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Expert Round-up: Tactics to Help a Gassy Baby

May 30, 2023

This guide on gassy babies uses information from the National Library of Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and more to break down how experts recommend you relieve gas in babies.

The main takeaway: Experts agree that ALL newborn babies are gassy, for a variety of reasons. There are ways to help a gassy baby through it and to reduce the gassiness, but the consensus is that it takes a process of elimination to find the right tactic. The most interesting thing we learned: there is some disagreement among doctors on whether baby’s gas causes them to cry in pain.

Read on to learn more about the *four main categories* of tactics to treat your baby’s gas bubbles and what has scientific evidence supporting it and what doesn’t, including everything from gas drops to aerodynamic bottles to changing feeding positions to changing your own diet if breastfeeding and more.

All Babies Are Gassy. But Is Yours Gassier Than Normal?

According to pediatricians Julie Kardos and Naline Lai at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, all babies are gassy in their first two months of life. There are two main reasons: 1) They are not exposed to air in the womb, and getting used to air, especially while feeding, takes some time. (And burps.) 2) Their guts are just starting to work, and the bacteria that helps digest food in baby’s digestive system produces farts as a byproduct.

It also doesn’t help that they aren’t great at moving their bodies. Motion can help the gas move along and out from either end. A major message from Kardos and Lai, and the Schmitt Pediatric Guidelines used by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is that gas is normal and not something to be concerned about on its own if your baby is eating, gaining weight, and pooping mushy stools that are green, yellow, or brown in color. (They do caution that poop that is bloody, white, or black is reason to reach out to your pediatrician.)

The Schmitt guidelines—which are used by pediatrician offices across the country—specifically go further, saying that…

“Gas passing through normal intestines does not cause pain or crying. All crying babies pass lots of gas. Their stomachs also make lots of gassy noises. The gas comes from swallowed air. The gas is normal. It does not become trapped nor cause any pains. That’s why burping a baby doesn’t help the crying. Blaming gas is a myth.”

That is a harder take than most health experts express on gassy babies, but you get the point: Your baby having gas is not an issue *on its own*.

That being said, there are babies who will cry more than the norm. And if they have been fed, their diaper is dry, and they’ve slept, it often leaves gas pain as the presumed culprit.

Beyond the “Norm”: Is It Colic? Gas? Or Both?

One quick first step is to figure out if your baby is crying more than normal. Every baby is different, but there’s a little data that can help you identify if your child is at the extreme end of things. A 2017 study from Pediatrics looked at diaries for caregivers of over 8,000 babies to identify exactly how long newborn babies cry. They found that the average baby cried for around two hours in total over a 24-hour period during the first six weeks of life. That dropped down to just over an hour by 10-12 weeks of age.

It can be hard to track exactly how long your baby is crying in total per day, but even a rough estimate can give you a sense of where your child is at.

The researchers found that colic, a diagnosis often given to babies who cry and cannot be easily soothed, was most prevalently identified in the first 6 weeks of life (around 20% of babies in the study), compared to just 10% of babies at 8-9 weeks of age and less than 1% at 10-12 weeks of age.

This gets extra confusing because colic is largely a mystery to the medical world, but *may* have to do with babies’ digestion systems. (There are other theories as well.) It doesn’t get studied as much because colic tends to just stop on its own around 3-6 months. One resource we examined essentially said that you know it’s colic if it ends up just going away on its own. So exactly how long your baby is crying is one of the outward signs you can look for to identify colic versus gassiness.

If your baby’s crying isn’t in the colic zone, the next step is to identify what might be causing the gas-related crying. There’s no test for this, so it’s a game of trying things and seeing if it helps. (And if your baby does have colic, many of these tactics are also recommended for soothing colicky babies as well. So read on!)

The Four Main Tactics to Help Your Gassy Baby

In all the research we examined, we found four major categories for tactics to reduce infant gas:

Reducing how much extra air your baby swallows
Moving your baby’s body (or making them move) to get the gas out
Changing their milk supply
Medicinal and herbal supplements

Below we break down the different tactics we found in each category, and if it was commonly recommended by pediatricians (or not.) And an acknowledgement that these are A LOT of different tactics. It can feel overwhelming. Everything we read emphasized that it’s trial and error, by no means do you need to try every single one of these. Do what you can and remember that gas itself is normal and is not considered a problem if your baby is eating, sleeping, and pooping.

Reducing how much extra air your baby is swallowing

Shorter time between feedings: The doctors at CHOP recommend trying to reduce the amount of time between feedings. Why? Because babies can swallow a lot of air when they cry and feeding them earlier could mean less crying and therefore a lower amount of air swallowed.
Upright feeding positions: It isn’t easy at first to get a floppy newborn into different feeding positions, but holding them in a more upright position while they eat can help reduce how much air they swallow. This illustrated guide has examples of upright feeding positions that could cut down on how much they swallow air instead of milk. This applies to both the breastfed baby and bottle-fed babies.
Bottles and nipples designed to reduce air intake: There are lots of bottles and nipples out there, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends trial and error to figure out which one seems to work best for your baby. They specifically mention looking for bottles that are “vented, angled, or collapsible” and “meant specifically to keep babies from swallowing extra air while drinking.” You can also look for a slow-flow nipple so the flow of milk is not as fast.
Latch: The same idea as the above, but with how your baby’s mouth seals you’re your nipple while breastfeeding. A lactation consultant can help (see if your pediatric practice has any on staff or that they recommend) with this. One tip from a physician who heads of pediatric gastro at a New York hospital was to put a very thin ring of petroleum jelly or olive oil around the areola to aid suction.

Moving your baby’s body (or making them move) to get the gas out

Burping: Parents have been doing this forever to young babies, of course! But the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends adding even more burping if you aren’t already on it, burping your baby during, as well as after, each feeding. (For anyone who needs it: This means patting your baby’s back in a rhythmic motion to get the gas out.)
Bicycling motion: Lay your baby flat on their back and moving their legs in a bicycling motion toward their tummy to manually push out trapped air. Or you can keep it even simpler, gently pushing your baby’s knees up to their tummy and holding for a few seconds before releasing. Repeat several times.
Tummy time: Not only is this good for strengthening baby muscles, it also puts pressure on the abdomen and can help squish out any gas that’s settling in.
Gas hold: This is like tummy time, but on your knees or forearm instead of the floor. Let your baby lay tummy-down on your knees or forearm and gently massage their back.
Massage: Many pediatric resources were wary of massage doing much, but didn’t oppose it if it seems to help. Pediatrician Natasha Burgert, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, gave these instructions on how to do infant massage to fight gas in Forbes:
- Move your hand across your baby’s tummy in a clockwise motion with gentle pressure to push the bubbles forward in the digestive tract. You can use baby-safe lotions or oils to reduce friction on baby’s stomach, but it’s not necessary. Burgert stressed that the massage should be “pleasant and soothing” and to stop if your baby seems uncomfortable.
You can also check out the wildly viral from the Enchanted Nanny below:

@enchantednanny
Digestive help for colicky babies or trapped wind #babyhack #mumsoftiktok #babiesoftiktok
♬ original sound – The Enchanted Nanny

Changing their milk supply

Let the infant formula settle: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends using ready-to-feed formula in baby’s first few days, or making sure whatever powered formula you are serving settle for awhile before giving it to your baby. Why? Because shaking the formula means air bubbles get into the mix—resulting in more swallowed air.
Change their formula: Working with your pediatrician, you may want to consider changing your baby’s formula if they aren’t breastfed. There are formulas that are marketed to help reduce gas, but most expert sources weren’t gung-ho on there being strong evidence they worked. And other pediatricians emphasized that if your child has a true milk protein allergy or lactose intolerance, you will likely see addition symptoms like bloody stools.
Change your own diet (if breastfeeding): Most sources emphasized that there is little evidence that what breastfeeding moms eat has a direct effect on breast milk and your baby’s gassiness. If you want to try cutting certain foods out, it may make sense to start with things that cause gas in adults too, like beans, broccoli, or dairy products. (And keep in mind – babies will create gas regardless of what food the take in. It’s part of the normal digestion process.)

Medicinal and herbal supplements

Gas drops: There are FDA-approved drops, like simethicone (brand names Mylicon, Little Tummys), that are safe for babies (when used as directed) and can help break up gas. But many pediatricians didn’t think they did much. The American Academy of Pediatrics writes: “The best tip we have for you is that we’ve been told you can get your money back from either the manufacturer or the pharmacy if you find they don’t work! …at approximately $12 per 1-ounce (30 mL) bottle, they’re not exactly cheap. And studies suggest that they’re not that effective either.”
Probiotics: There is one meta-analysis study that found the probiotic L reuteri could be correlated with nearly an hour less of crying time per day at three weeks of life. Some criticisms of the analysis, however, include that crying time was self-reported by caregivers and that the effects seemed limited to breastfed babies.
Gripe water: Pediatricians were largely against gripe water and other herbal supplements, because there is not much evidence to show they do anything, and supplements in the United States are not regulated like medications. That means it can be hard to tell exactly what is in them and how safe they are for babies.