Baby Gas: How to Relieve It and When to Worry

Few sounds concern a new parent quite like a baby grunting, straining, and crying while the stomach seems to bubble. Parents often describe the baby as “full of gas” and understandably want to know how to get the gas out quickly.

Most baby gas is part of normal infancy. The challenge is deciding whether gas is truly causing discomfort—or whether a hungry, overtired, overstimulated, constipated, refluxing, or ill baby is crying and swallowing air along the way.

Why Are Newborns and Babies So Gassy?

Babies take in air whenever they feed, suck, fuss, or cry. Young babies are still learning how to coordinate sucking, swallowing, and breathing. Bottle flow that is too fast, a shallow breastfeeding latch, gulping when very hungry, or continued feeding while upset can increase swallowed air.

Gas also forms normally as bacteria in the intestines break down food. Because a young baby cannot change position independently or deliberately relax the abdominal muscles, ordinary intestinal sensations may look dramatic.

A newborn may turn red, grunt, pull up the legs, and then pass gas or a soft stool. If the stool is soft and the baby otherwise feeds and grows well, the effort does not automatically mean constipation or disease.

Common reasons a baby may seem gassy

• Swallowing air during breastfeeding or bottle-feeding
• Gulping because the baby is extremely hungry or the nipple flow is too fast
• Swallowing air during prolonged crying
• Taking more milk than the stomach comfortably holds
• Normal intestinal digestion and movement
• Air bubbles introduced when powdered formula is vigorously shaken immediately before feeding
• Normal developmental difficulty coordinating abdominal pressure and pelvic relaxation

How Can I Tell If My Baby Has Gas?

A baby who is passing gas may grunt, squirm, briefly pull the knees toward the belly, arch, burp, or become fussy around feeding. The abdomen may sound bubbly, and the baby may pass gas often.

Those behaviors are not specific to gas. Babies also pull up their legs, stiffen, and turn red when they are crying for other reasons. The most reassuring pattern is a baby who settles, feeds normally, produces the expected wet diapers, gains weight, and appears comfortable between brief episodes.

How to Relieve Baby Gas Safely

There is no single trick that works for every gassy baby. Use gentle techniques and judge success by the baby's comfort—not by whether every burp or fart happens immediately.

How to Reduce Swallowed Air During Bottle-Feeding

Hold the bottle so the nipple remains filled with milk rather than air. Make sure the nipple flow matches your baby's age and feeding ability. A flow that is too fast may cause gulping, coughing, leaking milk, or pulling away. A flow that is too slow may cause frustration and extra air swallowing.

If you use powdered formula, prepare it exactly as directed. Vigorous shaking creates bubbles; allowing freshly mixed formula to settle briefly may reduce visible foam. Never change the powder-to-water ratio to address gas.

Special bottles may help some families, but no bottle eliminates all gas. Technique and an appropriate flow usually matter more than marketing claims.

Can Breastfeeding Cause Baby Gas?

Breastfed babies can be gassy too. A shallow latch, forceful milk letdown, or repeatedly slipping off the breast may increase swallowed air. A lactation professional or pediatrician can observe a feeding if latch, coughing, choking, or poor weight gain is a concern.

Foods eaten by a breastfeeding parent do not automatically make the baby gassy. Avoid removing many nutritious foods based on gas alone. If there is a clear, repeated relationship between a specific food and significant symptoms—or if the baby has blood in the stool, persistent vomiting, eczema, feeding difficulty, or poor growth—discuss it with the pediatrician before starting an elimination diet.

Does My Gassy Baby Need a Different Formula?

Usually not for gas alone. Most healthy babies can use standard infant formula. Frequent switching may make it harder to understand the baby's real pattern.

A pediatrician may consider a formula change when gas occurs with other concerning findings, such as poor growth, repeated vomiting, significant diarrhea, blood in the stool, or suspected cow's-milk protein allergy. Read more in When Does a Baby Need Special Formula?

Do Infant Gas Drops Work?

Most infant gas drops contain simethicone. It stays in the digestive tract rather than being absorbed into the bloodstream, and it is generally considered low risk when an appropriate infant product is used correctly.

However, safety and effectiveness are different questions. Research has not consistently shown that simethicone improves infant colic or general fussiness. Some parents feel it helps their baby, while others see no difference.

Before giving any medication to a young infant, ask your pediatrician and verify the product ingredients and dosing device. Combination products may contain additional ingredients and should not be assumed equivalent to plain simethicone.

What About Gripe Water, Probiotics, and Herbal Remedies?

Gripe-water ingredients vary by brand, and strong evidence that it reliably relieves infant gas or colic is lacking. “Natural” does not automatically mean proven or appropriate for every newborn.

Evidence for probiotics depends on the specific strain, the baby's feeding method, and the condition being treated. Do not assume every probiotic product has the same effect. Discuss gripe water, probiotics, herbal products, or supplements with your pediatrician before giving them to a young baby.

Is It Gas, Colic, Reflux, or Constipation?

Gas

Gas tends to cause brief episodes of squirming, grunting, burping, or passing gas. The baby is usually well between episodes.

Colic

Colic describes recurrent, prolonged crying in an otherwise healthy infant. Gas may accompany the crying without being its primary cause. See Colic in a Newborn: Why Your Baby Cries and What Parents Can Do.

Reflux

Spit-up is common in young babies. Reflux deserves evaluation when it is associated with pain, feeding refusal, poor growth, blood, green vomit, or repeated forceful vomiting. See Why Does My Newborn Spit Up So Much?

Constipation

Constipation is defined more by hard, difficult-to-pass stools than by grunting or the number of days between stools. A baby who strains and then passes a soft stool is not necessarily constipated.

When Does Baby Gas Get Better?

Gas and fussiness are often most noticeable during the early months, when feeding coordination and digestion are still maturing. Many families notice gradual improvement as the baby becomes more efficient at feeding, develops better head and trunk control, and spends more awake time moving.

There is no exact age when every baby's gas stops. A pattern that becomes progressively worse, interferes with feeding or growth, or appears with other symptoms should be evaluated rather than attributed indefinitely to normal gas.

Frequently Asked Questions About Baby Gas