Bottle fed newborn - trouble getting wind up

[Rarfy]

Hi

My 12 day old baby is bottle fed cow and gate with the mam anti colic bottles. I really struggle to get her wind up which results in her being sick now and again and now she seems to be having problems with her tummy.

Since her last feed she has slept on and off but been very restless with her legs flailing often. Then pumps a lot.

She isn't constipated. Has had a poo today but i'm wondering if there is anything i can do to get her wind up better and ease any discomfort?

Mine needed to be held in the oddest positions. I had tried 'normal' against me patting or sitting on my lap with my hand under her chin. Didn't shift it. She needed to be high on my shoulder, sort of leaning over with tummy on my shoulder or leaning right over my arm. And good combination of circular motions then some vigorous patting. May not be helpful for you dc, but worked for mine!

I have tried all of those maybe need to get her higher on my shoulder though. I'll try that next feed thanks.

Can feel her little tummy like bubbling. Hopefully higher up will work.

Have you tried her laid over your lap tummy down? Bicycling her legs? One of mine had to be walked up and down the stairs while on my shoulder to help get wind up.

If you have stairs in your home, DD over shoulder, walk up them. The movement seems to help. Also sitting on your lap with chin in your hand, but instead of patting, gently rotate her torso clockwise, then counter clockwise.

Done the rotating no help really. I will definitely try the bicycling and up and down the stairs. How strange that that can help!

Happy to try anything which will make her feel better and make feeding more enjoyable.

The bicycling really helped my dd aswell as holding her chin and rocking her side to side.

We’ve found YouTube really useful for different positions and tricks. Eg adding a little vibration to the usual positions by tapping heel of your foot fast has really helped our DD

We have similar problems getting wind up, although seems to be getting better now (8 weeks). One thing we found is that it seemed a lot worse if we shook the bottles so much that they were foamy. We now shake the bottles in circular motions rather than up and down if you get what I mean? Take a lot longer to dissolve all the powder but she gets a lot less wind and it's much easier to get up.

Oh these tips are all great thanks so much! Can't wait to put the ones i havent tried into action and hopefully i will have a more restful comfortable baby.

@jammyjeff are you using the perfect prep? It does concern me the milk seems to be very very frothy.

Lay her over your forearm. Head up near your elbow crease, arm and leg either side. Angle her head up slightly, bottom down and the rub/pat her back. Walk around a bit and jiggle 😂 it works honestly!

I had trouble with my newborn and stopped using the perfect prep after a couple of weeks and just used the ready made liquid formula, which has less air bubbles to begin with. I found it helped and have just switched back to powder in the last week. He's 3 months now.

I also used the Mam anti colic bottles which I switched to from Tommee Tippee when he was about a week old. Tried to switch back to tommee tippee when we moved up bottle size but he refused the teat.

Are you giving it long enough? Mine took ages to get their wind up- maybe 10-15 minutes . I knew they were done when their legs went limp and lost that stiffness. It took me a while to realize that I just wasn’t giving them long enough, or thinking that a burp or two was enough.

You can try infacol drops before a feed. I used them successfully with both of my older DC when they struggled at a similar age. I also found switching to the 'comfort' version of the milk helped as well, however my DD also suffered with constipation

She has just had another feed and i got her further over my shoulder and swirled the bottle rather than shook. Hopefully made the difference. Also had an almighty poo and wee mid nappy change. Ahh the joys haha!

I tried the stairs but had a section which is currently infected so stairs are a no go for now.

Hold baby upright over your shoulder, start at the base of their spine and tickle up their spine. Do this a few times, and then try and wind again. This was an amazing too someone gave me, and it worked wonders!

If she’ll let you, try breaking off half way through to wind then carry on with the rest of the bottle, then wind again when finished, that seemed to help my two

No, we just make them up ourselves- our midwife and health visitor both warned us against the perfect prep so we haven't used one. We've noticed a definite correlation between frothiness and wind though, so if the perfect prep makes it too frothy then maybe try a day without and see if it makes a difference?

Thanks. Ooh the tickle sounds an easy option ill give it a go as well.

Oh really? Ive not been told about the perfect prep but was told not to use tommee tippee bottles. My baby was 3 weeks early and apparently they are hard to suck and give lots of windm

Hope it works for you!

Oh gosh i think it's going to be a long night. She is still unsettled. Due another feed soon will give all the tips below another try. I definitely need luck or something lol!

Try an osteopath. DD who is now 12 weeks struggled to get her wind up. 2 trips to the osteopath and we haven't looked back. She brings her own wind up now and is so much happier.

Really? Did they show you new techniques? Any advice on finding one?

I have also heard that Perfect Prep machines make the bottles too frothy and cause wind. Maybe try making up a bottle the traditional way with boiled water cooled for 30 mins and see if that helps. Swirl the mixture very gently.