Windy and reflux breastfed baby - what foods have people cut from their diet?

[Upsidedowncake]

Hi there

DD is 6 weeks old and has been diagnosed with mild reflux by the GP. She is sick once a day or so, and is also very windy. She's putting on about 8 oz a week.

We've been using infacol for ages, and last week, I cut out tomatoes and citrus, which has reduced the incidence of vomiting by about half. GP prescribed Gaviscon but said not to use it unless number of vomits increases.

She is still very windy (which seems to be a different problem from the tomato one IYSWIM), and today, had a very bubbly tummy, and was sick because of that. I hate seeing her in pain and uncomfortable.

DS had an intolerance to citrus until he was 2.5, but no others (which is what made me think of the tomatoes / citrus), but we have no other food intolerances.

Does anyone have any experience of this? What other foods could be causing the wind? Or is this something with no cause we just need to live through?

bump

Hi - gosh - I could have written your post!

My DD is 10 weeks and has dreadful wind - hiccups and can throw up literally mouthfuls of milk at a time. But she's also putting on loads of weight and looks well.

I'm not sure what to do either. I cut out coffee and tea....made no difference. I cut out citrus - no different . I didn't know about tomatoes though...Mmmmm - I love them - hard one!

My HV and GP said that some babies are just like it and will grow out of it and so I'd been sticking with it all - especially as her weight gain is so good.

Sorry I'm no help just wanted to let you know I've the same problem - sympathies I shall watch the thread and see if any advice comes along too!

thanks jeanjeanie. I've heard the 'grow out of it' thing before too, but i hate hearing her sound so miserable!

A friend of mine found this site useful. She said the woman who ran the breastfeeding board really knew her stuff.

Bump

Have spent while day with a baby who won't settle. DH has come home from work and is now upstairs taking his turn. I am also burping like a trooper

Possible culprits are:

chocolate biscuits
two day olds rice salad containing apricots and pine nuts
mayonnaise
chocolate ice cream
yoghourt

Hi there,

I have a 5 week old girl who was incredibly windy from 3-4 weeks..it was taking hours to get her to burp and she was squealing with the pain.

After doing lots of research I decided to cut out dairy food altogether, and drink fennel tea which is supposed to be good for digestion (I actually preferred this to the normal tea with rice milk!). I had been eating cows milk with cereal, cheese on toast, ice cream, yogurts, chocolate each day so without even realising it I was consuming loads of dairy products.

Within 2 days there was a dramatic improvement. I also steer clear of orange juice, tomatoes and strawberries.

My other baby who is now 3 was also very windy and colicky and I wonder now if he was just sensitive to dairy.

It's maybe worth a go as it takes such a small amount of time 1-2 days to discover if it is going to work.

Cranial osteopathy is another if expensive alternative.

Good luck.

Hi, I find that if I dont eat wheat, dairy and things that make ME windy, DD isnt either (or much less so). She's 18wks and excl BF.
My HV showed me a good trick which was to sit them down and move them back and forth gently - it can help dislodge the wind. Its awful when they're crying in pain isnt it? But I'm sure you know that you are a massive comfort by being there, gently rubbing their tummy etc.

I would second or third or fourth dairy. Lots of babies seem to have at least a little trouble with it. My ds did when he was small but seems to be ok with it now at 12 months. I also found and still find any kind of nut or seeds problematic. So from your list I would look at the dairy foods and the pine nuts. On the bright side my ds was always fine with however much chocolate I ate :O

My baby was very similar - had the same awful probs when she was 6wks or so, but that co-incided with Christmas, so linked it to a soup I made with leftover crimbo veg (sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, cauli, cabbage!!!), & some leftover stilton! Poor baby didnt stand a chancefrom my milk! I cut out cruciferous veg, esp cauli.
The windiness did last a couple of months (with the 'bubbling' tummy, gripes & being unsettled at some feeds), so we used to lie her down & cycle her legs, or bend the knees & push them imto her tummy then stretch them out again (well known baby massage technique, & occasionally resulted in a lovely fart!). The other one was to place hands under her buttocks (while she was lying down) & 'jiggle' them - apparently it can dislodge air traps in the gut, or rub her left hand side of her tummy with the heel of my hand whilst she was over my left shoulder.
Have you tried Colief? Its a Lactase Enzyme in drop form - you can get it from Boots(tiny bottle, & quite expensive at £10). It worked well for us & a friend, whose baby was VERY refluxy. You add it to milk, so if BF like mine then you need to express a little off & give it in a bottle with the drops added (so a pain if baby doesnt take bottle). We found Infacol wasnt great.
Good luck - I know that its awful to watch your baby in so much pain. Lots of cuddles.

My baby was very similar too. I tried giving up all kinds to find out what made him so windy and sick. I never found out but had suspitions about onions. He was on infant gaviscon from about a month old, up until he was nearly 6 months, when I cut it down and stopped cos I didn't think it made any difference. He started to get better at dealing with the wind himself by 4 months, but the vomiting didn't stop until he started on solids (at 6 months). He now posits a tiny bit after his morning breast milk feed. It is so great when they stop, I am finally not afraid to pass him to someone to hold without the fear of him being sick on them!
Giving him the gaviscon was a real pain, I had to express 1oz milk before I fed him to mix in a bottle and gave him this before his feed. It helped to thicken up the milk, but it still came up, but maybe not as much as without. He always put on his weight well, so the doc or HV were never worried.
I really sympathise, persist with the doc's, we ended up being admitted at hospital for 24 hours so they could ascess him as I thought we were getting fobbed off with 'colic'. Ultimatley I believe it is something they will just grow out of as their bodies develeop and get stronger.

Sorry also meant to say... I gave him gripe water from 31/2 months, after trying all other remidies and the wind problem stopped after two weeks of taking. I used to add the gripe water to the oz of milk with gaviscon. a concoction I know but he didn't mind it and it was the least messy way of getting it in him!

My DS had dreadful colic/trapped wind
his colic was at nearly every feed which led to very screamy traumatic feeds it lasted till 20 weeks (when I decided to wean him, and the colic disappeared overnight - but I am not advocating this I was just desperate at this point)

and everytime i mentioned it to the HV she kept saying that I needed to try omiting things from my diet, or to drink fennel tea

but i kept trying to tell her that the colic was just as bad if he had formula (I was combination feeding)

I did try cutting things out of my diet and also tried infacol, dentinox and gripe water but none of them made any difference

so I don't really think that diet helps, it is just something that they grow out of.
at least in my case nothing helped