Sitting up. Feeling low

[changeinmypocket]

I posted earlier about my baby's painful wind at night which wakes him. It's so bad tonight and I've been in tears and had about a dozen rows with DP. We're both so tired that we literally cannot have a conversation during the night anymore without me getting extremely irritated by him (understatement).
We've come to the conclusion one of us will have to take a shift holding DS while the other sleeps. (He still wakes crying frequently even when being held but he seems to calm down a bit easier if in arms when he wakes)
DP has decided enough is enough and we're taking him (again) to the doctors however I've had the realisation that the first available appointment will likely be in at least 2 days time, and anything the doc suggests to help will also take time if it's going to work, so best case scenario we're looking at several more nights before improvement.
I feel horrendous. I haven't had as much as 4 hours uninterrupted sleep in weeks and I'm really upset 😓
He's 6 months old and sleep is supposed to be getting better, instead it's becoming a distant memory.
AIBU to be vent on MN at 1am looking for comfort from strangers to make me feel marginally better

Sorry OP, remember the days,it’s crap.

Please go back to GP, maybe there’s some food intolerance and your baby needs help.

@Leeeeemon36 thank you so much for taking the time to read and reply, really needed an ear (well, an eye)
We've gone a bit back and forward wondering if food intolerance could be the cause so definitely going to ask our GP about it

You poor thing, sleep deprivation is the worst! Could a pharmacist help in the short term whilst waiting for a GP appointment? Sending a virtual hug.

My son had terrible painful wind too and we tried all sorts of things to help. He had allergies so we saw a dietician who suggested probiotics might help. There’s little evidence out there to support it but I was so desperate I gave them a go. Could of course be a coincidence but the wind was 100 times better after a couple of days. If you wanted to try them, we got ours from amazon. They were sachets especially for babies/young kids and you mix them with milk. Sorry, I can’t remember the name of them x

I hear you. Sounds like baby has an intolerance. I get wind so bad it's explosive and sometimes painful, because of lactose.

I suffer from sleep deprivation a lot, it can and usually does result in my experiencing psychosis after prolonged periods.

I would push the GP for an urgent appt. They should be good with it being for a baby.

We had this sometimes with one DS.
Our GP suggested a very weird position to place the baby in which helped with the wind. You put the baby over your shoulder so that your shoulder is right in his stomach area. Head hangs down your back ,legs down the front. Then gently rub his back where the shoulder is pressing into his stomach in a circular motion.
It worked well, and we got some spectacular belches out of it, and the odd ginormous fart. It felt very strange but it helped him out a lot.

But as pp have said, there must be a root cause - and there may indeed be an intolerance creating the issue in the first place.

I would also try a chiropractor that is trained in infants and a baby probiotic that is called Bio Gaia. Mine both had issues and this helped significantly. My youngest also had silent reflux and some sensitivity to things ie milk, citrus etc. The pro-biotics helped as did the chiropractor.

I wish you luck!

Oh! Another thing that helped was a ring sling and baby swing that swung side to side not front to back. He liked being squished in the ring sling and the swings motion felt good I guess🤷‍♀️

Thanks so much to everyone for replies!
Shortly after I posted DP woke up, saw how upset I was and sent me through to the couch to sleep, while he dealt with DS, so I'm feeling a bit more human this morning.
I'm going to give the probiotics a try! Will also give strange winding position a go however he's a wild one so do have visions of him catapulting himself out my arms 😂
Currently googling chiropractors in my area and we've got him a docs appointment for Thursday
Wish me luck everyone - surely somethings got to work!

Another thing that helped was a ring sling and baby swing that swung side to side not front to back.

^^^
Yes! Both a sling (stretchy wrap for us) and a sideways swing helped a lot with my colicky, refluxy baby. We ended up with this huge swing monstrosity jammed into the bedroom, one desperate night.

@EggsAgain and @CanuckBC

He does really enjoy being in a stretchy wrap and it got us through a LOT of colicky evenings when he was younger so I don't know why I didn't think of this. Very good call. Might go buy a ring sling as think it'd be easier to wrap him into during the night when he's going off on one!

The ring sling is super easy. Just chuck them in sideways and you are golden. You can also have them sitting up sideways, on the back if practiced or on the front.

My oldest loved it so much they thought he had torticolitis, when they can’t move their neck one way! It was just from wearing him one way in the sling so much his neck was kinked. Also possible birth injury as they had to get use the vacuum multiple times to get him out.

I would constantly be bouncing him on the big excervise ball in the sling, doze off with him in it, house clean, cook, everything with him in it! Due to a shoulder injury one way was more comfortable.

The swing also lived in our room at the end of our bed. When he woke between 3-4 for the day that is where he went and enjoyed it. That was just not working for us!

I used to put the stretchy wrap on in the morning (like an item of clothing) and pop her in and out throughout the day. So very easy and no faffing with tying it each time.

As he starts to get mobile (soon) things should start to improve. Not easy to do but my advice would be to try and take each day at time, remembering the end is in sight, rather than trying to fix it. 6 months is the worst time for sleeping imho as they start not just eating / poohing and sleeping and aren't quite ready for anything else.

The over the shoulder winding technique sounds the same as recommended by my MiL. It could be intolerances but it could also be something as benign as teething causing it.

It is really hard but you and DP sound like you are doing great (in the words of the Ad)

Oh god this is bringing back my son's infancy memories-the child screamed for 8 months straight when not asleep. Terrible colic which improved after switching to soy based formula but still didn't stop the wailing-hated his car seat with a passion! Literally one day he woke up happy and smiley and that was it a happy baby. Very,very difficult time. Good luck OP

Definitely explore with GP/ health visitor, but I’d also consider chiropractic care or seeing an osteopath if I were you - my little guy saw a chiro for other problems but I know other mum’s where one or two sessions with a chiro has really improved colic.

While you are getting it sorted remember to take care of yourself, my youngest didn’t sleep for more than 3hrs at a time until he was 18 months - drinking loads of water really helped.

Good luck!

Thanks so much for more replies! Taking all suggestions into account as will try anything at this point! Booked osteopath appointment for Monday - can claim it back on my health plan anyway so worth a shot!

@howabout you make a good point that it could also just be something as little as teething throwing him out of sorts so will try not to get too carried away thinking it's an intolerance of sorts - hoping the doctor will shed some light. Also agree about 6 months being a difficult age. He's a little mobile already but hoping when he's on his feet properly soon it might make a difference too

@EKGEMS Mine also despises the car seat, as well as the pram will keep my fingers crossed for a happy baby soon!

I'm crossing my fingers for you as well! My sister called him a "Mexican jumping bean" after watching his reaction to his car seat!

Are you sure it’s wind?

I assume you’ve already tried calpol? Teething gel?

@Claw01 he has been teething, got his first tooth very recently so a possibility. Have tried calpol and Nelsons Teetha though with little success. When he's up I can hear his stomach growling while he's jerking around and getting upset and he breaks wind loads too. Weirdest thing is that he's nowhere near as windy during the day :/

Gripe water? Constipated?

Teething caused my granddaughter all sorts of symptoms, upset tummy, sore bottom. Your poor baby and poor you

Gripe water? Switch from breast feeding to formula or cut stuff out of your diet if breast feeding see if that improves things? Keep him off weaning a bit longer? Good luck OP sounds hard x

If you are FF what formula is he on? I had my 4 month old son on SMA and changed to Cow and Gate and the difference in his wind/awful poos was amazing. Researched SMA afterwards and seems it's bad for wind. Sorry if I have missed anything saying you breast feed, I'm still playing the baby brain card! I hope things get better for you soon lovely

@Claw01 he gets constipated sometimes, and also gets diarrhoea sometimes - both of which I think would cause gassiness but neither this week when it seems to be at its worst. I'm really hoping it is just teething and he gets another tooth or two and it's all over! My daughter had a few weird teething symptoms - hiccups being a regular one!
Aw that sounds rubbish - your poor granddaughter must've had a hard time with teething!