Help - farting/wind

[user1497339042]

Advice/reassurance needed after another night of virtually no sleep!

My LO has so much trapped wind and farts all the time. During the day it's not a problem as she seems to pass it OK and she generally sleeps in the sling so is upright which I think might help.

Nighttime is a different story though - she will do one long chunk of sleep (somewhere between 4-5 hours) but after that she wakes up constantly farting and pulling her legs up. I am exhausted and I think she is too as she is sitting here now yawning away even though she's not been up long.

She's predominantly breast fed but has one bottle of formula before bed (usually about 70ml) and I top her up with breastmilk. She's taking Ranitidine for reflux too. She was on Gaviscon but I stopped that as I thought it was causing the wind issue but it obviously wasn't. She doesn't poo very much - once a day or sometimes every two days.

It only developed when she was a few weeks old and coincided with her taking Gaviscon and also roughly with when she started having one formula a day (but she was also formula fed for a week in hospital when she was born)

She's 7.5 weeks old

[FATEdestiny]

How long has she been taking Ranitidine? I understand it can take several weeks to get into the system properly.

[user1497339042]

She's been on it quite a long time - 2/3 weeks I think now

[FATEdestiny]

It could be that the medication needs time to work or a different dosage.

This could also be a sign of cows milk protein allergy. The way to deal with that would be to cut dairy from your diet and use dairy free formula. However before you start restricting your diet, night might be worth exhausting the more simpler ideas first.

she wakes up constantly farting and pulling her legs up

Does she cry a lot?

I often see people assume that because baby is pulling legs up, it must be digestion related. But in fact newborns have so little make control that these sorts of movements mean nothing more than "Im distressed" - that could just mean tired and nothing more. Back arching in another similar movement that people read too much meaning into - It just means baby is upset and distressed. What about, well that could be anything.

So that's the leg movement, now the wind. Babies often gulp in loads of air when crying. Parents routinely wind baby after potentially taking in air when feeding, but don't consider that crying can give then wind. And if lying flat when crying, that wind gets trapped.

I'm not saying this isn't a medical issue, it might be. It could also be that baby needs more help to feel settled and contented.

Have you tried a dummy? NHS recommended as a tool that can help s baby with reflux. Baby may also feel calmer if in a swaddle. Feeding lying down and cosleeping may also help.

As a test, give say 3 or 4 days of doing all four, uninterputed. So clear the diary, plan to stay at home. Buy a giant muslin for swaddling and a couple of different sorts of dummy and camp out with baby in your bedroom - day and night. Just feed and cuddle on your bed together. Have your phone or whatever for entertainment. Take the pressure off yourself for doing anything else though.

[user1497339042]

She doesn't cry a lot in the day but at night she wakes crying, pulling her legs up etc. I don't get her up unless she is crying as I know babies can just be noisy wriggly sleepers but she is clearly in distress and is usually farting too!

[FATEdestiny]

I've always considered that any noise baby makes is a communication that she wants me. I may not get baby up, but it would often result in my placing a hand on baby's chest so she knows I'm there. Or cuddling up (and helping with the dummy) if needed.

A cosleeper cot (one side removed off a normal cot) might make life easier, if you're not keen on bed sharing.