How to help your baby expel gas

Babies need to expel gases properly. If they do not, these they can cause them discomfort and irritation, in addition to a great concern to parents. Therefore, in this article we tell you how you can help your little one to expel the gases correctly.

Babies and gases

It is very common that a baby during the first months of life does not know how to perfectly control the suction technique. In consecuense, it can also swallow air when it is fed, especially if it is bottle-fed.

Thus, this accumulation of gases in their small stomachs It can cause discomfort and discomfort. In effect, they will feel uncomfortable, irritated and, therefore, will cry.

Colic is produced when gases accumulate in your digestive system, product of the ingestion of these or of a bad digestion.

This is the reason why after each shot it is important to help the child to expel the gases that he has ingested while feeding. In fact, it is very difficult for them to do it themselves, so they need our help.

Therefore, after feeding them, we should cause the baby to burp and expel the gases so that they do not cause discomfort or colic.

Types of gases

There are two types of gases that the small can accumulate.

• Stomach gas. The most common, it is the air that has swallowed during the shot, as we mentioned before.
• Gases of the intestine. In this case, it is gases produced by poor digestion or some food intolerances. In these cases, after consulting with the pediatrician, a formula change may be recommended.

How to help the baby expel gas from the stomach

There are several techniques and tricks that we can apply in order to help the child to expel the gases correctly:

A correct posture when feeding

Posture during breastfeeding is essential to prevent the baby from drinking gas along with milk.

It is essential that, when breastfeeding or giving the bottle, we position the child in a correct posture. In this way, You can suck better and swallow less air. For it:

• The areola and nipple should form a nipple inside the baby's mouth. If, on the other hand, it only sucks the nipple, it is probable that while swallowing it also swallows air.
• The baby's gums should not press the nipple. This way, you will not get milk and swallow only air.

We recommend you read: 6 postures to breastfeed the baby

Make him burp

Cause burping is the most effective technique to help the baby to expel the gases properly. However, There are certain positions that will help better to eliminate. Among them, the best known are:

• Put the baby on the chest with his head on our shoulder.
• Lay him on our knees, with his back to us, and place our hand on his chest and his fingers on his chin.
• Put the baby face down on one arm. By its own weight, the tummy will press against the arm, facilitating the expulsion of gases. However, Remember that the baby's head should be a little higher than the rest of the body.

While the baby is in the proper position to burp, we should perform a light massage on the back or give a gentle pat.

In fact, we should help the child to expel the gases in this way for about 5 or 10 minutes. However, do not worry if in spite of everything you do not hear the characteristic sound of belching, because it is not always heard, being able to go unnoticed. Thus, after 10 minutes we can put the child to bed without any problem.

When do you burp?

We have found that it is necessary to help the baby to expel the gases. However, you will surely wonder when. Usually, we should make the baby burp after feeding. However, in some cases, we may have to interrupt the intake to have it expel gases and then continue it:

• If the baby is restless during the feeding, I may be swallowing air. For that reason, we can stop every five or ten minutes to make him expel gases and then continue.
• In addition, we can also help you eliminate gases in the change from chest to chest.
• In the case that we give him a bottle, if he shows annoyance, we can stop every 60 milliliters in order to help him expel gases and then continue to feed him.

In any case, nothing better than the appreciation of the mother. Also, if you do not appear restless and it is fed correctly, it is not necessary to interrupt it. Just help him burp after the shot.

Choose teats well

The bottle nipple should be adapted to your age. In addition, there are "anti-colic" teats that may be of interest to us.

If your baby is bottle-fed, it is imperative that you take care of the state of the teats. Indeed, maybe they are not suitable for the age of the little one and, being larger, cause that next to the milk is also swallowing air.

Therefore, it is better to choose teats appropriate for your age, so you can be sure that the air will not enter through them. In addition, on the other hand, there are special teats that avoid this problem, minimizing the amounts of air that come out the end while the small one is fed.

We recommend you read: Kassing method or how to give a bottle without damaging breastfeeding

Is it always necessary to burp?

Sometimes we can come to believe that the baby always swallows air when it feeds. Therefore, we believe that we should make him burp no matter what happens. However, this is not necessarily the case. Especially in the case of breastfeeding, If the posture and suction technique are correct, the baby may not swallow air.

In this sense, if we obsess with burping him when he really does not need, Maybe we are causing the inconvenience. It is better to try to help him during a prudential time (5 to ten minutes) with a gentle massage or patting, and then simply let him rest.