Three Natural & Proven Ways to Soothe A Gassy Baby

Three Natural & Proven Ways to Soothe A Gassy Baby – No Need for Medications

So your baby is crying, and your child is now fussier than ever. What do you do?

Finding out what is wrong is a process of elimination. And if you see your baby crying, pulling his or her legs and then stretching out, or arching the back, then chances are, your baby is having gas problems. A hollow sound when tapping the baby’s tummy will also mean that your child is having a gas buildup.

It is normal for babies to be gassy, as a matter of fact, because they feed regularly, they are constantly producing gas. The problem is, some babies have such a hard time trying to pass it out. And whenever gas refuses to pass, your baby will start to feel uncomfortable and he or she will end up crying a lot.

Although having gas problems does not lead to any health complications, parents should know that if the baby is not able to expel it properly, he or she might be having colic or intestinal obstructions. At its worst, gas problems can make the baby feel tummy pains and cry very loudly for hours on end.

The methods I recommend are intended to help your baby release gas as naturally as possible. With the help of these methods, I hope that you can learn how to soothe your baby’s tummy so you won’t have to watch helplessly as your baby fusses and cries.

Try out the different steps and methods on your baby so you’ll know which one will work best for your child. Want to know how to soothe a gassy baby naturally? Here’s how:

What You Need To Prepare

Gassy babies are irritated and they could also be under pain. If you want to help your child pass gas, then you should at least provide your baby with some creature comforts. You should also prepare yourself just in case your baby throws up. Here’s what you need to prepare:

  • A warm, comfortable room – This is because a room that is too cold might upset your child’s tummy even more, while a room that is too hot can make your child very uncomfortable.
  • If you don’t have a comfortable room where you can massage and burp your baby, you can let your child wear warm clothes or just his or her diapers depending on the room temperature.

  • Clean blankets, and beddings – This will be used for baby to lie on during massages and exercises.
  • If you do not have one, you can simply let your baby lie on your lap.

  • Towels – Just in case your baby decides to throw up or do a wet burp.
  • You can also use table napkins or tissue if you do not have a clean towel at hand as this is only for cleanups.

  • A clean diaper – Just in case your baby wants to poop.
  • Massage oils – Look for edible or organic oils that are safe for baby’s skin. Test the oil in a small patch of skin before first before using it for massages. Avoid oils that might trigger allergic reactions.
  • If you do not have massage oils around, you can opt for oils that are in your pantry. You can use olive oil if your baby does not have rashes, eczema, or cuts on the skin. Otherwise, you can opt for coconut oil, or sesame oil.

Burping Your Baby

Burping allows your child to release the air that he or she swallowed during feeding. Failing to burp your baby can actually make your baby cranky and fussy. When trying to burp your baby, change your burping method if you do not hear a burping sound after a couple of minutes.

Burping Your Baby

I highly recommend this method for babies who are having gas problems after feeding. This is because it is much easier to let the baby burp out the gas that he or she recently swallowed, than to let the baby fart it out. This method will help train parents how to burp their babies through different techniques.

Before burping the baby, you need to prepare the following:

  • A warm, comfortable room
  • A clean towel

The Upright Burp

Sit or stand upright and let your baby rest on your chest. Your baby’s chin should be on your shoulder. And with one hand, you need to hold your baby securely. Use the other hand to gently pat your baby’s back. Doing this while you are seated on a rocking chair may also help your baby burp faster.

You should also place a towel on your shoulder, under the baby’s chin just in case your baby does a wet burp.

The Seated Burp

Place a blanket on your lap and let your baby sit up on it by supporting your baby’s chest and head with one hand. You can do this by holding your baby’s chin in the palm of your hand and by putting the heel of your hand on your baby’s chest.

Make sure that your hand is on the chin and not on your baby’s throat. Pat your baby’s back gently.

The Belly Burp

Let your baby lie down on your lap or on the bed on his or her belly. Support your baby’s head, making sure that it is slightly raised above her chest. Gently pat your baby’s back with your other hand.

Pro Tip – If your baby seems fussy during feeding, parents should immediately stop the feeding session to allow their little one to burp. You can resume feeding your baby afterwards. You should also let your baby burp after consuming a couple ounces of milk.

Massaging Your Baby’s Tummy

Massages can also be used to help your baby pass gas. By massaging your baby on the tummy or on key areas, you can move the air bubbles in their tummy around. This will hopefully shift the air bubble towards the right position so that it can be easily released.

The advantage of this method is that it can also help your baby feel calm, and relaxed. This is why I recommend this method for babies who are having problems passing gas at nighttime. Massaging your baby can also help your child sleep better afterwards.

Massaging the baby will require the following:

  • Clean blankets and beddings
  • A clean diaper
  • A massage oil

The “I Love U” Massage

 

​The “I Love U” Massage is designed to reduce colic. It is done by writing the initials ILU on your baby’s tummy. Let your baby lie down on his or her back and use your thumb to massage your baby’s tummy.

  • The “I” should start under the ribs on the left side of your baby’s tummy.
  • The “L” should start under the ribs on the right side of your baby’s tummy. Let your thumb move across to the other side and let it go down to form the letter “L”.
  • The “U” should start on the lower abdomen on the right side of your baby’s tummy. You should let your thumb go up under the ribs and go down the opposite side to form the letter “U”.

The entire process must be repeated for a few minutes to help support your baby’s digestion and to help your child release gas.

The Back Massage

Back massages are typically done to help promote digestion and also to help your baby deal with gas problems. It can also help your baby burp because the baby is lying on his or her belly. While the baby is in this position, you can slowly massage the back using the victory stroke and the cuckoo clock massage.

The victory stroke is done by massaging the top of your baby’s buttocks with your thumbs. You form the letter V by massaging up and around the baby’s hip bone.

The cuckoo clock massage is done by using your thumbs to massage the baby’s buttocks in circular motions. The circular motions must go up and away from each other, one thumb should go clockwise, and the other, counterclockwise.

Pro Tip – Massages can also be used to help your baby feel more relaxed. If your baby has gas, he or she can hold everything tightly inside. By massaging your baby, you can help them release the tension and also the air bubbles. You can also put a few drops of the massage oil on your hands so you can warm it up by rubbing the oil between your hands before application.

Using Simple Exercises

Using Simple Exercises

Simple leg movements or leg exercises can help your baby release gas. You can do this by doing bicycle kicks and by letting your baby’s knees go up into the tummy area. These movements can help put pressure on your baby’s tummy so that he or she can expel gas.

I recommend this method for babies who are having gas problems in the morning. This is because the exercises are also designed to help support your baby’s digestion, it can promote physical fitness, and it can also help your baby have an elevated mood.

Before doing the exercises with your baby, you need to prepare the following:

  • A clean diaper
  • Clean blankets and beddings
  • You can also apply massage oils on your baby’s legs and tummy before doing the exercises

The Bicycle Kick

This is done by moving your baby’s legs in an alternating motion. While your baby is lying on his or her back, hold your baby’s legs gently and extend the right leg downwards. As soon as it extends, slowly push it forward so that your baby’s right knee will bend.

While the right knee is bent, gently extend the left leg downward. You can then slowly push it forward so the left knee will bend on the tummy area. While the left knee is bent, you can then pull down the right leg slowly and so on and so forth. Do the bicycle kicks for a few minutes or until the baby farts.

The Knee Raises

In order to help your baby expel the gas further, you can also do knee raises. You can do this by gently bending both knees and by putting them near the tummy. You can apply gentle pressure on the knees so that the tummy area will be able to feel a slight push.

Hold this position for a few seconds before releasing. You can repeat this step for a couple more times or until the baby farts.

My Recommendation

Although I prefer to give my baby a massage each time she has problems passing gas to calm and soothe her, I actually recommend all three just to be on the safe side. As mentioned, babies are constantly creating gas because of their regular feeding.

By doing the exercises during the morning, then the burping after the baby consumes 2 to 3 ounces of milk, and the massages before bedtime, you can rest assured that your baby will stay happy and gas-free all day.

Conclusion

Were you able to learn much and have fun with the help of the tutorial?

Knowing how to soothe a gassy baby is very important because it can allow parents to provide immediate relief for their child. A lot of parents tend to get stressed each time their babies fuss and cry especially when they fail to understand what is going on with their child.

But by knowing when your baby is having trouble passing gas, and by understanding that there are things that you can do to soothe your baby even without medications, you will be able to take prompt action.

Allowing your child to pass gas naturally will help his or her tummy develop properly and it will also stop your child from constantly relying on over-the-counter medications every time he or she has gas problems.