smelly gas in breastfed baby?

Question

3 month old daughter is very gassy, more than usual. the gas is also very strong smelling which is unusual for her too. i thought it was fruit that i started to eat like 2 weeks ago so i stopped promptly but this is still going on. i am also pretty gassy but i am not eating anything out of the ordinary or that i havent eaten before. can something all of a sudden start irritating her tummy? can i use a clean out and still feed her? like a senna cleanser? will that hurt her?

duh the senna i would drink it and i mean she would feed as i am taking it. im not silly enough to feed a baby senna

Answer 1

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/gassybaby.html
Does a mom need to watch everything she eats to avoid having a gassy baby?

The idea that certain foods in any mom's diet will cause gas in her baby is incredibly persistent but is not founded in research. If certain foods in moms' diets were an overall problem for most babies, we would expect that cultures that emphasize those foods would have more gassy and fussy babies, but this does not occur at all.

This is not to say that certain foods would not bother a particular baby - this does happen occasionally (and it's more likely with very young babies). However, there is no list of foods that every mom should avoid while breastfeeding. In fact, most babies are fine with any food that mom eats, so there is no reason to avoid a food unless you notice an obvious reaction in your baby every time you eat a particular food.

Some causes of gas in babies

* Many young babies have a certain amount of gas and seem to strain as it is passed or as a bowel movement occurs simply because of the immaturity of their digestive system. This doesn't always indicate a problem. Most babies' bodies manage gas more easily with growth, maturity, and greater activity. As long as your baby is not overly bothered by the gas or has no other symptoms of food sensitivity or other problems, then "tincture of time" is likely the best solution.

* Too much milk too fast, so that baby gulps and chokes and takes in too much air along with the milk. See forceful let-down.

* Anything that causes baby to take in too much air may result in a gassy baby (what goes in must come out!):
o Crying - Babies swallow air when they are crying, so crying is more likely to be the cause of gas, rather than the result of gas. Respond to baby's feeding cues promptly.
o Bottlefeeding - Babies usually swallow more air when drinking from a bottle. When using bottles, use the slowest-flow nipples so baby doesn't get overwhelmed with the milk flow. To reduce air swallowing, keep baby at about a 45 degree angle (rather than lying down), make sure baby has a good seal on the base of the nipple, and keep the bottle tilted so the neck & nipple are filled with milk. There are also varieties of bottles that aim to reduce air swallowing. Don't let baby suck on an empty bottle. Burp baby more often if he seems to be swallowing too much air.

* Overabundant milk supply. See Too Much Milk?

* Thrush can cause gassiness in babies.

* Babies who skip several days between stools tend to be gassier. Older breastfed babies (after the first 6-8 weeks) can go several days without a stool. Ten days or more is not uncommon! The long periods between stools in a baby who is obviously thriving is not a cause for concern if the baby's abdomen remains soft, baby is content and alert, and the stool is soft and profuse if several days have gone by.

* Sensitivity to something in mother's diet, including any vitamin/iron supplements, etc. See Dairy and other Food Sensitivities in Breastfed Babies. If this is the reason, you will most likely notice other symptoms, such as excessive spitting up or vomiting, colic, diarrhea, rash, persistent congestion or runny nose.

* Anything that baby is eating/drinking other than mother's milk, including vitamins, formula, teas, medications or herbs, solids, juice. Any substance (other than breastmilk) has a much greater potential to increase gassiness rather than reduce it.

* Formula feeding tends to cause more gas and digestive upset for most babies because it is not specific to the human baby. Formula-fed babies overall tend to spit up more, be constipated more, have more gas, be more colicky, have more intestinal illnesses, etc. Remember, too, that supplementation most always undermines your milk supply and may result in premature weaning.

Frequently Asked Questions about breastfeeding and gassy babies

Breastmilk is made from what passes into mom's blood, not what is in her stomach or digestive track. Below are a few common questions that moms have about breastfeeding and gassy babies.

Can drinking carbonated sodas cause gas in baby? No. For something to pass into your milk, it must first pass into your bloodstream. It's the carbonation in sodas, etc. that can cause gas in mom. The bubbles in a carbonated drink cannot pass into your milk and affect baby. If this could happen, you'd have carbonated blood and carbonated milk!

If mom is gassy, can that make baby gassy? No. Gas in mom's body cannot pass into breastmilk.

See also Can a nursing mother eat this food? which includes a discussion of How will eating "gassy foods" affect baby?

Answer 2

Lots of things other than fruit can cause this sort of gas...particularly broccoli or other green vegetables. If you've eaten any green veggies in the past few days, this could be the cause. Other causes are onions (which are found lots of places--pizza, salads, casseroles, etc.!) and garlic. For my (also breastfed) daughter, turned out that the thing I was consuming that was causing her gas when she was tiny was carbonated soda, of all things! Although it wasn't smelly, it sure did make her uncomfortable. So check over your diet carefully. Even if it's something you've eaten before, or that you don't consider "out of the ordinary", you never know what can affect a new baby. Even something that didn't affect her before may do it now. Babies can be strange. :) Try Gripe Water, gas drops, and bicycling her legs; alternating that with pressing her knees against her tummy to release the gas. I could give this advice in my sleep; we had SUCH a rough time with our daughter and gas at that age! lol Good luck; hope u both feel better!

Answer 3

Newborn Smelly Gas

Answer 4

Ok good :) I'm glad that you'd take the cleanser. It wouldn't do any good, however, since you'd be cleaning yours and not the baby's.

Look, some babies are just gassy. My first wasn't bad, but my second Hoo-boy! He can clear a room! As long as the baby isn't bothered by it then don't worry about it.

We exclusively breastfeed too. I thought it was something I ate, so I tried modifying my diet. He was still stinky, no matter what I ate or didn't eat. I think it's just the way he is! It doesn't bother him in the least. I've noticed that he has more gas the closer he is to having a major poop explosion. I just take it as a hint to be prepared!

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
smelly gas in breastfed baby?
3 month old daughter is very gassy, more than usual. the gas is also very strong smelling which is unusual for her too. i thought it was fruit that i started to eat like 2 weeks ago so i stopped promptly but this is still going on. i am also pretty gassy but i am not eating anything out of the...

Answer 6

Eat Activa yogurt. Suspend veggies like broccoli or sweet potatoes or cabbage. No pork or beans. Anything that causes you gas will cause her gas.

I don't know about the cleanser.

Are you sure you didn't start eating something unusual? Fruit in general is okay, but prunes are not. Run the fruit through your diet one at a time and see how she reacts. Maybe you can isolate the culprit.

If this doesn't work, try suspending all lactose products (my sister's kids got terrible gas when she ate dairy foods).

Good luck and bless the baby!
TX Mom
Mine are 17 and 21

Answer 7

I would have asked about the same question a few years ago. My son, Jeffy, used to fart constantly and it smelled really weird. My older daughter, Shirley, never farted after her first couple weeks, but she was bottlefed. I asked my breastfeeding sister if HER baby had weird farts, and she said no. Well, I didn't think anything of it until my youngest, Tommy, was born. He also had the stinky farts. When he was three months old I started drinking a LOT more milk than usual. (I was brainwashed by those 24 in 24 comercials. :-) Here's the freaky part. When I started drinking more milk, *I* got the stinky farts, too! I soon learned that he's allergic to milk and after going dairy-free we are both fart-free as well. I'm not saying that the gas and the allergy are related, but there's got to be SOMETHING in milk that made us both fart like that. That's never happened to me before, even when I used to go on a "brownie and milk" binge when I was PMSing. I drank TONS of milk and never farted at all. I've read that any extra stress on your body can cause new allergies to develop, including pregnancy and infections. I'd had both: I was pregnant with Tommy, then my c-section incision became infected. Maybe, in my case, the antibiotics I took screwed up the levels of healthy bacteria in my gut. I'll probably never know.

Someone wrote earlier that lactose levels in your milk remain constant regardless of the amount of lactose consumed, and I got the same information from a lactation consultant at LLLI. That's why I suspected milk allergy and not lactose intolerance. You can ask them your own question and they'll email you. http://www.llli.org/help_form

Good luck solving this mystery. :-)

Answer 8

i have no idea if its okay to do a cleanse but there is something that your tummy didnt take so good and it can be somethign you ate before or always eat. but i would calm down on things you eat too much off. and gassy food.
oh by the way me baby has always been so gassy since the day she was born LITERALY! i swear. and she has calmed down a lot now she is 9 months now but she still has gass EVERYDAY especially waking up

Answer 9

no don't use anything to clean her out that is silly...girls generally are more gassy than boys naturally.

Second it is something you are eating; dairy products and vegatables can cause gas.

Eat the fruit that you need and will help her body to clean itself out. If she is pooping though 3xs a day she is fine.

Broccoli did that to my son......really bad and sticky! It could burn your nose hairs.

Answer 10

I wouldn't worry about it as long as she's not in any discomfort. My son would get gassy all the time, and I never figured out what caused it.