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Behaviour/development

A year of 'colicky' hell, where do we begin????

22 replies

pevie · 31/05/2008 21:49

No-one on sleep thread tonight so trying here for help.We have had an incredibly tough year of very little sleep. It gets a tiny bit better and then goes back to being hellish again!!!! DD2 is an incredibly windy baby and always has been. They think reflux and she has been medicated for this. A lot of the symptoms have abated but she still gets horrendous wind that seems to wake her up. We are caught up in a vicious circle, cos when she wakes uncomfortable - pulling up legs, belly gurgling, etc. the only thing that seems to settle her is to feed her (she is still bf at night) but then she drops off and gets really bad wind again!!!! She is rocked to sleep at bedtime and I know we have to tackle this first probably but dont know best way to go. Also how do we cut out night feeding when she still seems uncomfortable at times. Anyone else had experience of such a windy baby and how did you tackle it!!!!!! Also any idea why she gets such a gurgly tummy some nights and other nights isnt too bad. At moment she is up a few times late evening middle of night and then we get no real sleep from about 4 cos she is so windy!!!! HELP please.

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megandtyler · 31/05/2008 22:02

pevie
i really feel for you
i have no advice as anything i suggest you probably already do.
my thoughts are with you
have some wine and a cream cake possibly some crisps and then perhaps a lager !

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pevie · 31/05/2008 22:10

I have plenty of cream cakes and crisps to make myself feel better most nights!!!! Will be obese by time get a good nights sleep, although am still walking it off half the night and bf helps a little. Every cloud and all that????

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megandtyler · 31/05/2008 22:16

do you let her sleep on her tummy at all? I know you shouldn't i find that this really calms ds down (only five weeks don't tell the hv)

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mummyplonk · 31/05/2008 22:18

oh poor you, DS had nasy colic & reflux for the first six months of his life, the "s"'s really worked for me & him. Quite hard swinging side to side, smacking on his nappy (in a loving rymthimic way) got lots of botty burps , sssh'ing and swaddling tight really helped them get to sleep. Hope it helps.x

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megandtyler · 31/05/2008 22:21

ooh swaddling yes that's a really good one .
also if they fall asleep when swaddled it's easier to put them down.hurrah

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BlueDragonfly · 31/05/2008 22:25

have you tried keeping a food diary? maybe something you are eating is causing discomfort thru your milk?

just a thought...

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pevie · 01/06/2008 06:40

Thanks for your advice. Too old for swaddling now as nearly 13 months!!!! Did keep food diary before. She is only really bf at night now but could still be something I guess. There are so many possibilities that I found it impossible. Thought dairy made it worse for a bit so stayed off this, shes now on soya and Im back on dairy!!! Wonderedl if trying to give bottle in night might help as that would eliminate anything I'm having. I have diet coke once a day, purely for caffeine to get me through the day as dont take tea and coffee and wondered about that, but as its only at lunch time and she only gets fed during night wondered if it would be making any difference!!!!! Am interested mummyplonk in how you got wind up as we have never really been able to find a way in the night!!!! Did patting him on the bottom bring wind up? Hear about lots of people who suffered this for first 6 months or so, is a year some kind of record??? Cant find anything about it for this long, except for reflux babies but medication for this doesnt help. Have sleep lady coming next week but dont see what she can do when wind is still so hellish!!!!!! AAAAAAAARGGGGHHHHHHH! Am so frustrated.BTW, have done whole osteopath, chiropractor thing. No joy!!!

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girrafey · 01/06/2008 07:40

hi. i know exactly what you are going through. i started thread yesterday in the childminders section as was hoping for someone to come help a few nights.

my ds is 7 months and i get 3-4 hours sleep a night and i am pregnant. throw in a active 3 year old and iron levels down to 8.9 and i am bearly functioning!!!!!

my ds, has severe silent reflux. we find that the meds to help this is what makes the wind worse. is your dd on meds for her reflux? how is she on solids? we are just introducing them and it is so much worse.

he is winded so much with bottles and with solids!!! yet spends all day wriggling round in our arms farting etc.

i cant give any advice i am afraid, i was just really pleased to know i wasnt the only one. if you tell people thst you are up all night with wind and then how old he is you get looked at like you are a bad mum!!!

hope you find a tip that helps. and if you do please let me know!!!!

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pevie · 01/06/2008 08:06

Amyjo22, we were at same place as you about 6 months ago, getting only about 3-4 hours tops then got bit better. So will share benefit of our experience about what we think makes it worse or better although as you can see have not yet found a 'cure'. Our meds for reflux also made wind worse, particularly omeprazole which had her farting like nothing on earth and this is what is supposed to be best medicine for reflux. So we are back on ranitidine. Solids also made worse for about first 6 weeks, particularly baby rice, potatoes (we thought) She needed to be upright for good while after feeding, couldnt put in car, pram, etc. When she started crawling, wind got so much better during day and is not a problem in day at all now!!!!! Only night. What seems to make it worse at night is if she has eaten quite late, particularly bread. We need to give her her milk about an hour before bedtime so she has had chance to get all wind up. Massage helped us for a bit but shes not too keen now. Hope some of this helps you!!!!

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girrafey · 01/06/2008 08:18

thank you so much for that. omeprazole is one of the things he is on. i only said last week that i want to suggest going back to ranitidine as i am obviously slowly cutting out some feeds for solids. im lucky that he adores the solids though he is very very behind developmentally and still gags on milk some times, so we are on the smoothest of solids. he seems to have such a high gag reflex. not choking, can cope with that but gagging and throwing up everything.

do you mind if i ask if your dd was delayed developmetally? ds has to be held most of the day, so he has hardly any strength as he isnt getting to use his muscles. but he is happy and saying dada and babbling away so consultant etc said not to worry as it is just physical due to being held all the time. will catch up eventually. it is interesting feeding a baby who isnt that stable!!!

my dd was self feeding by 7 months and bum shuffling at 5. cruising at 8 and walking at 9 months. so i am enjoying having a "baby baby"!!

will start crawling around ( well get my dd to) and see if we can start getting a start on that. thank you so much for posting, have given me a glimmer of hope.

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foxinsocks · 01/06/2008 08:29

we had the same with dd (who is now 7 yrs old)

she turned out to have a milk/soya/egg allergy in addition to the reflux but that's by the by - it is definitely worth looking into this

I think our first proper night's sleep came when she was 15 months old. That's when her reflux really started getting much better. Once she was up and walking properly. I think it was then that her muscles firmed up.

have you tried altering what time of day you give the omeprazole? I find that had an impact.

Amy, is there any way you can do something with ds that doesn't involve him being held all the time? Only that I found dd started improving as her muscles improved iyswim (not that I'm criticising you because I do know what it is like! but I'm just wondering if there's something you can do with him that will help this)

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pevie · 01/06/2008 08:31

My DD did want to be held a lot and she is still a bit like this but developmentally she has always been fine. When she started sitting on her own at about 6 months this made her happier as she could then reach for and do things by herself. Have you tried one of those bumble chairs that lets them sit even when not secure. Also although i didnt have a ba`bywalker with DD1 found this helped DD2 as again it allowed her to be upright and let me put her down occasionally. Now she is crawling she only wants up when tired really although still fairly clingy. I think she will be longer walking than DD1 as she doesnt seem to have much strength in legs, although fairly low weight and height for age.

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pevie · 01/06/2008 08:31

My DD did want to be held a lot and she is still a bit like this but developmentally she has always been fine. When she started sitting on her own at about 6 months this made her happier as she could then reach for and do things by herself. Have you tried one of those bumble chairs that lets them sit even when not secure. Also although i didnt have a ba`bywalker with DD1 found this helped DD2 as again it allowed her to be upright and let me put her down occasionally. Now she is crawling she only wants up when tired really although still fairly clingy. I think she will be longer walking than DD1 as she doesnt seem to have much strength in legs, although fairly low weight and height for age.

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foxinsocks · 01/06/2008 08:34

is she unhappy during the day too pevie or is it only at night?

(also, those reflux meds make you thirsty)

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LolaLadybird · 01/06/2008 13:37

Like Meg said, maybe sleeping on front would help? DS was v colicky in the first couple of months and that was the only way he would sleep for more than an hour or two at a time. We really wrestled with the idea before doing it (SIDS risk etc) but desperation drove us to it in the end. Great for passing wind out the other end - the minute we put him down, he'd start letting out big bottom burps (music to our ears)! Similar sort of position to crawling which helps your DD, Pevie, IYSWIM.

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pevie · 01/06/2008 15:34

Only unhappy at night now so obviously getting out wind. She sleeps on her stomach, helped a lot at first but doesnt seem to help so much now. She seems to be getting better then something will set her back, eg. sickness bug, also had a knock to her head at one point but all checked out and fine!!!!!! Just not sure why she goes to bed so windy sometimes and ok other times, guess must be something she eats but no obvious thing!!!

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AbricotsSecs · 01/06/2008 15:40

This reply has been deleted

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parachutes · 01/06/2008 15:57

Pevie, firstly I really feel for you, we had a hellish first 7-8mths also.
The only thing that worked for us, with both colic and reflux, was taking ds to a cranial osteopath. My friend recently had a similar situation and it worked for her also.

If you feel you would try this you can find a qualified cranial osteopath here:
There's usually pretty good if you just call them for a chat to discuss whether you/they feel they can help.
I can't recommend it highly enough, it really does help.

good luck

xx

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looshkin · 01/06/2008 17:16

Much sympathy here as well we found the way to get the wind up for ds when he was under 6 months was to sit him upright on our knee sort of held under armpits then pretend his bottom is the point of an upturned cone and move his upper body round in a circle a bit like hoola hooping and this seem to get the most satifactory burps and farts - \i think it helps all the smaller bubbles of air trapped to form bigger ones which can then be 'released'. This may not be as easy for a bigger baby but hope it helps.

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becaroo · 01/06/2008 17:25

The only way I could get my ds's wind up was by holding him up in a standing position for about 2 mins after each feed.....people didnt believe me til they saw it for themselves....dont know why it worked but it did.

You have my sympathies...its awful.

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basset1 · 09/06/2008 13:56

calling all reflux mums - sorry if you know this but was your omeprozole given to your babes in a bicarbonate of soda mix - it was the only thing ever to get DD3 to burp. Nothing else worked. She was born screaming and did not stop for 6 weeks - really - until this and neocate were given. ANd it all worked perfectly. In fact the day i gave her them she slept for almost 9 hours - i had to force her awake - i was worried. Meanwhile she spend 6 months perfectly content but the last 7 months a wreck again. so now i need help with the most overdemanding, whinging, headbanging 14 month old who is driving us all mad....

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desperatehousewifetoo · 09/06/2008 15:44

Amyjo22, have you had any advice on how to position your lo for feeding? If she is in a position that supports her hips, trunk, shoulders and head this will probably help with the gagging, etc.

I'm an slt (no longer working) and specialised in feeding difficulties. If you continue to have difficulties perhaps consider a referral to salt. Or a physio may help if you have one?

Pevie, I agree with a previous poster who suggested food allergies. A food diary might help decide. It's not like you haven't got enough to do!

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