10 tips for baby bump

Many young parents know it: the baby seems to struggle incredibly with a fart, the belly is hard and the baby somehow restless. Some babies struggle a lot with tummy ache, others less or not at all. Overall, baby tummy ache is normal to a certain extent because the digestive system is not fully mature when babies are born.

At the same time, there are a few factors that can still promote tummy aches such as swallowing air while breastfeeding or drinking from a bottle. This is often identifiable by babies making clicking or snapping noises. Also, if they swallow frequently, they usually swallow air along with it.

By the way, I wrote more about swallowing air while breastfeeding in my article 7 Signs You Can Tell Your Baby Is Effectively Breastfeeding.

However, in this article I have listed a few tips on what might help with baby bump. But before I get to the tips on what to do about baby tummy ache or colic, I want to talk about how it manifests itself in the first place.

Summary

Symptoms of baby belly

Abdominal pain and colic may be manifested by, for example, a hard, distended abdomen. The baby might cry for a long period of time, being difficult to calm down. Many babies tolerate touch very poorly when they are in pain. Therefore, many babies then also hardly like the prone position or not at all and visibly complain. In addition, they may become stiff or pull their legs towards their belly particularly often. The bottom may also be tense.

For many babies, farting then requires a great deal of strength and effort, and they seem to really struggle with it. Also, movements of the bowel are sometimes audible and also noticeable with the hand.

These are all ways in which colic or mild abdominal pain can manifest itself. In fact, in all cases, several of the above factors come together. How bad the stomach ache is, is completely individual. Often it is not really colic, but rather flatulence or abdominal pain.

10 tips for a more relaxed stomach

Regardless of what exactly it is now and how much your baby suffers, the following tips can certainly help you.

1. abdominal massage

When massaging the abdomen, you should massage with gentle pressure in a clockwise direction. This will help the intestinal movements. The massage can be temporarily uncomfortable for the baby, but it quickly provides relief. It makes sense to use a cream or massage oil during the massage so that the skin is slippery and there is not too much friction. At the same time, the skin should not be too slippery, because then you have no grip and can not perform the massage properly.

The abdominal massage is often included in baby massage courses. In addition, many midwives can demonstrate it. Also in my online course baby massage you will learn the colic massage, among many other massage techniques. Here you will also learn, among other things, what to look for when choosing massage oil and when is a suitable time for massage.

March 31, 2021

Natalie Clauss

About the skin and the right baby massage oil.

In this episode, learn what to look for when choosing a massage oil.

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2. wind ointment

This ointment is quite common and contains caraway oil as the active ingredient. Caraway also has a deflating effect. You can simply apply the ointment to the abdomen or, more sensibly, combine it with an abdominal massage. This way you get a double effect.

3. fennel-cumin oil

Fennel-Cumin Oil is a special blend of oils that can be used to massage the baby's belly. It combines the effects of fennel and caraway, both of which have a deflating effect.

I have had good experience with the fennel-cumin oil for children from the station pharmacy. This is in addition to the purchase at the pharmacy directly, also available in many regional pharmacies, as more and more pharmacies have the products of Bahnhofsapotheke from Kempten in their assortment.

4. fennel tea

For nursing mothers, it can be useful to drink fennel tea themselves. Fennel acts as a medicine for flatulence. The ingredients are passed on to the baby through the mother's milk. However, the tea should be of high quality so that it is free of additives and the active ingredient itself is present in as pure a form as possible. Also, you should not drink the tea exclusively, but only up to about three cups a day. The brewing time and shelf life of the tea should be observed.

Preparation of tea with organic fennel seeds

Crush one to two teaspoons of fennel seeds with a mortar or other suitable object. Then pour 250 ml of boiled water over the crushed seeds and let the tea steep for about six to eight minutes.

However, bottle feeding should not be mixed with fennel tea. Basically, the tea should also only be used when symptoms are really present and not purely preventive.

5. warm baths

Warmth is generally very pleasant for many babies with tummy ache and in combination with water it can be very soothing and relaxing. The tummy can also be gently massaged in water, as long as you can still keep your baby stable while doing so. This is best done in a shared bath.

6. hold off

Babies with colic, abdominal pain or visible flatulence often find it difficult to excrete into the diaper while lying down, because here the support of gravity is missing. This is similar to childbirth, where the prone position is also usually inconvenient.

If you notice that your baby is pushing hard, you can also try to hold it off. This means that you hold it over a bowl or the sink so that it can excrete here. Of course, the baby must be undressed in this area.

For example, the baby can be leaning against you with its upper body and you hold it by the thighs, pulling the legs slightly towards the stomach. This supports the pushing from the outside and you help in this way. With small babies, holding them in the cradle position is recommended because it gives them even more support. Many babies are much more relaxed in this position.

You can see common holding positions in this video of mine:

You can also find more information about this in various books about diaper-free (there are many other names for this method) or from specially trained diaper-free or Artgerecht consultants. Also in my online course Di aperfree you can learn more about holding positions, diaperfree itself and get many practical tips for the implementation.

7. carrying

When you carry your baby in a sling or a baby carrier, your belly is massaged with every movement. In addition, the legs are squatted (in the so-called squat-spread position) and in an upright position. These are all factors that can provide relief from tummy aches. It is important that the baby is really tightly bound, so that it is sufficiently supported and it receives a slight pressure on the abdomen. Only in this way will it have a positive effect on the abdomen.

But even completely independent of abdominal pain, these aspects should always be implemented when carrying babies and toddlers.

8. sleeping position

The safest sleeping position for babies is the supine position. This has long been investigated in extensive studies and is also the position of the DGKJ, which is explained in the article Safe sleep for my baby. The disadvantage of the supine position with stretched legs is that it creates a relatively high level of tension on the abdomen. The muscle tension is relatively high.

Of course, your baby should still sleep in the supine position. But you can relax the abdominal muscles a little by placing a towel or small pillow under his lower legs so that his legs are bent upwards. Just like we put our legs up when we have a circulatory collapse. You can try it out for yourself. The abdomen is much more relaxed in this position.

During the day, when you are with your baby, he can sleep on his side. The important thing is that it is not always the same side and that you are in the room and have a view of your baby.

9. change of diet

When babies are prone to bloating and have pain in their tummy, many breastfeeding mothers are quick to hear that it is from the food they are eating. Consequently, she should avoid all flatulent foods such as cabbage or onions.

However, this is very rarely the cause of the flatulence. If there is a definite suspicion, a single food can be omitted to see if it really makes the abdominal pain better. Directly omitting all flatulent foods until the end of breastfeeding is not advisable.

10. medications

I am personally very cautious about medications. There are individual medications that can help. However, this is rarely really necessary. This should always be discussed with a doctor or midwife. The same applies to homeopathic remedies.

It should also be remembered that everything the baby ingests besides (mother's) milk changes the microbiome in the intestine, so that an imbalance can arise here. There is also simply no proven efficacy for many of these supposed anti-bloating medications.

Conclusion

If abdominal pain or colic is extreme and there is no improvement at all, your baby is visibly in pain, you should in any case go to the pediatrician to see if it really is the normal immaturity of the intestine or if perhaps an intolerance or something similar is behind it.

I hope these tips provide some relief for your baby. If you have any other tips that I haven't written down here, feel free to write me a comment below this article! That way I can add this one to my list.

Image sources:

• Cover image baby in white onesie lying on white textile: www.pexels.com
• Image 1 Woman in white robe carrying a baby: www.pexels.com
• Image 2 belly massage: www.pexels.com
• Image 3 Oil bottle: www.pexels.com
• Image 4 Baby in towel: www.pexels.com
• Image 5 Woman carrying baby on a bridge: www.pexels.com
• Image 6 Mother with sleeping baby: www.pexels.com
• Image 7 Woman carrying baby: www.pexels.com
• Image 8 Vegetables on a plate: www.pexels.com
• Image 9 Woman in beige sweater carrying baby: www.pexels.com