Excessively gassy newborn

[gassybaby]

Posting in the hope that someone will be able to help. Baby is 4 weeks old and is extremely gassy, it's constant and smells really bad-it's just like rotten eggs. I don't remember it being anything like this with my eldest.

I've spoken to the health visitor which wasn't much help to be honest and she didn't really suggest anything but it's getting ridiculous. Doctors is usually a 4/5 week wait time.

Baby is breastfed, I'm not having any caffeine or eating any of the foods that can cause gas.

I'm wondering if it's a dairy intolerance but my health visitor said unlikely as it's so rare and pointless cutting it out of my diet. I'm planning to anyway to be honest to see if it makes a difference. Has anyone else had anything similar?

I feel so bad for my little one, he's clearly in a lot of discomfort with the gas and it doesn't seem to be calming down at all

Bump!

My DS had really impressive farts and they staaaank! He is EBF too.
He also had reflux so GP prescribed gaviscon but also recommended cutting dairy out.
I wasn’t sure at first if it had made a difference, but the couple of times I’ve reintroduced dairy, he’s become more unsettled and gassy again.

If you cut dairy out i would cut soya too, lots of babies who are allergic to dairy are to soya too and yet mums re encouraged to swap to soya milk

How is your baby's latch? If he's taking in air when feeding this can make for a gassy situation..

Doctors is usually a 4/5 week wait time.

That's not ok for a newborn with digestive issues that are causing him distress. Call up and insist they see you sooner - keep repeating that he's a newborn and needs to be seen soon. Don't be afraid to make a fuss.

Was he a water birth? My youngest had this (did only last a few days), and after being concerned, put it down to the water he swallowed when he was born. 4 weeks does seem like a long time for this to last though. I'd try and speak to your gp if you can.

My EBF baby also used to do stinky egg farts a lot. They stopped on their own and she’s never had any tummy troubles. Always worth getting baby checked out just to be sure though.

My DS had the same and was much better once I cut out dairy and soya. I think it takes about 3 weeks to get completely out of your system.

I agree check your latch... also do you suffer at all with oversupply?

Thank you all so much for your replies. I agree 4/5 weeks seems too long to wait. I'm going to kick up a fuss and get one sooner because he's in a lot of discomfort and he's farting non stop.

He was a c section baby so nothing that he could have swallowed.

Latch also seems fine, I've watched tons of videos and it feels right. Midwife said all seemed fine at the start. I'm not in any discomfort when he's latched and he's swallowing normally.

I sometimes have a fast let down I think because he splutters and chokes initially. I'm getting a pump so that I can express a bit before feeding and see if that helps.

If not I'm hoping the doctor will be able to help.

I found the same with fast let down and hand expressing into a tissue (or gently detaching at let down and catching in a tissue before they start feeding) helped. Also making sure they had a full feed from one breast, which for me meant only feeding from one side per feed. That really helped my son’s colicky symptoms and explosive digestive tract!

If you had a c section he may be low on good gut bacteria so you could also try a little powdered probiotic like cytobiotic active on the nipple when you feed (once daily).