How to avoid getting stomach gas/wind?

[mumznet]

I get this alot, 40 years of age now. had it for the past few years. not gone to GP or anything, but my tummy is very windy and I can feel the wind in my tummy. Around ovulation time it gets worse and I have severe pain with the trapped wind. what can I eat or how to eat to avoid wind or how to reduce it?

thanks

Yes it is for babies! Once I took some when I was in awful pain over Christmas from all the rich food. I had already tried bicarbonate of soda, gaviscon and deflatine and my OH suggested it (we had a baby at the time lol). Gripe water cured me in a few minutes 😂 I just swig it out the bottle tbh, I don't measure it.

@mumznet I use Alpro oat no sugars milk. It is actually very nice on cereal and great to make porridge. I am not a hot drinks person but my MIL is and she is dairy free too and uses oat milk. I love the alpro no sugars plain yoghurt and occasionally have vegan cheese. I was sceptical about alternatives but they are fine and much better than having painful wind and upset stomach every day. Agree with PP that a FODMAP or elimination approach would be best to see what the triggers are. Hormones might play a part too. Keep a diary! Good luck.

thanks @Callingallbutterflies glad you mentioned you have an alternative! I thought it's going to be a month without milk!

so what is going on, are you allergice to milk or is it an intolerance lactose blah blah? what is the issue with milk thanks

@catsnore great im getting some gripe water. I understand we may need more tbsp of this as it may only work if we take a bit more of it...

My dd1 was quite a windy baby so pretty much lived off gripe water! I have to say though, it's a pretty gross aniseed flavour. So you'll have to keep that in mind!

Going through the same thing at the moment, it's incredibly annoying and disheartening at times!

I've done a lot of research and apparently hot lemon water is supposed to help your digestion and gas quite a lot. Articles say to drink it first thing in the morning (before any tea/coffee), throughout the day if you fancy it and with a meal/before bed.

TMI territory but I get a lot of gas but absolutely nothing comes out. I don't fart, I don't burp. It actually makes it worse because then I just end up looking 7 months pregnant (genuinely) and uncomfortable for the entire day, sometimes 2. I tried the hot lemon water with my dinner tonight, then another cup afterwards and let's just say that things are...moving quite nicely. The only thing I can put it down to is hot lemon water, didnt change anything else at all and I feel more comfortable! Worth a try!

Also, hot lemon water seems to have a ton of health benefits and is tasty, so its staying in my diet permanently now! I just bought actual lemon juice rather than fresh lemons that I'd have to squeeze. Much easier.

Onion, garlic, leeks etc can cause this in some people. Difficult to cut out long term but maybe experiment to see if it helps.

Thank you all. this morning drank fennel tea and had 4 teaspoon of gripe water.

Dairy I cut out since 2 days. when cutting out foods is 2 weeks a long enough time to experiment? feels slight improvment, but still some gurgling of wind I can feel in tummy.

I also eat wholewheat chapatti home made. after dairy I will try to exoeriement cutting the chappati. maybe the chapatti is heavy for me....

@LaBeteEtLaBete with lemon im worried it will damage my teeth? i also drink no tea as it stains teeth and also wasn't suiting me the caffeine.

Ooh I hadn't thought of that to be honest. I guess a small amount won't do any damage. I only use a few drops of lemon juice in my hot water and I suppose you can always drink it with a straw! All I know is that it did something for me and I'm excited to see how it affects me going forward :)

thanks @LaBeteEtLaBete. i will try the lemon. so far I think quitting milk is a good idea. i feel slightly better but missing the milk in cereal . will have no milk untill my next asda shop in a few days, when I will try porridge milk Alpro

Oat/porridge milk is really tasty. I've recently discovered hazelnut milk and that stuff is delicious! Good luck :)

If you're feeling a little better after removing milk you might be lactose intolerant amongst other things. It doesn't necessarily mean no dairy you just need to watch the amount you have.

www.monashfodmap.com/ibs-central/i-have-ibs/starting-the-low-fodmap-diet/

Like others say, work out what your triggers are. Mine are loads of veg - if I have a plate of veg esp root veg or winter veg it will cause me problems.

If I can't avoid it I find I then have something like rice crispies, white bread etc the next day (to cut down on fibre) and it fixes me. As I've got old spicy food is also more of a trigger .

Good luck!

Thanks all. I am starting with the dairy then will move onto other things. For the milk haven't had a chance to go to asda/tesco but found Lactose free milk from Aldi. Is this stuff suitable it tastes very sweet....the skimmed milk one. @Callingallbutterflies

@LaBeteEtLaBete is it best to use oat / almond milk or is lactose free milk fine? thanks

@mumznet I have never tried lactose free milk. I can say though that the Aldi dairy free yoghurt was one of the most hideous things I have ever had the misfortune to put in my mouth.

No dairy apart from lactose free milk in my morning coffee. I use Califia oat milk (or Oatly brand but I prefer Califia) in my tea. Beautiful!
This above all has just totally made me go from being a windy bastard to hardly windy at all. I don’t eat any cheese or yogurt (I sometimes eat non-dairy yogurt by The Collective with added cultures to get the benefits).

I do take digestive enzymes when I’m feeling windy.

Peppermint or fennel tea sometimes at night.

I eat lots of veggies but I keep beans and lentils to a minimum.

Gluten intolerance in my case.. try avoiding bread and see how it works

If you getting stomach gas more times than a normal, then my small suggestion is please check your body with your family doctor or nearest hospital. It may be cause due to any stomach related issues.

It is likely to be something that you eat regularly if it happens all the time. Try eliminating something from your diet for a week and if it makes no difference add it back in and eliminate something else.

By doing this I worked out that I’m fine with dairy and gluten but onions, leeks, garlic and tomatoes cause me really bad problems. Cutting them out made a major difference.

I'm sure any is fine, I just prefer hazelnut milk as it tastes quite creamy.

I've only recently started to read this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B09PQCCHQZ/ref=tmmkinswatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1653077660&sr=8-1

Fibre fuelled cookbook.

There is quite detailed advice on how to work out what your own gut tolerates.