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Behaviour/development

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Original poster

Windy baby not sleeping - help!

16 replies

Jorior · 26/03/2014 19:54

My DH and I are at the end of our tether because we're so sleep deprived. Our DD is 4.5months old and she's delightful. However, she's very windy which she can manage during the day but at night she can't pass it without help. This means she needs about 30 mins of winding after each feed (the same for both breast and bottle) otherwise she's in agony. Even after winding she'll usually continue squirming and grunting until she wakes herself up again.

We've tried: Infacol, colief, gripe water, prone sleeping position, cutting tomatoes/citrus fruit from my diet. As of tomorrow I'm going dairy free and we're starting on Neocate (dairy free formula).

I can't get out of my head that there's a reason she's ok with the wind during the day but not in the eve/night time. Anyone have experience of this and a magic solution? Please?

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Bankholidaybaby · 26/03/2014 19:58

I don't have much help to offer, sorry, but I didn't want to read and run. I'm so sorry you're all going through this - it was the same with my son until I changed his formula from Cow and Gate to Aptamil when he was 4 months. He went from painful, whoopee cushion farts which we had to massage and bicycle out of him (like clockwork 90mins after every single feed) to barely farting at all.

Bankholidaybaby · 26/03/2014 20:03

I assume since you've got neocate that you've seen the gp? My baby had silent reflux and we thought the swallowed acid was giving him grief. I've just remembered I also tried infant gaviscon, holding him upright for 30mins after each feed, propping his basket up, lots of baths, letting him sleep on my chest, giving him a dummy so that the saliva would help the acid. The propping up did seem to help, and for a while he would only sleep on me (but at least he would sleep).

Original poster

Jorior · 26/03/2014 20:15

Thanks. Yeah we've seen a GP and we've been using infant Gaviscon for weeks now. It's helped with the reflux but not the wind. I'm really hoping the Neocate works! Six weeks until weaning starts which will hopefully help but that feels like ages away! I guess we just have to keep going with the bicycle etc in the meantime and hope we can hold it together. Thanks for your response x

OP posts:

naty1 · 27/03/2014 11:31

Its the lying down thats the problem.
Any constipation from the gaviscon?

BadFam1 · 27/03/2014 12:41

Have you given detinox a go? We tried gripe water, infacol and colief and the only thing that helps my ds is detinox. It goes in the bottle or given by syringe during feeds and it seems to help him pass his gas better

Original poster

Jorior · 27/03/2014 19:13

Why is lying down a problem for wind Naty1? I didn't realise that Gaviscon caused constipation. You fix one problem and it causes another :-(

Badfam1, Dentinox is the only one we haven't tried. After a few things didn't work, I assumed it would have the same active ingredient so there was no point. Tonight's the 1st night of Neocate so fingers crossed. If not, I'll try Dentinox in a few days. Cheers...

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Bankholidaybaby · 27/03/2014 19:19

Lying down is bad for wind because the air can't get back up as a burp. It also makes the baby more likely to regurgitate milk, possibly bringing acid up and making her uncomfortable.

Bankholidaybaby · 27/03/2014 19:21

It's all coming back to me now - I can't believe how much I'd forgotten. Have you tried anti-colic bottles? I went through just about every bottle going. He was much less windy on Dr Brown and MAM anti-colic ones.

TheresLotsOfFarmyardAnimals · 27/03/2014 19:28

Tummy sleeping worked for ds. He would let out a massive burp 10 minutes after I'd laid him on his front and carry on snoozing. We used an angelcare monitor to help my nerves re tummy sleeping though.

minipie · 27/03/2014 19:57

has she been checked for tongue tie?

Pocket1 · 27/03/2014 21:46

Poor you. It's exhausting isn't it.

I always struggled winding dd and feel I often did a poor job. They get to a stage when they are more upright and they practically wind themselves - I think this was 5-6 months.

DD was also v windy - turned out she was dairy intolerant so my milk was upsetting her tummy. And also causing reflux - she is on nutramigen (which is similar to neocate) and it made a difference very quickly.

Another thing that helped dd was tummy sleeping - I know it's not recommended but we did it and it helped her. Now she rolls all around her cot and often sleeps on her tummy.

Hope you're little one settles soon. And you and dh catch up on sleep.

Original poster

Jorior · 28/03/2014 07:43

Yeah I figured tummy sleeping would work so I've made several attempts. She doesn't like it for too long though - sometimes 5 mins, sometimes 40 mins if I'm lucky.

Last night I consciously did a more thorough winding after every feed (20 mins +) she was a bit more settled. Last night was also our first Neocate night and she took to it well which is a good start. Today's my first dairy free day so fingers crossed we'll see a difference over the weekend.

If not, I'm taking solace in the fact that this is our last baby! They're very very cute but they're hard work!

Thanks for your support.

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Pocket1 · 28/03/2014 08:40

Positive steps and its all progress. Good luck with the neocate and dairy free (I tried dairy free for a couple of weeks - it's hard but not impossible and there are some great products in the supermarkets).

Pocket1 · 28/03/2014 08:50

Ps. What about putting her on her side to sleep? Sometimes we put a rolled up towel in front and behind DD to keep her in position. Again not recommended but we did it and it also helped.

Also think about changing bottles/teets - just in case DD is having to work hard to get the milk, and may be taking in air too. Some bottles/teets claim to be better for minimising air in during feeds which may help reduce your LO's wind. We use nuk which dd has gotten on well with.

Just know that it gets easier.

MrsIgglePiggle · 29/03/2014 01:00

I had this with my dd until she was 2yrs old. It took me those first 2 years to realise what was causing the agonizing wind at night time. I breastfed her til she was 2.5 and it was cutting out broccoli and "windy foods" in both our diets that finally made night times a lot better.

Original poster

Jorior · 29/03/2014 19:05

Thanks ladies. Pocket1 I'm not doing so well with the dairy free diet because I keep forgetting I'm not supposed to be eating stuff. Must try harder :-0 She slept for about an hour on her tummy last night which is the longest time so far...hooray! We're going to try her on her side too to see if that's any better.

MrsIgglePiggle, I was reading about windy foods today actually but I don't normally have many of them in my diet anyway. Fingers crossed it's just the dairy...

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