Help- Gas / Cramps killing all of our sleep! Anyone else who's had this problem?

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Can any of you relate to this..... ds is 7 wo and especially in the last week has really been squirming and writhing in pain with gas cramps... to the point that i can barely get him to sleep at all for his naps. i have been patting and shushing my heart out for almost 2 weeks now. it definitely works on "normal" naps and sleep moments, but when he's fighting pain in his little body it does not work and feels cruel to do 
at moments when he's hysterical in his crib i feel like picking him up to ease the pain of his cramps (not to mention feeling like crying myself, which i have done on several occasions this week - what a way to feel like a bad mom, crying in the face of your baby  ) but don't know whether a short nap in my arms helps either of us at this point.

our routine, which was going great for a couple weeks there, is now all over the place. dh and i are trying to take 3 hour shifts throughout the night but during the day it's just me, i am a wreck and have barely slept in 3 days. so i am wondering how to proceed with sleep times. do i keep patting and shushing him through the cramps? or pick him up to pacify him (which makes putting him back down a nightmare)?

for his gas i'm trying different things, just started an elimination diet, went to doc to look at latch-on, trying drops, etc. just praying this is a phase that ends quickly as some days i don't feel like i can cope anymore!!!
anyone who's been through this or has suggestions about getting the lo to sleep please let me know
thanks,
jess x

[prestonsmom]

Can't help you with diagnosing the problem, but I can offer suggestions for what to do once he has it.  You can gently massage his tummy in small circles starting at his right waistline up around his belly button to his left waistline.  You can also put him with his arms over your shoulder and his tummy just about at shoulder level and gently massage his left side in circular motions from the waist up to his ribs.  Sometimes just holding him out from you and gently bouncing him up and down a couple of times will do the trick- that keeps his legs straight instead of up in the fetal like he wants them to be.  Finally, I found a product called "Gripe Water for Colic" made by Wellements that is homeopathic and also for gas pains.  It's perfectly safe for infants and works great to relieve the gas pains.  You can find it at most nutrition stores.  It's been a lifesaver for me not only when my ds gets gas, but also when he's really cranky... Good luck!

[OliverRowland]

First I am certainly not an expert, but we had a rough time with gas my ds' first 3-4months.  We spent alot of time working to get it out of him:
-bicycles with his legs and knee to chest pumps
-belly massages
-over the shoulder to burp
-lie him prone on my lap so one of my legs hits his tummy and legs hanging over the side, then place my hand on his lower back , with gentle pressure make circle with hand so he's getting some pressure on his belly.  This worked like a charm for us and we often got some fabulous toots out this way!

I too changed my diet.  I just never found out what exactly triggered the gas (i cut out all gassy foods, caffeine, chocolate, cut back on milk products) or if it was even anything I ate.  I think for our ds it was also that I had ALOT of milk and a fast let down, so he was struggling with that.
It was a rough time and I sympathize...hang in there as it gets better once lo's intestinal tract develops.
Hope that helps a bit?!

[waffler]

PPs have great suggestions. And your priority now is to ease the pain - don't worry about sleep at this stage. Your LO is in pain and needs it fixed - once that is fixed, you can concentrate on patshush or whatever you need to do to get him to sleep.

I found that the bicycle legs ( bend knees towards chest) REALLY helped. And when you massage tummy always go clockwise.

Your diet (I assume you are breastfeeding?) - big culprits for me were onions and garlic. I seriously cut out that from my diet. Vegs like broccoli and cauliflower are bad too. Milk products too.

Good luck, and remember, your LO needs you to help ease the pain...

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Thanks a lot to you both... in the past few days it's gotten a little bit better - last night I slept 5 hours!!! .  Was having a mini-breakdown last week but learned that deep breaths and demanding that dh come home a little early from work here and there helps!!!!!!

I have fast letdown too and i think indeed he's struggling with too much milk and getting lots of air. We're trying some of the tricks you described and they seem to help a little. One thing we're thinking is that it might actually be reflux. I looked at some of the other posts and he has so many of the symptoms. Could be that rather than gas (or perhaps both) We elevated his bed and stopped patting him when burping him and that seems to help too. Went to the doc last week but just got the response "all babies have that." Not very helpful...

Thanks for the help and encouragement

[waffler]

My LO had reflux and gas.... killer combinations!

Does your LOs tummy look like it's belly button is popping out? If it is, then it's definitely gas. A lot of babies get gas.

Reflux - Mira's reflux wasn't sever, it was silent, no spitting up. If your LO is crying everytime he's laid down (or most of the time) then yep, could be reflux. Meds can help with that.

Btw, I'm a big believer in cranial osteopathy for babies. Mira saw one at 6 wks and helped with her reflux, gas, and now, goes for a checkup every 2-3 months. It's fab.

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Hmm... I'll have to check the belly button thing and see. (he's sleeping now  )

I live in the netherlands where we have socialized medicine. Docs are very reluctant to prescribe and although we asked for reflux meds and he cottage cheese/projectile vomited right in front of the pediatrician (!) we were not given a prescription and told to wait it out. I am going to wait a few days and if I don't see more improvement then Luke and me will both be in that office screaming next week!

One question though regarding sleep - did you use shush/pat with Mira? I've now read to not pat reflux babies as it irritates them so I'm wondering if you did any variations on the technique?

[jess, lukeys_mom]

one more thing - i don't know about cranial osteopathy, what is it?

[waffler]

Oh... that's such a shame that the docs won't prescribe meds for reflux to ease the pain. It takes months for the sphincter to mature.... it's not fair for your LO to go thru all that pain I'm all for minimising the medications needed to be taken by a baby... but if it helps with the pain.... I'd suggest you do some study on reflux and arm yourself with lots of info so when you go in you can argue your case. We used zantac with Mira.

Patshush - well.. we TRIED! She was such a hard baby to get to sleep, the reflux didn't help at all. The patting on the back (like in trying to burp a baby) brings up the acid, hence it's very uncomfortable. The patshush method I suppose can be adapted so you are gently patting the bottom? Or side of the baby.

If you aren't using meds then you certainly want to try to elevate the bed. I don't know how severe it is, but some even go up to 45 degrees (then you have to invent ways of ensuring your LO doesn't slip down the bed of course...)

Cranial Osteopathy : Osteopathy is a system of diagnosis and treatment which works with the structure and function of the body.
The maintenance of good mechanical function is essential to good health. Problems in the framework of the body can disturb the circulatory system or nerves to any part of the body, and affect any aspect of health.
Osteopaths work to restore the structure and function of the body to a state of balance and harmony, so helping the whole person. ( I got that from this website http://www.cranial.org.uk/  )

Cranial osteopathy is where the practitioner touches the baby head and feels the cranial flow (again, see that website). The idea is, during birth, in order to fit down the birth canal, the bones of the skull overlap. And open up during the ride down that canal. But, some babies, it doesn't "fit" properly into place. And this causes nerves to sometimes ... well, just not fit right. And these nerves affect the body. So in reflux, the nerve that affects the sphincter that closes up the diaphragm doesn't close properly, so the acid comes back up again. CO helps to "speed" up the maturity.

Also, my CO just checks Mira for strains in her nerves every now and then. She checks her joints, and for instance, if Mira had a fall and hit her head or twisted her hip, the CO would "correct" it. You know how some of us as adults, just have problems with various things like sleeping, headaches etc - well, Osteopathy can sometimes help.

I'm no expert - so read the website