Your baby may be showing signs of having trapped wind. They may seem to spend large amounts of time grunting, crying and fussing. Pulling their legs up or going red and straining. None of this is pleasant for them, or you as you can’t do a whole lot to help them.

Many parents assume that because they’re breastfeeding, their baby won’t suffer with trapped wind. Unfortunately, breastfed babies can be just as gassy as bottle-fed babies.

So what causes wind in a breastfed baby?

1- Poor Latch

If your baby doesn’t have a deep latch, they may not be taking enough of the nipple into their mouth to form a seal. This means air is slipping in alongside their milk leading to gas.

2- Fast Let-Down

If you have a fast let-down your baby may end up gulping to accommodate the large amount of milk. Along with all that milk, they’re often swallowing extra air as well.

3- Oversupply

If you produce a large amount of milk, your baby may spend feeds trying to keep up with the flow. This can lead to them swallowing more air, mostly at the start of a feed when milk flow is often strongest.

4- Parents Diet

Occasionally some foods eaten by the person breastfeeding may pass through the milk and cause gassiness. This isn’t particularly common, however some parents do notice a pattern with certain foods such as dairy or cruciferous vegetables.

What Causes wind in any baby?

1- Excessive Crying

When your baby cries, they swallow air. The more air they swallow, the more likely they are to end up with uncomfortable trapped wind.

2- An Immature Digestive Tract

Your baby’s digestive system is still learning how to function, before everything was done for them. Around 4-6 weeks many parents notice increased grunting, straining and gassiness as their digestive tract becomes more active. As milk is digested, gas is naturally produced, which can be uncomfortble but totally normal.

So you know what causes your breastfed baby to be gassy so what can you do to help reduce the chance of them getting gassy.

1- Make Sure to Burp Your Baby

You may be able to fully finish feeding your baby before they need winding, or they may show signs of fussiness throughout the feed. If your baby is straightening out, kicking their legs or crying on the nipple they may need you to burp them midfeed. Regardless make sure you give your baby a good opportunity to burp after feeds, trying different positions to help relieve gas.

2- Work on Fast Let-Down

If you have a fast let-down before starting a feed hand express a bit of your milk into a muslin cloth or milk storage container until the worst of it has reduced. Then put baby onto the breast when the flow has slowed a bit, hopefully reducing the amount of gulping they do.

3- Try to Feed Before They Are Screaming

Getting to your baby before they are crying their eyes out for food helps to reduce the air they are gulping in when they cry. This therefore means less air bubbles causing them pain in their tiny tummies.

While trapped wind is common in breastfed babies, bottle-fed babies can become gassy for completely different reasons. In my next post I’ll be covering the common causes of wind in bottle-fed babies.