Helping Your Formula Fed Baby Avoid Gas

Many parents add the formula to their baby's bottle, shake, and serve. The practice of shaking the bottle to mix the water and powdered formula can result in excess air, thus gas issues for your little bundle of joy.

When one shakes a bottle of liquid, it incorporates air into the contents. While shaking a bottle is much easier, you'll hopefully find a marked difference in your baby's comfort if you begin stirring each bottle to mix its contents.

Another common mistake parents make, is adding the formula to the bottle before adding the water. This is incorrect because the powdered formula adds to the volume of water, thus resulting in an incorrect ratio. The ratio of water to formula is extremely important. You must follow the directions and ratios on the can of formula exactly. Not doing so can result in harm for your infant. For instance, never try to stretch your pennies by adding less formula to water. Your child needs calories and nutrients to grow. You can unwittingly starve your child and do permanent brain damage if you don't add enough formula to his or her bottle. Adding too much formula can also result in gastric distress such as constipation.

If stirring your formula doesn't help with the gas, keep stirring and consult your pediatrician for further advice.