Trapped wind at night. Any help?

[Gingerbeansx3]

Hi all,

I have 21 month old twins. My pink twin has always been fine and has no issues. My poor blue twin and his tummy! Where do I start? He was breastfed til 17.5 months, diagnosed with reflux at 4 months (so bad it bleached his bib) I suspect he had silent reflux before this but no one would take me on. We were put on ranitidine but it didn't really help. Then we started food at 6 months. Every single night he would wake and scream the house down for hours with tummy pains. This got worse to the point where he would take hours to even get to sleep and would thrash about all night. Endless trips to the GP and eventually we were referred and an off hand comment of 'try him dairy free' was suggested. We did and the difference was amazing. We noticed he would still have tummy pains though and have since also excluded egg, soya, beans, berries and cinnamon. We got to a point where we were able to start the milk ladder but then he got poorly again and ended up with 3 lots of antibiotics and we had to stop.
Which brings me to now. We are still excluding all of the foods already mentioned, but he is taking 1-2 hours to rock to sleep, and waking in pain again at night. Some nights he will sleep through but every night in the rocking chair he is straining and trumping.
I am so sorry that this is so long. We've started probiotics to see if that helps in case it's to do with his antibiotics but was wondering if any of you lovely ladies had any other suggestions? We are doing a food diary but nothing is clicking?
Any help gratefully received!
Exhausted Mum x

Blue baby syndrome is serious, and presumably your afflicted twin is under consultant care.

I'd mention it at your next cardiac appointment (or indeed make one with the specialist team) to see if it can be related to the underlying condition. It's probably beyond ordinary GP, unless/until the specialist can rule out link.

blue baby syndrome can be terrifying. Is there a support group for the condition? They might be able to help as blue babies can require condierable and specialised support.

Highly amusing scaevola

OP you sound like you have a rather worse longer running version of my own scenario with DS2. He's only 9 months, was EBF for six months and absolutely fine (no reflux) but since we started weaning wind has been a huge issue and it really interferes with his sleep at night. He goes down ok but he'll be up 5 - 6 times in the night. Sometimes it's quick- sometimes it takes 1 1/2 hours to settle him because he's writhing around in pain. A lot of the time he's actually crying his sleep poor boy.

I've only in the last month or so figured out that wind is a big issue in the sleep disturbance. Since six months he's had bug after bug and has been constantly unwell so for ages I thought it was illness (and teething). Then had a brief healthy patch and realised the wind factor. Have tried excluding wheat which I thought helped for a bit then it got worse again. Dairy is next step- not looking forward to that. The other thing we've wondered is whether the constant illness has knocked out his digestive system but he hadn't had ABs so not likely in our case.

No advice I'm afraid but much sympathy. I've only been at this for three months but it's bloody hard- I'm averaging 3-4 hours broken sleep a night and I'm getting very little down time because evenings are disturbed too. I'm really not a very good parent on this - feel guilty about DS1 (3) who has to deal with a very grumpy mum. And I'm back to work in 2 months and terrified about how I'll cope. Hats off to you coping for 21 months and with twins too.

DS is 9 months old nearly and is breastfed. We've had such trouble weaning him but it seems to be settling down... many of the symptoms you've described at night time, screaming and screaming and not settling at all, only when tried on solids though.

Finally at nearly 8 months he started to be able to eat solid food properly, but seems to have lots of trouble digesting things. Out of desperation, I tried justgivjnf him soup and then yoghurt for dinner and so far he's been much better and did sleep well for a week last week. He's been awful the last three days but I'm hoping it's just because we've been on holiday.

I don't know if that helps... he still has normal solid food for breakfast and lunch but soup and yoghurt for tea.

Blue babies are not a remotely laughing matter.

It's a serious condition, and OP really needs to take the DT with blue baby syndrome back for specialist advice. This really isn't a syndrome for armchair pundits or the parents of babies without cardiac conditions.

OP: ring your cardiac consultant of one of their team. And I hope they can see you soon, or point you in the right direction by telephone.

I think scaevola has totally missed the point. The pink baby is a daughter, the blue baby is a son.

Is there any lactose in the probiotic?

Just to say having similar although not as severe issues with DS. Fine in the day but waking with wind pain at night sometimes also crying whimpering and twisting in sleep. Been going on for 5 months, he's 10 months now. His poos are often mucousy and he has some excema so have been suspecting cows milk intolerance. Finally got neocate prescribed however he won't take it... I'm also breastfeeding and have cut out dairy (never had enough milk so had to supplement with formula...). So anyway OP and FurryGiraffe I'm interested in how you will be getting on and if you find out what the issue is.

Another thing I notice often is undigested food in the nappies I'm not sure if this is related to the wind and tummy pain in any way or if this is quite normal for babies/toddlers.

Scavola, rest assured that my blue twin does not have a cardiac condition he is just male. Thanks for your concern though.

Foresthouse we are already dairy free. I managed to breastfeed past 12 months so weaned then on to oat milk so I have no idea how to introduce dairy free formula I'm afraid.

We are on day 4 today of the Klairelabs probiotics and it could be a fluke but it only took 50 mins to settle him last night with only one episode of straining and wind and then he slept through without thrashing around!

I feel so much better having slept! Will update whether it continues to work x

When you named a specific medical condition in your opening post about your DS's wellbeing, of course I took that to mean it was relevant and applicable.

Do remember that using the name of a very serious syndrome is misleading at best. And rather unfair to those families who have (or had) a member with the syndrome.

Scaevola, whilst you and anyone else who has a cardiac condition or has a child with a cardiac condition has my up most sympathy, I did not mention a specific medical condition in any of my posts. I mentioned my blue twin (not blue baby, not baby with blue baby syndrome) after referring to my pink twin. This is commonly used in pregnancy (having a pink/blue or yellow bump) and when referring to a child without using their name. Believe me I do know how serious a cardiac condition is as I have one myself and would never make light of it. I am sorry if this has caused you offence, but I feel you would have to over reach somewhat to take offence to this.

This post is asking for advice about my son who although does not have a serious cardiac condition, does have a GI condition which causes him a great deal of distress and pain. Unless you have something helpful to add on this matter, please do not reply to this post

Thank you

What happened next?? @Gingerbeansx3? I've read the whole thread and am desperate to know if you found a solution. My DD is in constant pain all night and I'm really at a loss as to what to do. I've cut porridge and fruit completely and she only has veggies and meat at lunch time. Dinner is a very bland wheat based porridge which I'm also now thinking to cut but no idea with what to replace it. Would just be v grateful for any ideas or success stories. I can't bear watching her writhe around and cry all night anymore
Thanks