Wind and griping pain

[Eden's Mum]

no idea whether to post this in breast feeding or sleep boards, but here goes!

DS2 was really struggling to go down and to have reliable naps and so on, and i must admit i assumed it was to do with him being so young. we ahven't got a full routine established yet but he is only 5 weeks old. we were ifnding at night we would ut him down at 7pm tired, somtimes already asleep and unrousable after a feed, but he would wake or not settle and scream. we would go and finish the feed check his nappy, wind him, check he wasn't hot or cold and so on, and in the end we had to leave him to cry. He could cry for two hours on and off before eventually settling and getting him to nap in his room was impossible, i was finding he would fall asleep anywhere but.

however on a really horrible screamy day ( him and me  :oops: ) last sunday something possessed me to flip him over onto his tummy as he lay on his back on his play mat screaming and like magic he instantly shut his eyes and went to sleep. not ony that he stayed asleep for 2 hours.  :shock:

since then we have been putting him to sleep on his tummy everytime and with the one exception of last night, he has put himslef to sleep in mintues with no help and has stayed asleep really well. this includes naps and night time.

I mentioned this to SIL who said her midwife had told her this is a sign of pain like wind or colic. they like to lie on their tummies to releive the discomfort. On reflection i realise that he spends alot of his awake time struggling and straining and goes quite red in teh face. he doesn't bring his knees up to his tummy excpet when he is lying on  his tummy in his cot. so i bought some gripe water, i don't know if it is making any differnce or not.

Last night though i put him down after a feed nd hadn't given him the gripe water, he woke 45 minutes later screaming like we have never heard before. i had gone out, so DS tried winding him, which didn't hlep, gave him a few ounces of expressed milk, which didn't hlep, trie dthe gripewater, then more feed then more girpe water and eventually he settled nd slept like a log.


Has anyone else experienced wind, or griping pain for their baby and what did you do to help them? also what do you all think about allowing him to sleep on his tummy? we follow all the other sids advice like no loose covers etc, but i have to admit it is slightly niggly doing somthing that is so obviously against what is advised!

[evanskimberley]

DD had the griping pains and a couple of trips to a cranial osteopath sorted her out. It turned out it wasn't trappped wind that could be burped out that was casuing the problem so trying to wind her was a waste of time.

I would highly recommend a cranial osteopath for this, I know countless others that have ben helped by it too.

[Jill1000]

Ed is 11 weeks and until recently screamed his head off due to trapped wind.  He'then do an almighty trump and would be smiling 5 minutes late.

I started using a produce called Infacol (available from Boots) which helps with winding - now he brings up big burps after each feed which stops the wind being absorbed and having to travel though his intestine.

I also tried a cranial osteopath but I'm not sure if the improvement is from that or the Infacol!

[nikipowerssa]

God yes!  I was led to believe before having my dd that bf babies were less likely to have wind.  Not so for my little one!  I used to be winding her for up to 2hrs every feed on nights ( and she is not a long sleeper - every 2-3hrs was the usual hence not much sleep for me!).  I used Infracol but found it almost impossible to use for every feed so making it ineffective.  Then the little one discovered farts about 6 weeks old.  We can get up to 15 in one go sometimes! 
I checked everything to try to improve the wind situation - she was latching on correctly, not eating quickly ( calmly) and did not cry at night when feeding usually (unless the pain in her tummy was too much for her).  I just got used to the little sleep and began a fitness regime of walking up and down the stairs and doing leg squats when winding her to relieve th boredom and try to stop myself falling alseep - I even took to emptying the dishwasher at one point!  (Effective use of time and all....) 
At nearly 8 weeks it seems to be getting better but every night is different.  She does bring up good burps almost immediately now and farts like a trooper all night and sometimes all day ( I listen to her on the monitor pumping in her sleep with great amusement)  but she always seems to have a little bit left that we can never get out.  Cruelly, I decided, for my own sanity and hers ( she used to fall asleep with exhaustion on the marathon winding sessions) that when she had had a good burp and pump, I would put her back down and, unless she cried, did not attempt to get the 'little bit' that proved so elusive and lengthy out.  She makes a little noise then settles to sleep - and later the sound of ripping farts comes through the monitor!  None of my antenatal and other friends had this trouble with theirs and they all slept much longer than Izzy.  I just accepted that this was my lot and other things were going well ( she had taken to expressed bottle well, had no nappy rash, etc) and things would change in time when she got older.  Sleep I could always catch up on a t some point and, being a teacher before having her, I was well used to sleepless/ disturbed nights and found things didn't change that much for me!

[evanskimberley]

further to above post, I found dentenox to be bertter than infacol, I found you didn't have to use it with every feed like infacol, it would work as a one off.

Still recommend the osteopath though!

[Onewoman]

If you are B/f, have a look at your diet. There may be a few things that would be (almost!) painless to eliminate and could make all the difference. My lo had terrible problems with wind/colic until I stopped eating onions, garlic and dairy (a few other things too, but they are the worst offenders). Now she very rarely has wind, but of course as they get bigger they can get it up better too. I found infacol pretty good. I'm interested in the cranial osteopathy - would like to know more!

As for the tummy sleeping, you will have to use your own judgement. My lo also sleeps on her tummy but she is a bit older and can life her head well and roll over. I have worried about it too, but just make sure they don't have too many covers and remember that babies were always put on their tummies until a few years ago as they do settle easier. I was a tummy sleeper and I'm sure you were as well!