Is her gas pain related to my dairy consumption?

My 3 week old seems to be very gassy. She scrunches up her face and her body, gutteral sounds come from her mouth, and she appears to be straining. It looks like she's in so much pain that it breaks my heart. The only reason I think I stay sane is because she doesn't get fussy or cry, she just looks very uncomfortable and upset. Sometimes it results in passing gas, and sometimes it doesn't. This does not appear to be poop-related, as I've run to change her diaper many times and learned that it was gas, not a BM.

I was reviewing my daily eating habits today, and the only thing I can think of to try to eliminate from my diet is milk. Could milk really be causing her issues? And if so, is this forever, or just while she's this young?

The rest of my diet consists of cereal, PB&J, ham & swiss sandwiches, various Lean Cuisines, and restaurant takeout a few times per week. Nothing really spicy or garlicy or otherwise strongly flavored. Over the past day, I've been snacking on chocolate hearts from Valentine's Day that I forgot I had. I just read in So That's What They're There For! that chocolate can be problematic, so I stopped eating it this afternoon, but that doesn't explain her discomfort over the past 10 days or so.

Can anyone help?

Cassandra
mom to Jenna, born 02/03/04

it sounds like normal gas that most newborns have, not related to anything you are eating.

their digestive systems take some time to really work right, so at first there is a lot of gas that they have trouble passing. It all works out in the end, so to speak.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

For DS, when I have a lot of dairy it results in spit-up. For instance, if I have a bowl of ice cream after dinner, he spits up the next morning after the first couple feedings. I haven't noticed major gas pains-- just spit-up. This has been consistent from about 5-6 weeks on (nearing 6 months now).

when my son was that age, he would wake up in the morning like 4ish scream-crying and pulling his legs up - what i did, was pump his legs to help him get the gas out and also, in my search to figure out what to do, i came across something that said protein is hard on their digestive systems... in looking at my diet, i was having lots of protein, so i just cut back a little and this really seemed to have an effect. i had been eating like 2 pb&j's some days, crackers with cheese, etc., so i'd just eat one pb&j and fewer crackers w/ cheese or something and just one yogurt or ice cream, not both, stuff like that. i didn't eliminate anything totally, just cut back a little. he stopped waking up in pain and then at about three months i quit watching my diet for those things. good luck and congrats on your new baby!

Thank you for asking this! DS does the same thing so I quit eating dairy. I haven't been able to tell if it's gotten better or not. Now I will go have a glass to milk to celebrate the fact that it's probably not related. Very helpful!