this is babywearing.

We know that gas pains are more severe for babies when they are laying on their back. Babywearing allows baby to be in – and even sleep in – an upright position.

So, not only are you working the gas out of babe, but you’re soothing any pains they may already have.

Tummy Time

We all know that tummy time is important for strengthening baby’s upper body – but what you may not know is that the gentle pressure on their tummy is  great for helping babies pass gas that is lodged in their stomach.

Doing tummy time to help babe pass gas is no different than their regular tummy time. Simply place your little one on a soft mat, across your knees or forearms, or use this opportunity to do some skin-to-skin on your chest.

To give your baby extra help with working out their gas, gently rub and/or pat their back.

Little tip from personal experience: don’t try to do tummy time too soon after a feed – especially if you decide to do the skin-to-skin on your chest.

Probiotics

As you may know, babies are born with a clean gut, meaning they don’t have all of the beneficial bacterial flora needed to properly digest breast milk or formula.

Several studies say that supplementing probiotics can reduce symptoms of gas pain. Stating that “it can cure colic which may aid in relieving gas, by helping to maintain good bacteria in the baby’s digestive system.”

Although there are studies that suggest newborns taking probiotics have fewer bouts of colic, we know that such supplements often have negative effects on some groups of people, such as those with poor immune systems.

So, – and I cannot stress this enough – please talk to your pediatrician before giving probiotic supplements to your child.

And there you have it. Ten ways to help your gassy baby.

I can’t tell you which are the best, because when it comes down to it, every baby is different. So, while most of these work great on my son, only a few may work for your baby.

And if, somehow, none of these work for you, I promise it will come to an end. As our babies grow and mature, gassiness improves naturally. Their digestive tracts become more efficient, and as they learn to roll, crawl, and walk, they will get their gas moving themselves.