wind!

[Tewy]

Has anyone got any tips for wind. My three week old baby who was an angel for the first two weeks has suddenly developed a wind problem. He is breastfed but still takes forever to get any wind up and often doesn't manage it at all. Then several hours later is groaning in pain and subsequently farting like an old bloke. I've tried Infacol with no success. Any other ideas anyone?

[susanmt]

Cool boiled water off a spoon in the middle of the feed!!!! My Mum suggested it for my ds as it worked for me more than 30 yrs ago and it works like a dream. 2-3 teaspoonsfuls between breasts. I have no idea why this works, it just does!!

[Tillysmummy]

Also health shops do great natural drops called Windypops. These were quite good for my dd

[Pupuce]

I'd pay 1 visit to a cranial osteopath (1 visit is enough) but you need to find one which specilises in babies.

[Art]

Tewy,- I can sympathise as ds was exactly the same. We never slept as he would spend hours at a time, writhing, farting, groaning etc. He even did it in his sleep. I used to get really upset as he looked so uncomfortable.

Unfortunately we never found a cure. Looking back I think it was a combination of me feeding him too often (every time he cried) and his inability to burp.

Holding him lying along your forearm his head by your elbow, face down and tummy in the cup of your hand (if you can picture it) sometimes helps. You can gently massage his tummy at the same time. I think this position is called tiger in the tree.

Dont worry, as his digestive system matures he will grow out of it.

[JJ]

Baby massage worked for my son, also. Along with the clockwise circles that Rozzy mentioned, we used the following strokes: a paddle motion with one hand following the other from the ribcage to below the navel (when you get going it looks you're doing the "Wheels on the Bus" motion slowly) and the "I Love You" motion, make an "I" from the ribcage to below the navel, then make an upside down "L" (or a number 7, from left to right) then an upside down "U". We found that firm pressure worked best. We didn't smoosh him of course, but it wasn't light.

It also helped to raise his knees to his chest while he was on his back and wave his bottom around in the air. And we had a little chant that went :
"Get those farties out" (this was done while extending one leg and pushing the other knee towards his chest and alternating with each word)
"Get those farties out, yeah" (this was a clockwise roll that started with legs extended then knees rolled up to chest and back down again)
Even simply raising my youngest son's feet in the air while he was on his back, lifting his bottom up a bit and waving it around helped him.

Good luck!

[Kia]

Sorry but having seen this thread I'm going to have to have a bet on that horse called blowing wind or something in the National tommorrow!

[susanmt]

lol kia
Think I'll do it too!!

[Queenie]

Infacol worked for us but read somewhere about a little bit of sugar in boiled water doing the trick - a bit like susanmt suggested - but from a bottle, just a couple of sips apparently does the trick. Come to think of it should try it on DH.

[wmf]

sugar in boiled water acts as a painkiller for very young babies. we were probably all given some by our mums, but when i told my health visitor that i used it she was utterly horrified! VERY old fashioned, apparently!

you do have to be careful not to over-use it, because the baby will love the taste, of course, and want more than he ought to have.

tewy, have a look at what you're eating, especially if your diet changed at all recently. all the usual allergy culprits can apparently cause a breastfed baby discomfort, as can chocolate, curry and oranges. they didn't affect my ds but friends found that their diet affected their babies.

what i found very effective was to drink fennel tea regularly myself, and to give ds a teaspoonful or so every day. in the evening i'd sterilise a bottle and leave a teabag (Dr Stuart's Botanical Wild Fennel) to steep overnight, then the following morning ds would get his dose and i would drink the rest. it worked very well.

also try burping him mid-feed (if the interuption doesn't upset him too much) and between feeds.

while you're burping him you could try this: sit him on your lap, support his head, and gently tilt him right the way over on to his left side, back up and right the way over on to his right side.

i never laid ds down on his back immediately after a feed. i either held him uprightish or put him down on his tummy.

i had a VERY windy boy!

good luck

[Tetley]

I read somewhere that if you're breastfeeding to drink Actimel (or another of these pro-biotic drinks) as something passes into the breastmilk that helps to ease colic & wind.

[Tewy]

Thanks everyone. I've tried the cooled boiled water and the massage which both I think worked to some degree. Yesterday we had an appointment with a cranial osteopath and I really think this has helped hugely. Dylan slept for 4 hours solidly following the treatment and was much better during the evening which had previously been the worst time for wind. So far so good, but I know not to count my chicks just yet.