Third child, almost 4 weeks old. Is it wind? So tired I cannot think it through myself.

[ValiumQueen]

Successfully fed first two children for a long time. Feel fairly confident about the feeding itself, but DS seems to suffer with dreadful trapped wind the last few days. I do not think it is colic, and he is no longer doing the frantic cluster feeding early evening into the small hours. He is however not settling after having a good feed. It is worse at night, but is sometimes like this in the day too.

I have plenty of milk, and he is chubbing up nicely. I am feeding at the breast exclusively. He will feed, sometimes burp, sometimes not, and can be put down in the cot asleep or awake. He will put his little arms up in a 'I surrender' position, and looks like he will settle. The last few nights either within moments or up to ten minutes later, he will start making the 'eh' noise, lifting his little legs, and gradually building up to crying heartily. I have tried every way I can think of to burp him. Sometimes successful, sometimes spits up a bit or gets hiccups. Often wants food again, and so the cycle continues.

Last night was awful. I gave up and took him to bed at 2am. Within moments of being on my boob, lying on his left side, he was asleep. I took him through to his cot, and left him on his side, and he slept for 2.5 hours. At 5.30am I did the same, and he slept again pretty quickly.

Is it wind? Does lying on their side ease it? Does the fact that he settles so easily with me suggest it is not wind? I have bought some gripe water today but do not want to use it unless I have to.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated as I am not sure how much longer I can cope without at least a bit of sleep. I think if he were not in discomfort he would sleep pretty well.

[HeyMicky]

Have you considered silent reflux (stomach acid gets to throat and burns the oesophagus). The hiccups, grunting, 'eh' noise to clear the throat all are symptoms. Also wanting more food - could be sucking to help reduce the acid, not because he's hungry. And unlike normal reflux, these babies tend to gain as they're not throwing it all their food up again.

Lying on his side will help, as will raising the head of the cot, and a dummy to create saliva and help neutralise the acid

[ValiumQueen]

micky not considered that tbh. I will have a little look at that. He has the snuffles, and can be a bit phlegm filled too. I will try a dummy as he has yet to find his fingers. He has been sucking on his knuckle more recently now I think about it. I will raise the head of the cot too. Thank you.

Is it safe to lay him on his side? He sleeps in a gro bag, and I have a movement monitor, he has good head control considering his age, and is in washable nappies so it is quite hard for him to be rolled over by me, let alone by himself. The washable nappy probably means his tum is a bit high when lying down too, as it is well padded. I am feeding him smaller amounts and winding him inbetween, then offering more today, plus feeding him more in a sitting position. He has had a good day, so hopefully these things will add up to a happier boy.

[PrinceRogersNelson]

Maybe take him to a cranial osteopath? My DD had 'colic' it was only at night and cranial osteopathy helped a lot.

If your DS is like this at all times and not just night it may well be reflux.

[SamSmalaidh]

Maybe he just wants to sleep with you?

[ValiumQueen]

PRN I will consider that, thank you. He was born by section so could be lack of moulding?

sam perhaps, but my husband and I are terrified of squishing him. We did co sleep for the first three weeks, even in hospital as he would not settle anywhere except on me. I was not sleeping well though, and one night I woke up to find him face down and thought he was dead. He had two good nights in his cot before the wind started. It is only the last few nights it has been worse.

He is feeding well at the moment. Relaxed, not fussing, steady gulps. I burped him and got two big fat burps. With the second he cried badly like he was in pain, and immediately went back to feeding. I have never known him arch his back when feeding, but does when winding sometimes. It is his legs that come up. He does a lot of O shaped mouths. He sounds like a Geiger counter sometimes. He sometimes gags on boob, sometimes fusses, has lots of farts and explosive poos. He will often sleep on our soft ikea changing table -it is like a fabric hammock. Sometimes he likes his bouncy chair, sometimes it seems to hurt. He possess sometimes. Fore milk, or cottage cheese. No clear pattern.

[Chunkychicken]

Is the clicking noise when he's on the boob?

If so, it suggests an incomplete latch, which could result in too much air being swallowed, hence the wind etc.

Such latch problems and the other symptoms you describe are also related to tongue tie. Has he been checked?

[ValiumQueen]

No clicking on the boob at all. On the odd occasion when he does click, I release and reposition. I am confident it is not tongue tie as he has the longest tongue I have ever seen on a kid. My dad has a tongue tie and was breast fed 79 years ago. He is a triplet. (Waves to chunky and wishes you a good night)

Well, DS would not settle in cot so I brought him into bed. Three hours straight and he has slept well today. Perhaps it is just him wanting to be near me?

[ValiumQueen]

After a feed he slept until 6am, so from 9.30 to 6 with one waking. Fluke? Or is it that he wants to be with me? Feeling a bit better today.

[Chunkychicken]

That's good vq. It's so hard to know what to do isn't it? It does sound like my DD though, she used to get bad wind & had reflux, unusually for ebf baby. It took her a while to learn to sleep by herself/laying down.