Windy, farty baby......

[welshmum]

Wonder if anyone can help with this.
Ds is 4 weeks old, exclusively breastfed on demand, putting on weight nicely etc Problem is he's incredibly windy (his sister didn't have this so it's all new to me)I think it causes him pain at times and I don't know what to do about it. Is it normal? Is it something about what I'm eating or how he's latched on? He does want to feed alot from 7-10pm - or at least to suckle for comfort. His main period of farting seems to be about 5am.
Would be grateful for any thoughts....

[starlover]

hmm... is he bringing up wind after a feed (burping not farting?)

when DS was breastfed he was a nightmare to wind and it all came out the other end!

[PandaBear]

Had this with DD1. Realised I was eating too much spicy food, washed down with fizzy drinks!! No wonder she had wind really! Cut down the spicy foods to once a week, and it seemed to wear off.

[acnebride]

have no experience of this but my sister has a 7 wk old who has bad wind and she says baby yoga is helpful to her and him. HTH

[moondog]

sut mae welshmum?
Don't they say that massaging the stomach gently in a clockwise motion can help?
I had a very farty baby (still do actually) but never found that my diet made any difference,although I know that some do.

[welshmum]

Thanks for quick replies
Starlover - he does do really loud burps too - and spits up much more than dd ever did. Do you think his digestive system is just a bit new? I know that sounds a bit flakey....but am feeling flakey this morning!
Pandabear - I've switched to still water and don't really eat much spicy food - the odd Chinese take away and that's it. I was wondering if chocolate could cause it as I'm chomping that every day....hmmm would I give that up for my new son.....

[Nightynight]

I just realised, reading this thread, that my dd1 was the fartiest baby, and she was also the one that never brought any wind up.

[starlover]

Linus used to do MEGA farts accompanied by vast quantities of runny poo.

tell me again why we love them so much???

[moondog]

Fennel tea too is a help isn't it? (Although not sure that it's suitable for such a young baby.)
I would go with the new digestive system theory myself. Makes sense.

[welshmum]

Iawn diolch Moondog - well dipyn bach yn knackered ond mae bachgen bach newydd mor tlws dw'in trio bod yn positive pob bore a ddim yn meddwl am y nos I suspect you and dinosaur are right that he just is farty - it's annoying as I know it's making him more unsettled than he'd otherwise be. Hey ho better just get on with it I guess. Thanks for the photo dinosaur - that's such a typical small baby face....kind of vaguely pissed off - don't they know they're living the life of riley

[Lua]

Welshie I have been giving ds dentinox. I also hear that Infacol is very good.
I don't usually like "drugs", but both of these are barely drugs... the first is a fiber that is not absorbed and the second , I think, is just lactase (ie. milk digestive enzyme)

[welshmum]

Lua - I thought dentinox was a shampoo for cradle cap? - mind you give me a few weeks and I might be tempted

[starlover]

welshmum.. it is! but dentinox also do colic drops. ds didn't like the taste of it, and you have to give a lot more than you do with infacol i think.

[chipmonkey]

welshmum, I just have boys, but I'm told by people who have both that boys are more impatient and "gulpy" when they feed, hence more wind!

[cushion]

try a cranial osteopath, worked wonders for my dd's and also ... this is going to be tricky to explain,..... lay him on his back and gently but firmly hold his ankles, then move his legs up towards his body and back down again applying very slight pressure do it about 10 times. does that make sense? my hv said that this will release any trapped wind.
hth

[Littlefish]

My DD was always really unsettled between 7.00pm and 11.00pm. Often had really bad colic, pulling up her knees or arching her back and crying. We tried Infacol before feeds, but found that the most effective thing was "Woodwards Gripe Water". We bought it from Boots. It has the herb Dill in it. Seconds after we gave it to her we would hear a tremendous rumbling from her tummy, sometimes followed by a loud burp. She would flake out seconds later in a deep and peaceful sleep. It saved our sanity!!!!! We also tried Cranial osteopathy which seemed to help in the long run.

The other thing we tried was to give her a dummy for very short periods to suck on. I hate dummies and always swore I would never give one to my child, but I had terribly cracked nipples and couldn't cope with her wanting to suck for hours every evening. Sucking a dummy, even for 30 seconds seemed to relax her tummy and let her fall asleep. I always took the dummy away as she fell asleep so she didn't become dependent on it.

Dinosaur - that tiger in the tree hold really helped my DD too (plus you can sit down and still hold the baby like that - always welcome after 3 hours of walking around the house!)

Could also try lying your ds on his back and "pedalling" his legs very gently like he's riding a bike in the air - it has the same effect as cushion's suggestion.

As you can tell, we tried almost everything and I'm sure we had the most collicy baby in the world. Unfortunately no one told our dd that it was supposed to stop when she was 3 months old and she kept going until 4.5 months!

[bumpylump]

have tried everything except the cranial osteopathy so far, another vote for Dentonox (am getting through about bottles per wk) have also concocted my own in desparation which seems to help, Warm boiled water, bit of brown sugar and a dash of gripe water. DS seems to like it in this hot weather too.

[nell12]

try laying ds on his back and "bicycling" his legs gently, also gently push his knees up to his chest and then stretch his legs out again.
Some people swear by drinking actimel or similar to ease colic, but I don't know. Try not to eat too much dairy before feeding as that can make your milk too rich.
cranial oesteopath worked wonders for dd, expensive, though

[mhorne]

I have a 4wk old son, who is in the endless breastfeeding stage. I have found him impossible to wind. I can spend up to an hour trying to wind him and as soon as I put him down he is sick. He will scream and scream until I put him back on the boob. He does fart but has only pooed once in 2 days. I have been using Infacol but didn't find it that effective. Any advice... I am seriously considering moving to bottles to get some of my time back (actually so I can spend more time with my 18mth old)

[Janh]

Oh, I used to carry all mine along my arm when they were tiny - they liked it (they get a good view out!), it keeps them comfortable and it leaves your hand free, it's brilliant, I was always sorry when they got too heavy to do it.

Never heard it called tiger in the tree before

[collyermum]

Sorry this isn't a perfect answer but I went through this twice with both my boys and it was hell with the first one!

I realised the cause with my second though as he also got terrible wind from 2weeks old onwards - I have a huge supply of breastmilk and it was just coming out so fast (I can hit the opposite wall with it if I'm not careful!! LOL) that the baby had to gulp to keep up. In fact after let-down, the baby would come off the breast to let the fastest flow run off before he'd go back on. AS both of my babies were the same, I decided radical action was called for as I couldn't go through the 3-4 months of no sleep at all at nights with a second baby and a toddler to care for!

Sorry, but if you are desperate, my solution was to express milk and use the Dr Brown's bottles (all other bottles were worse for wind than the breast). It was about a 75% reduction in windyness. When my milk dried up after about a month of expressing (:-( ) I found the Omneo Comfort settled him best.

Sorry I know you'd prefer to BF, and for a fast flow it was suggested that I feed on my back with the baby on my tummy, so you could try that if that is your problem, but I could never get the hang of it! But if a fast flow is causing someone's windy baby problems, I just hope my experience can help out and avoid all the hellish nights spent with a crying baby.

Good Luck! Collyermum

[lunachic]

homeopathic chamomilla

which is nelsons teetha or sold in boots as an alternative teething remedy in sachets

great natural soother and painkiller for babies 100% natural and effective too

could also try very weak fennel tea given by dropper or teaspoon

all of these remedies will have effect if you take them too as your breastfeeding

[Littlefish]

In case you want to go down the route suggested by Collyermum, Dr Brown's bottles are now called B Free. I bought mine from Mothercare, but they didn't seem to have any when I was there a couple of weeks ago.