Why do newborns have gurgling tummies?

Author, can you imagine what happened to this person???
Just moving to a different region and changing the climate can make someone feel nauseous, disrupt their menstrual cycle, and so on.
But here, this person completely changed their living environment, now breathing and eating differently. They must be in a state of turmoil after giving birth.

Before you go, their tummy is rumbling.

Actually, that is exactly what gas is, which is why colic occurs.

That's normal – it's just digestion.

It's normal. The intestines are working, there's gas. You can give Espumisan, Bobotik, etc., if there are colics.

It's bubbling, gas is passing, and colic often occurs during this bubbling. Sab Simplex helped us. With my first son, I didn't know about this miracle medicine, and we suffered a lot. But it helped my daughter a great deal.

Of course, the gurgling in the tummy is related to colic. It's simply that during feeding, the baby can swallow air, and the baby's intestines aren't yet able to contract properly and break down the gas bubbles. As a result, they become quite large, stretch the intestinal walls, and cause the baby pain and discomfort. That's why everyone recommends latching the baby correctly to the breast, holding them upright after feeding, giving massages, placing them on their tummy, and administering colic remedies. As my doctor told me, all this happens against the backdrop of the gut being colonised by beneficial bacteria. Our doctor advised us to give the baby Rela Life drops, which is a probiotic that helps the gut become populated with good bacteria, normalises digestive function, and so on. We also gave colic drops in parallel and I did massage. After about two weeks of taking it, the tummy started bothering him less, the gurgling reduced, the baby became calmer, and life began to settle down. Although before that, the child had severe colic and we could cry for days because of the tummy pain.

Because babies are born with an immature gut, and up to 3-6 months, the gut is being colonised by beneficial bacteria. If you are breastfeeding, I would advise you to be patient and wait for things to settle down. If the baby is formula-fed, formulas with lactobacilli can be very helpful. My daughter ate NAN Optipro formula until she was one year old, and we hardly had any tummy issues.

So it's quite possible to live without all those different drops and teas for colic, then?

It's bubbling because the digestion is poor! You need to analyse the diet. If it's formula feeding, it means you're giving a heavy formula. If it's breastfeeding, it means the mother isn't following a diet (often this is due to consuming sweets and dairy—the first things to eliminate!).

Well, why give teas and drops if there's no colic? Nan contains lactobacilli, which help beneficial bacteria multiply in the intestines, the gastrointestinal tract starts working without disruptions, and colic simply doesn't occur or occurs, but not particularly intense or long-lasting.

Colic at one, two, or three months is a result of the development of the gastrointestinal tract and the establishment of its peristalsis. It is not an illness or something abnormal, nor is it related to poor nutrition or poor digestion. On the contrary, if there is no colic, one should be concerned.

Issues with digestion, gut flora, and so on are not signalled by colic but by abnormal stools. In such cases, the first step is to add beneficial bacteria (for example, giving Normobact L to ensure everything is in order with them—they are primarily responsible for the gut flora).

That's why it's gurgling; it means the digestive system is getting into gear. I haven't noticed any direct link between gurgling and colic. I gave Bobotik, and all the gurgling ended with farts.

We only had gurgling during the colic period; we gave Bobotik, they passed gas, and the gurgling stopped. So everything is within normal limits.

Bobotik didn't help us, by the way Espumisan didn't either. Sometimes dill water could help, but that was occasional, and I wanted the help to be constant. My son is on formula, so I risked switching from regular formula to an anti-colic one, I found one from NAN and it got significantly better, they stopped crying at night and whimpering in their sleep, and the gas passed much more easily.

Have you tried anti-colic bottles? They say it helps some, though I didn't find any benefit from them.

It's normal up to 3 months, hold them upright so they can burp out the air

I've tried bottles, gas relief tubes, and everything under the sun. When we started using Nan anti-colic formula, I realised that if the issue is in the gut, that's what you need to focus on. Our formula has lactobacilli and some other anti-colic 'ingredients'.

Overall, it's great when everything can be applied, and bottles are a good invention, and the warming pad with seeds, and even probiotics! But for gas, Bobotik was and still is the go-to. So here, only through trial and error and observing the child can you figure out what to do.

This is the gut flora developing, which is basically a normal phenomenon, but if the gurgling is intense, it's better to tell the doctor—they might prescribe some bacteria. And if there's also gas, you can add Bobotik.

And we're already 8 months old in 6 days. My son still spits up after feeding, and after that, for 4-5 hours, he regurgitates formula. During the day, his tummy rumbles and he has gas, and at night, his stomach rumbles, gurgles, churns, he gets bloated, has colic, and GAS—lots of GAS!!! And throughout these 8 months, he wakes up at night, cries, has tantrums, farts and cries, and I've observed him several times and realised that he farts all night long.

Help or suggest something. We've done an abdominal ultrasound—everything's normal, tests came back normal too. The doctors just shrug. I'm fed up. I'm at my wit's end.

Natalya, we've got the same nonsense, has it gotten any easier for you?

It could be an intolerance to cow's milk protein. Go for a consultation with a competent gastroenterologist. My son had issues from birth with regurgitation and bowel movements (he couldn't poop on his own at all, only with an enema or tube), and his tummy gurgled and bubbled terribly. Until six months, we tried different things until we found a skilled specialist. She suggested trying a special formula with hydrolysed cow's milk protein (Nutrilon Pepti Gastro). Within a month, everything sorted itself out. Plus, until he was a year old, both my son and I stuck to a dairy-free diet.

Did you have a rash from the cow's milk protein intolerance? Or was it only revealed because of the regurgitation and gurgling?

Give colic drops, there are special baby teas. And choose the right feeding bottle. Chicco ones are good. Basically, they are all anti-colic, but I like the Wellbeing plastic ones. They are reasonably priced, and the baby doesn't swallow air but eats their food normally, formula, that is.

Oh, I'm knackered too, round the clock on the boob, tummy bloated... can't fart, can't poo either. Spits up loads.

Good evening, what medicine is that?

It does affect it, though colic isn't an illness. Everyone goes through this. Give Baby Calm drops, they're suitable from birth and natural

Plantex, helps brilliantly.

And how long can you take them for? It's just that colic might bother you for more than one day, right?

Baby Calm doesn't cause dependency, you can take it multiple times throughout the day and as much as needed

But we got a really bad rash from Baby Calm. It contains an allergen - anise

Hello, my little one is almost a month old, we've tried everything for colic, and I'll tell you the only thing that helped was Biogaia, but it needs to be either Turkish or Swedish! And it costs a pretty penny, of course! But it works