Help or sympathy.. 18 month old still waking up with chronic wind

[JuliaL]

Title says it all really.

Having 'done it all wrong with DS1" I was determined to get the sleeping right with DS2. Read lots of books and he was self-settling and sleeping 8-9 hours in a row when he was 5-8 weeks old. Then, the wind struck. Waking in pain once a night with awlful trapped wind that I had to bat out of him. He also had wind in the day plus spit up as most do at that age. Now 18 months, it has not got better with age, rather it is getting worse. No doubt habitual disorders are creeping into the mix, but the pain is genuine and went I manage to get a the noisy wind out or a burp up he goes back to sleep straight away. If the wind was not there I would happily do sleep training, but the crying is real. I am now up on average 3 times a night for between one and two hours of winding each session. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed core sleep. The health visitors blammed me for the problem a he doesn't eat a lot, but still drinks milk aplenty. To my dismay though, it seems to be the more food he eats, the worse he is. I offer everything, force nothing. He likes a lot of fruit and veg, some cereals no meat. (My DS1 had the same diet until approx 2.5 years, and eats incredibly well and healthy now). DS2 won't drink fennel tea, doesn't seem to respond to gripe water anymore. Any gems of wisdom out there most appreciated. Likewise a few words of sympathy for a mum who feels completely wretched and depressed a lot of the time. I know it must stop one day, but I'd like that day to be sooner please!

[ches]

Could he be dairy allergic/lactose intolerant?

[JuliaL]

Thanks for your suggestion Ches. We had sort of ruled this out with my GP as I gave up all dairy for 3 weeks whilst exclusively breastfeeding to absolutely no effect whatsoever. Do you happen to know if there is a test for this? (other than stopping all dairy for him which would be quite tough).

[ches]

Breastfed babies don't always react to dairy in their mother's milk. There are dozens of proteins in cow's milk that could cause a dairy allergy, many of which are modified before passing into breast milk. Lactose is a separate issue -- it's present in all animals' milk, but they get a huge whack of it in cow's milk, not so much in yoghurt/cheese.

If it is lactose, I'd wager that giving up milk and not necessarily cheese would show a very quick difference. You can get lactose-free milk (or milk that has had the enzyme added that aids digestion which lactose intolerant people don't produce) or try chocolate/vanilla soy/rice/oat milk if your LO is having milk as a drink. I think the 2 weeks is to get all the protein out of your body and stop the ALLERGIC reaction, but with lactose, it's discomfort due to an inability to digest it, and once it's out the end it should be out the system.

[JuliaL]

Thanks Ches. Why is that Mums know better than Doctors... should have posted here sooner. Will give Lactose free products a go straight away and report back. Many thanks again

[JuliaL]

Thanks Ches. Why is that Mums know better than Doctors... should have posted here sooner. Will give Lactose free products a go straight away and report back. Many thanks again

[ches]

If it helps your image of doctors most of that was a precis of what a pediatrician posted on another baby board. (After I made fun of her for asking for milk allergy advice from mums.) She wasn't very charitable about GPs, though.

[JuliaL]

Just to report that Lactose free made him worse than ever. Onwards and upwards.

[lillychristmaspuddingandpie]

Hi there I just wanted to say that my DD did this for a few months over the summer.It started out of the blue and disappeared the same way.

I didn't change her diet in anyway.

[Scampish]

My friends DD had terrible wind and she took her to a cranial osteopath and after a few sessions it improved dramatically, she swears by them

[ches]

Oh my. Can you get a referral to a dietician?

[JuliaL]

Lillychristmaspuddingandpie.. thanks for the ray of hope.

Scampish.. we did do cranial osteopathy for several months earlier.. no discernable affect (though I'm sure it does do something). Thinking about trying again.. just the cost really.

GP sympathetic but basically said that because he is putting on weight OK for his growth curve just wait until he grows out of it. "there is no cure for wind"!!! (I did add at this point that it was me who was suffering more than him.. only 4 hours very broken sleep on Saturday). GP not keen on dietician referral as nothing seems to be better or worse for affect on wind. (Sadly this is true, other than the more he eats, the more wind).

Am also pondering homeopathic treatment but DH doesn't believe in it and there are obviously costs involved.

Thanks for the advice and shoulder to cry on (the latter helps just as much as the former).

hope to report back with more positive progress soon.