Trouble with wind in three week old

[meandcharlie]

My son is three and a half weeks old and is constantly suffering with trapped wind. I can hear it rattling around inside but he wont burp it up, seems to swallow it back down instead.We use infacol before every feed which does help but he never seems wind free. He is especially bad through the night, tossing and groaning and sounding very uncomfortable but i just cant get it up no matter what i do which really upsets me.

Does anyone have any advice on this and how long is this likely to continue? Many thanks.

Have you tried lying him over your knee, rubbing his back and burping him that way? It seems brutal but pressure on the tummy does force it up!
Are you bfing? If so keep checking your latch and listen for him taking air in and reposition if needs be.
Some babies are just windy millers though!!

He has been windy since birth unfortunately. He is being bottle fed, not sure if i should try bigger flow teat perhaps.
Have tried winding on knee, sitting him up and over shoulder which seems to settle him down but is no more succesful than the others unfortunately.
Thanks for reply, its much appreciated.

Try raising the mattress so he lies at an upward angle to help him expel the wind thru the night.

A natural product you can try is Colief is helps the tummy breakdown the milk as it contains the same enzymes as the tummy and wind can be due to a hard working tummy, some babies respond well and in others it makes no difference.

Have you tried Winwoods Gripe water?

Let him have time on his tummy and if breatfeeding check your latch and if bottle feeding consider changing teats, i have found MAMULTIvent teats good and they fit avent bottles, other good systems to reduce wind are the Dr Brown Bfree and Tommee Tippee Health Check bottles both these systems allow are back into the botle without it passing thru the milk so no bubbles in the milk and there is the playtex system where the bag containing the milk deflates as baby drinks, these 3 systems are the closet feeding experience for a baby to breast feeding.

Hope that helps.

Try raising the mattress so he lies at an upward angle to help him expel the wind thru the night.

A natural product you can try is Colief is helps the tummy breakdown the milk as it contains the same enzymes as the tummy and wind can be due to a hard working tummy, some babies respond well and in others it makes no difference.

Have you tried Winwoods Gripe water?

Let him have time on his tummy and if breatfeeding check your latch and if bottle feeding consider changing teats, i have found MAMULTIvent teats good and they fit avent bottles, other good systems to reduce wind are the Dr Brown Bfree and Tommee Tippee Health Check bottles both these systems allow air back into the bottle without it passing thru the milk so no bubbles in the milk and there is the playtex system where the bag containing the milk deflates as baby drinks, these 3 systems are the closet feeding experience for a baby to breast feeding.

Hope that helps.

Do different formulas cause differing degrees of windiness?

Yep they can.
I tend to steer new parents onto C&G Omneo Comfort, it has been developed so it is easier for a baby to digest so more comfortable.

dd was a really windy baby, at both ends , she had boots gripewater which helped. But when she had tummy ache and no wind to bring up I used to lie her on her back and cycle her legs, which soothed her tummy. She loves this still (she's 9 months now) and I used to tell her little stories while I did it. Used to send her off to sleep. She grew out of the worst of it by 4 months which I think is about avarage. Worth a try anyway. Good luck.

both dd and ds were terribly windy. ds now 18 months is much worse for some reason but that's another thread!

Anyhow what helped them was laying them face down on my arm with my hand being on their tummy and their heads sort of pointing past my ellbow... does that make sense?

That way they had a cuddle, pressure and warmth on their tummy. Usually after about 15 mins that was rewarded with a very sore arm and a massive burp

Also I always gave them Fennel tea.

Good luck!

can second the dr brown/b free bottles they did wonders for dd. we swapped to them at about 6 weeks and had a lot less wind and easier feeding after that - until she decided she hated milk at about 16 weeks - lol

I used colocynth granules for DD2. You can get them from chemists. They appear quite expensive at over 3.00 for a very small jar but they worked for me. You put about 10 granules on baby's tongue about 30 mins or so before next feed. Its a little tricky because they are really really small but if you put your clean finger over the top and tip it upside down, they stick to your finger, then just put finger in baby's mouth.

Meandcharlie..Is he getting runny nappies? I ask because my dd had very similar, you could hear her stomach gurgling, and GP and HV kept saying it was colic,gave me infacol, coleif and gripe water and nothing helped. i had to fight them to listen and turned out (after doing lots of research on internet) she had lactose intolerance...just keep it in mind.

SMA LF-Lactose Free is available from the chemist it is clinically lactose free. Lactose is often the componant in milk that babies react to.

Some GP's will prescribe it. It can be used for life and used in cooking also.

I have had better results with this than with soy formula's and unlike soy formula's it is safe for boys.

Babies with lactose issues can have loud windy tummy's, runny nappies, sometimes a dirty nappy will have a substance looking like 'snot strings' in it, this a mucus from the gut because it is agravated, babies can be grumpy and seem to 'go off' their milk but be hungry.

if you find health professions are not listening then you can buy the SMA LF and try it, it is a complete baby formula like the others and you can see a differnce usi=ng the first tin in many cases. If you see or don't see improvements make a gp appointment and present your findings, sadly some health professions are unaware of SMA LF.

Small individual chemists aften have the odd tin or can get it in the next day.

Word of advice

You may be asked who told/recommended you to buy it, shhh the health visitor shhh they don't usually ask for name or surgery.

Dr Browns bottles (Mothercare) are a must with windy ones! Also good are the Haberman Feeders (available on www.thebabywhisperer.com) both eliminate wind with fab results!

Try Cow and Gate OMNIO COMFORT. It aids digestion and really helped my DD. You can get it from Boots and ASDA.
here

asthtons teething powders really helped and colief dd had really bad colic and reflux also lie baby on tummy and massage there lower back i found it really helped as they relax

My son was a really windy baby. Mind you, he's still really windy (is now 6 months) but can let it go without as much of a struggle. I found that colief drops really helped. Fiddly to use if breastfeeding but quite straightforward if you're bottle feeding. You can get them from Boots but they're about £10 a pack which lasts about a week. Some GPs will prescribe them though. I bought them first and when I had some results, I got my GP to prescribe them. I used them until DS was about 12wks.

Other things that might help... 1) lots of movement in general - strap your DS to you in a sling while you go about the housework. SHould get you some nice burps. 2) Take the difficult times in shifts with your partner. We had a good few weeks of 5 hours screaming every night. So we took 1.5 hours at a time each while the other slept (or rested). 3) tummy massage - but only when your DS is relaxed and his tummy isn't tense. Massage around in a clockwise motion. Your HV should be able to show you how.

Best of luck. I know how horrible it is when they're screaming in pain and you can't help them get it up (or down!).