Question: My 3 months old baby seldom farted this few week and she had colic. I have been bottle feeding her breast milk since she was born and she has been farting a lot until recently. She also doesn’t poo every day. What should I do to let her pass out more gas?

Answer: Some babies are born with transient lactose intolerance. Lactose is the key sugar in all mammalian milk and the inability to digest this sugar results in frequent, explosive bowel movements. This tends to improve over a few months and thus the passing of gas, as well as the frequency of motions, actually decreases with age. It may be normal for breastfed babies not to move bowels daily, especially if the consistency of the next bowel movement is normal.

If your child is still colicky and passes hard stools, you may want to increase the total fluid intake to help with the bowel movements. Abdominal massage and simple cycling movement of the legs may help her pass gas to relieve her discomfort. Probiotics may also help.

Dr Nancy Tan
Paediatrician, Sub-specialty in Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
SBCC Baby & Child Clinic

Practice Address
SBCC Baby & Child Clinic (Gleneagles)
6 Napier Road
#07-01/03 Gleneagles Medical Centre
Singapore 258499
Tel: 6235 6706/ 6397 6966 (Hotline)
Email: info@sbcc.sg

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