The most effective ways to relieve a gassy newborn are simple physical techniques you can do at home right now, like bicycle legs and tummy time, combined with better feeding practices that reduce how much air your baby swallows in the first place. Gas drops containing simethicone are the most commonly recommended over-the-counter option, and they’re generally safe from birth. But most newborn gas resolves on its own as your baby’s digestive system matures over the first few months of life.
Physical Techniques That Work Immediately
Before reaching for any product, try hands-on relief. These techniques help trapped gas bubbles move through your baby’s immature digestive tract and are recommended by pediatric gastroenterologists as a first step.
Bicycle legs: Lay your baby on their back and gently move their legs in slow circular motions, as if they’re pedaling a bicycle. This compresses the abdomen rhythmically and helps gas pass. You can also bend both knees and gently press them toward the belly, hold for a few seconds, then release.
Tummy time: Gentle pressure on the belly helps push gas out. Supervised tummy time on a firm surface works, or you can lay your baby stomach-down across your forearm (the “football hold”) with their head near your elbow. The pressure from your arm against their belly often brings quick relief.
Belly massage: Using two or three fingertips, massage your baby’s belly in slow clockwise circles. This follows the natural direction of the intestines and encourages gas to move toward the exit. You can do this during diaper changes or any time your baby seems uncomfortable.
Warm bath: A warm (not hot) bath relaxes the abdominal muscles and can help gas release. This also tends to calm a fussy baby, making it easier to tell whether the crying was truly from gas or from general overstimulation.
Simethicone Gas Drops
Simethicone is the active ingredient in products like Mylicon and Little Remedies gas drops. It works by breaking large gas bubbles in the stomach into smaller ones, which are easier for your baby to pass. It isn’t absorbed into the bloodstream, so it stays in the digestive tract and passes through.
In clinical testing, simethicone drops given with each feeding improved or completely resolved gas and colic symptoms in 78% of infants after just one day, and in 86% after a week. The typical dose is 0.3 ml given with each feeding. These drops can be mixed into a bottle or placed directly on the tongue. They’re available without a prescription and considered safe for newborns, though it’s worth checking with your pediatrician before starting any supplement.
Probiotics for Breastfed Babies
A specific probiotic strain called Lactobacillus reuteri DSM17938 has strong evidence behind it for reducing gas and colic in breastfed newborns. A meta-analysis of four clinical trials involving 345 infants found that babies given this probiotic cried and fussed about 25 fewer minutes per day than those given a placebo. Probiotic-treated babies were nearly twice as likely to show significant improvement.
The catch: these benefits were dramatic in breastfed infants but insignificant in formula-fed babies. Researchers aren’t entirely sure why, but it likely relates to differences in gut bacteria between breastfed and formula-fed infants. If you’re breastfeeding and your baby has persistent gas, L. reuteri drops are worth discussing with your pediatrician. They’re sold as infant probiotic drops at most pharmacies.
Why Gripe Water Deserves Caution
Gripe water is one of the most popular gas remedies parents reach for, but it has a complicated safety profile. The original formula, developed in the 1840s, contained dill seed oil, sodium bicarbonate, and alcohol. Some historical formulations contained up to 9% alcohol.
Modern versions are typically alcohol-free, but many still contain sodium bicarbonate, which has no real role in treating infant gas since excess stomach acid isn’t the problem. Given continuously or in large amounts, sodium bicarbonate can disrupt your baby’s blood chemistry. Many gripe waters also have high sugar content, which may soothe the baby temporarily (infants respond to sweet taste) but can damage emerging teeth later. If you choose to try gripe water, look for versions free of alcohol, sodium bicarbonate, and added sugar, and treat it as an occasional option rather than a routine one.
Feeding Adjustments That Reduce Gas
Much of newborn gas comes from swallowed air during feeding. Changing how you feed can make a bigger difference than any product you give after the fact.
Burp frequently: Don’t wait until the end of a feeding. Burp your baby after every 1 to 2 ounces from a bottle, or when switching breasts during nursing. This prevents large air pockets from building up in the stomach.
Try paced bottle feeding: If your baby is bottle-fed, hold them in a more upright position and keep the bottle nearly horizontal so milk barely fills the nipple. Let your baby control the pace rather than letting gravity flood milk into their mouth. Research shows paced feeding slows the feeding rate and extends the meal duration without reducing how much milk the baby takes in. Slower feeding means less frantic gulping and less air swallowed.
Check the latch: For breastfed babies, a shallow latch allows air to sneak in around the nipple. You should hear swallowing sounds, not clicking or smacking. If latching is consistently difficult, a lactation consultant can help identify the issue.
Consider anti-colic bottles: These bottles use internal venting systems that channel air away from the milk so your baby swallows liquid instead of air bubbles. They won’t eliminate gas entirely, but they can meaningfully reduce how much air gets into your baby’s stomach during feeds.
Does Your Diet Affect Your Baby’s Gas?
If you’re breastfeeding, you’ve probably heard that broccoli, beans, garlic, spicy foods, or caffeine in your diet cause gas in your baby. This belief is widespread, but the science doesn’t support it. A qualitative study published in Canadian Family Physician found that breastfeeding mothers commonly eliminated cruciferous vegetables, garlic, onions, spicy foods, gluten, and beans from their diets, convinced these foods were causing their baby’s discomfort.
However, with the exception of cow’s milk protein in cases where the infant has an actual allergy, there is little evidence that any maternal dietary change reduces infant gas or colic. The fiber in broccoli, for example, is fermented in your gut, not your baby’s. The gases produced in your intestines don’t transfer through breast milk. Restricting your diet unnecessarily can affect your own nutrition and make breastfeeding harder to sustain. Unless your pediatrician suspects a specific food allergy, there’s no reason to overhaul what you eat.
When Gas Signals Something Else
Normal newborn gas involves fussiness, a hard or bloated-feeling belly, squirming, and passing gas frequently. It tends to be worst in the late afternoon and evening and generally improves by 3 to 4 months as the digestive system matures. A newborn’s gut doesn’t develop fully coordinated movement patterns until around 37 weeks of gestational age, which means even full-term babies are still fine-tuning their digestion in those early weeks.
Gas that comes with additional symptoms may point to cow’s milk protein allergy (CMPA), which affects some infants exposed to dairy through formula or breast milk. The key difference: normal gas only causes digestive discomfort like bloating and fussiness. CMPA involves symptoms beyond the gut, including skin reactions like eczema or hives, vomiting, diarrhea (sometimes with blood or mucus in the stool), and occasionally respiratory symptoms like wheezing or chronic congestion. If your baby has persistent gas along with any skin rash, bloody stools, or breathing changes, that pattern warrants a pediatrician visit rather than more gas drops.