It is quite amusing when your baby breaks wind and you say to yourself ‘so you’re not left out in this farting business’ lols.

However, if your baby farts so loud and you think everyone would think you then you need to take a close look at your baby, there could be much more to these innocent farts. It is common for babies to be gassy in the first three months of life because their intestine is just maturing and in children of 6-12 months as when they are being introduced to complimentary meals.

If your baby is fussy with bloated and hard tummy, passing a lot of gas, burps often, crying a lot she could have a flatulence or gas pain and even colic/reflux.

Flatulence can occur under the following conditions

1. Swallowing air when feeding:  Breastfed babies experience less of this because they can control how the milk flows compared to formula fed babies who could have challenges with the teat of the feeding bottle.
2. The use of baby pacifier: pacifiers may help to stop your baby from crying but it encourages your baby to swallow air.
3. Allowing baby to cry a lot: Babies cry a lot to communicate their needs but when you allow your child cry for a long time she will take in lots of air through the mouth.
4. Lactose intolerance: Formula fed babies tend to be more at risk of developing milk protein allergy but breastfed babies can also develop an allergy to milk proteins from dairy product taken by the mother.

Intake of foods and drinks that tend to produce gas: Food such as beans and other high-fibre food, carbonated (fizzy) drinks can make your child gassy.

Here are some steps you can take to prevent your baby from having flatulence;

1. Hold your baby uprightly during feedings: Feeding your baby in an upright manner helps the milk travel easily into her tummy, or you can tilt the feeding bottle to a 30 to 40-degree angle so that any air in it can go to the bottom of the bottle.
2. Burp frequently: Burping your baby helps to expel any air that your baby may have swallowed. Burping should be done during and after feeding.
3. Examine the feeding bottle’s nipple: if you are bottle-feeding your baby, you need to check the hole on the nipple. It should be just right –not too small or big because if it small your baby will have to gulp for milk and if big, the milk will flow too fast.
4. Watch what you eat: what you eat is transferred to your baby through the breast milk. If you take, any food and you discover your baby has flatulence you have to eliminate it from your diet while you are still breastfeeding.

Ways to treat your baby’s flatulence;

• Massage your baby’s abdomen: you can do this by laying your baby on the back, bend the knees, legs and apply gentle pressure on the stomach.
• Baby’s leg exercise: move your baby’s legs in a cycling motion as she’s on her back
• Warm baths
• Use of gas relief drops
• Gripe water
• Burping

It is normal for a baby to experience flatulence but in few cases, it could be some of the tell-tale sign of a digestive problem if in addition to the flatulence sign your baby does not poop, has bloody stools, fussy, feverish, diarrhoea and vomiting.