Extremely gassy ebf 8 week old

[pinkoyster]

Currently ebfing 8 week old ds2. My problem is he is extremely gassy-appears to gulp the milk down, and can hear him swallowing air. He is very colicky in the evenings, and poos 4-5 times daily (explosive squirty since he was born so I know it's not diarrhoea). The world and his wife have checked latch, positioning, tongue tie etc etc.

My question is, will he get better at the boob? Will he always gulp it down like he hasn't fed in weeks? The only time he bfs 'properly' is when he's half asleep for his night feeds. Apart from that, he always seems to attack the breast. He is gassy both in terms of burping and passing wind. I am on a dairy-free, chocolate/garlic/onion/windy veg (and no fun) diet in the hope it will help him but to no avail. GP has said he is cow's milk protein intolerant and said I should start ff with aptamil pepti (DH is totally lactose intolerant). I'm refusing to do this as I believe he will get better, but does anyone have any experience of this? Will he get better?

[pinkoyster]

I forgot to add he is between the 75th and 91st centile for weight, and is healthy, is somewhat miserable during the day!

[pinkoyster]

*if

[ivanapoo]

My DS is identical except his colic isn't too bad but he really struggled with getting the wind and poos out. I did a dairy free diet for 2 weeks but it made no difference that I could tell. A visit to the cranial osteopath seemed to help him pass wind more easily and cry less. I'm still pursuing this, he's had two sessions so far and seems to have made good progress. Might be worth a try for you.

[tiktok]

pink, to switch your healthy, thriving baby to formula would be a drastic move indeed.

GP cannot tell he is CMPI without proper testing - what tests has he done?

Your diet sounds unnecessarily restrictive.

Has anyone suggested over-supply to you?

[pinkoyster]

Tiktok, I think by cutting out all the things I have there has been a slight improvement. And no, no one has mentioned oversupply. My GP said he'smostlikely to be CMPI as my first son was. She ran no tests which's why I remain unconvinced and have carried on bfing.

The thing I'm still worried about is tt. I can hear him swallowing air when he's bfing, and hear it gurgling away in his tummy. Could it be a sloppy latch?

[bellablot]

Hi pink, my baby was like this when she was first born up to 4 weeks until I started reading about it. Does your DS have foamy poos too? It's got something to do with fore milk and hind milk and how fore milk is lactose rich and this is what's causes the gas etc. apparently this happens more when you switch breasts often and therefore don't empty the fat rich hind milk. The solution is to feed off of one breast not changing for a couple of hours, making sure the baby has managed to get some of the hind milk.

Hope this makes sense and good luck!

[blackcurrants]

If this is your second, have a read of these links about oversupply
gaining, gulping, grimacing

Kellymom on fast letdown/oversupply

on oversupply

I think my 8 week old is struggling with this. Sometimes he clicks (I can usually correct this as we feed) and often I can hear him swallowing in a gulpy rush at the start of feeds. Apparently it can happen with a second LO even if you didn't have it with your first, sometimes your body gets REALLY good at producing milk and WHOOSHES it out at your baby! DS2 pulled off the boob last week crying (needed a huge burp) and milk actually squirted about half a metre, which never happened with DS1! He also burps MUCH more than DS1 did and pukes more too. I think there's just more milk and sometimes he swallows more than he wants to. He doesn't suck for comfort, and prefers a dummy (again, opposite of DS1 who never turned down time at the boob) - which can also indicate fast letdown.

What helped me was doing whole feeds on one side (so feed, he'd burp, back on same side, come off to burp again, offer same side again until he wasn't interested any more) and not offer the other side until the next feed, possibly two-three hours away. gradually my body slowed down production a bit. He's still gulpy and swallowing air in the morning, but not so much in the evening or at night. It's not causing us poo problems thankfully, but I wondered if some or any of that sounded familiar to you, and whether the links might help.

In my experience (posterior tt with DS1) it was unbearably painful to feed him and he slipped off the boob and down to the nipple during a feed. This time around it doesn't hurt to feed, it's more that DS2 is fussing/coming off the boob because he can't seem to chug it down as fast as he needs to.

I am quite aghast at your GP suggesting you formula feed if your baby is lactose intolerant. Surely you'd have even more reason to BF, if that were the case?

[pinkoyster]

Well Ds2 rarely takes the other side. He usually drains one side fairly well-anything between 10-30 mins depending on how hungry he is. Then when offered the other side, he won't take it. Also I thought the foremilk/hindmilk thing was a bit of a red herring?

If he is draining one breast reasonably fully, does this mean he can't have TT?

[pinkoyster]

Forgot to say that when feeding I can literally hear the milk hitting his stomach. Then he cries so have to burp then let him pop back on where he resumes frenzied feeding, then screams as he's got too much air etc etc. I don't think it's due to oversupply, more maybe latch? But this has been checked to death!

[pinkoyster]

And this is my second time bfing. fed ds1 for 18months (he's 2 now) so kind of know what's normal and what's not.

[Contradictionincarnate]

I gave up eggs as I thought that was the problem lot less farts but still fussing Kelly mom website has some good info!

[ivanapoo]

How often are you feeding him and what sort of state is he in when he feeds eg crying, or mellow?

[ivanapoo]

He really sounds identical to my DS. Has never taken both sides really, and can finish a feed in 5 mins. Attacks the breast like a starved dog. Makes quite a lot of noise while eating. I can hear and feel the milk gurgling around.

I have fast/strong letdown and possible oversupply and think I have "taught" DS to eat super quick perhaps...

Apparently it should improve in time (my DS is 10 weeks) as they get bigger and can handle the flow/supply settles a bit.

[pinkoyster]

His feeding varies. Mornings anything between 1-3 hours and nights every 3-4 hours. His moods vary too. He does the same regardless of whether he's mellow/crying etc. I do hope it settles. Mind you, have got through 8 weeks of him feeding like this, am sure I can soldier on for a few more until he improves (if he ever does!)..

[Meringue33]

Maybe try and catch him earlier before he is really hungry? Or if he is fussing at the breast have a time out and try to soothe him on your shoulder, walking and stroking his back just for a short time til he cAlms down then put him back on boob?

[BumgrapesofWrath]

Your DS sounds like my DS2 - I could have written your posts!

I have also gone dairy free, and seen a marked improvement, but he is still bad. I went dairy free with DS1, and I'm sure by 4 months old I was eating dairy again so they do grow out of it.

I do think I have a fast let down though, and oversupply (despite only offering one boob).

It's interesting to see the amount of boys this happens to!

[Twattybollocks]

Sounds silly but have you tried coleif? If your dh is lactose intolerant, it could well be that. Breastmilk contains lactose and no amount of changing your diet will get rid of it. The colief stuff has the enzyme that breaks down the lactose before it has chance to irritate the gut too much. Fwiw, my ds was very similar to this, but formula fed. His stomach would start churning in overdrive the second he started sucking, and you could hear his guts going from accross the room. He was weaned at 11 weeks on gp advice as he was in so much pain from the milk, and after a week of baby rice he literally wouldn't entertain a bottle of formula, would scream if you put it in his mouth and spit it out. He refused to drink any sort of milk until he was 3 years old. Now he loves the stuff!

[tiktok]

Foremilk/hindmilk explained here :

thefunnyshapedwoman.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/foremilk-and-hindmilk-in-quest-of.html

Not a red herring in general, just widely misunderstood.

Prob not an issue here, given the further info you have given, pink.

TT could be worth investigating - again.

[lazzaroo]

Sounds a lot like my DD. Also 8 weeks, and also suffering with wind. I ave wanted to give up bf on numerous occasions as I feel like I am responsible for her being uncomfortable. I have over supply & fast let down, which I think is the problem. Have tried block feeding, recommended on kellymom site, but not sure it's making much difference & I end up getting in a muddle about which side to feed from!

The worst thing is that it seems to be effecting her daytime sleep. She is waking from naps with wind so not sleeping long. So ends up feeding more frequently = more wind = poor sleep etc etc. We seem stuck in a viscious circle. She has tends to end up with massive build up of trapped wind at about 5am.

She is gaining weight well, currently 75th percentile. Have tried her with dummy as apparently that can help but she won't take one. She won't ake a bottle either....probably the main reason why I am still feeding!

[Mimi2022]

@lazzaroo i know this was years ago but did you ever find a solution?

[lazzaroo]

Hi! It was a long time ago! I’m afraid I don’t recall a solution other than time. By that I mean it was another thing that solved itself. I recall getting up with her and massaging her to release the trapped wind but other than that we just had to wait for it to pass. Which it did.