Why is my 1-month-old baby suffering from severe gas?

Patient's Query

Hi doctor,

My baby girl is 1 month old. I am having a really tough time both physically and mentally. I hope you can help me out. At around 3 weeks, my baby started having gas trouble. I gave gripe water as per guidance from my parents. When I searched on the internet, I found that it is bad for baby. So, I stopped and consulted my pediatrician for gas problem. She just had gas trouble. She never used to cry and she used to sleep really well. One of my relatives said that this is colic pain and hence we told the same to the pediatrician. He suggested Colpep drops after breastfeed. One week we gave this, rather than improving the things only got worse. Again, he suggested Neopeptine along with Colpep. I gave both for two days, but still no improvement and now I stopped all medicines as I feel before giving medicines she was really fine and slept well. But, she is having lots of gas now and struggling to sleep properly. Most of the time she is awake and if we put her down, she will start crying. If we lift her and keep in hands or shoulder, then she is quiet. I feel bad if I am responsible for making her health worse. Nowadays, she is not at all sleeping during night and we have to try hard to put her to sleep. Please help me.

We gave her gripe water, Colpep and Neopeptine. Is her health getting affected due to giving all these? She is making 10 to 12 wet clothes and some poop every time while releasing gas. Initially, she used to poop a lot and of good quantity. Now, it is considerably reduced. Also, I observed that while giving Neopeptine she had very watery foul smelling poop like foam. Now, she is having normal poop, but it is very foamy. Is foamy poop normal? Also, I breastfeed her every 2 hours and at night she sleeps 5 to 6 hours with in between feeding. I am not sure if she is fine and healthy as nowadays there are lots of change compared to before and I feel all this is because of medicines. Please help me out.

Answered by Dr. Faisal Abdul Karim Malim

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

You seem to be going through a lot of stress with your child. Please calm down. All these phenomena are completely normal till the age of 6 months in every child. I believe this must be your first child and that is why all the confusion.

Normal things that every first parent worries about are as follows:

The child may have occasional coughing and sneezing, which does not affect feeding at all. This is normal for first 6 months and so, no treatment required.

The child may pass stools 10 to 15 times per day or once in two to three days. This is normal for first 6 months.

The child may cry just before passing stools or just before passing urine, but not during the act.

Color of stool is not important per say. Only warning color signs in the stool are the red and lemon white.

The child may have occasional eye discharge without any red eyes. You just need to give nasolacrimal massage occasionally as the nasolacrimal duct is small in neonates. No other treatment required.

Warning signs in a child are,

Lethargy all the time.
Complete refusal to feed.
Convulsion.
Abdominal distention with recurrent vomiting and no passage of stools at all.
Yellowish discoloration of skin.

Important things to take care in every child are as follows:

Exclusive breastfeeding every 2 hourly. Even if the child is sleeping, wake up the child and feed at night. Empty one breast completely before shifting to the other breast as both foremilk and hindmilk are important for the baby.

Avoid top feed with formula as much as possible. However, if you feel it is absolutely necessary if breast milk is insufficient, then you can give.

Avoid bottle feeding at all times as the nipple is responsible for causing infections how much ever you boil it. Use a small spoon instead of feeding after you make the formula feed in the bottle.

Till 6 months only mother's breast milk is sufficient. Weaning with mashed foods can be started after 6 months.

Avoid giving crushed hard substances like almonds till the age of 2 years as they may get lodged in the trachea and cause complications.

Weight is an excellent measure whether the child is getting good nutrition. At age of 6 months weight of child is double the birth weight, at 1 year it is triple birth weight and in 2 years it is 4 times.

So, your child is apparently normal as per your history and the torture you have gone through. Please take care of yourself as your stress will lead to lesser production of milk, which will eventually affect the child.

The Probable causes:

Normal child.

Treatment plan:

You can use the following medicines as required with the consent of your pediatrician.
1. Colicaid (Simethicone) for abdominal pain.
2. Nasoclear nasal drops (Sodium chloride) for nasal discharge.

Regarding follow up:

For further information consult a paediatrician online.---> https://www.icliniq.com/ask-a-doctor-online/paediatrician

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Q. My 1 month old baby is suffering from severe gas trouble. Please help.

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