PAINFUL WIND AND CONSTIPATION.

[gillythekid]

My 16 week old son has been having COLIEF added to his expressed breastmilk since 6 weeks old due to wind. He has now started to wake up 4 times in the night, when he used to go through till 5 or 6 and he's farting and writhing in pain. I've tried adding more, adding less and not adding any, all without success. He is a little constipated and I think he's teething. I'm using TEETHA powder to chill him out but he's all over the place. I've tried massage but he screams! He does get plenty of wind up after his feeds but obviously not enough. Is increased wind and constipation due to teething? Can I do anything to help him? Does anyone have any suggestions?

my 10 week old is also on colief, and i find that adding it to his feeds makes him grunt and squeeze more so i only add it everyother feed.
i have found that when he is crying and the jiggling sssshhhhing isn't working, i lay him on his back and lift his legs, as if cganging his nappy, then put his toes over his nipples, then bending his knees. repeat several times i find that this helps him pass wind/ poo.
i have tryed stopping the colief but it needs to be weaned off (see leaflet) he was more settled for 2 days but then became colicy again. talk to your gp see if they would advise stopping it
hth??

it maybe as the enzymes and extra acid produced to break the gum down to allow the tooth to come through can upset the digestive system. some babies have no problems, but unfortunaely others can suffer far more.
I added baby friendly bugs (solaray 'babylife' )to my sons milk and a few other bits to reduce stomach acidity and that seemed to work quite well for him.
without 'looking' at him or talking about him, I can not say if this would work for him as it could be excess acid from the gums causing stomach acidity and friendly bug die off (which is what causes the wind as the milk is not fully digested and so ferments into gas!!) or whether it is an intolerance that the colief is not coping with.
screaming when massaged certainly sounds as if his digestive system is very 'tender' and sore and the waking up more for feeds (is that correct or did I mis interpret that?)sounds like he is not getting enough nourishment therefore possibly the bug die off and fermenting scenario may be more likely. if in doubt, always see a GP or midwife.

Thanks barnpot. I have tried the lifting of the legs method but he screams when I lay him on his back, he's obviously in a lot of pain. I've also tried alternating the colief at night to no avail. I feed him from the breast during the day and expressed milk at night from anti colic bottles as I find he fusses more at the breast later in the day and won't settle. It seems weird that the colic is now worse at almost 4 months than it was earlier on, I heard it was supposed to disappear by now! Does anyone have experience of a worsening?

Thanks Misi I'd never heard of any of that, might check out the health food shop.

gilly, just posted these links on another thread but may be useful to you too

www.foodreactions.org/colic/

www.foodreactions.org/products/colic.html

www.familiesonline.co.uk/article/articleview/1399/1/11

That's great, I might increase his Colief and try some friendly bacteria. I've heard you can put a teaspoon of Yakult in the feed, does anyone know anything about this? Interestingly enough Misi in that last article, it mentions too much foremilk as a cause. My son goes 3 hours between feeds, always feeding from one breast at a time but this week, has been feeding less and bobbing on and off the breast for the last 2 or 3 minutes as if in pain, he then shoves his hand in his mouth and dribbles a lot! I think he may not be getting enough hind milk. Thanks so much for your suggestions.

hi,

haven't read all the posts but teetha powders are full of lactose are they not which makes them sweet? check the ingredients. the lactase (colief) will not be breaking down the lactose in the teetha powders.

stop giving the teetha powders and he should improve.

hth

also, the lactose in the teetha powders would make him constipated imo.

if he's in pain can you use calgel or something similar instead?

teetha powders

also about colic worsening..

ds was colicky, he screamed every eve/night from birth. we tried everything. i even gave up bf cos we thought he was hungry and put him on formula. (i didn't know about colief). it made no diffenece, we switched formulas, till eventually tried colief (after reading about it on here) he was 3months old and still in newborn clothes when we started the colief. god what a diffence it made. poor wee man was in agony everyday til then. we then switched to lactose free formula and had a happy boy who put on weight and was no longer constipated all the time.

so what i'm trying to say, from our experience is, your ds may be lactose intolerant, as opposed to just colicky. keep on with the colief while you are bf if it means he is comfortable and avoid products containing lactose (all the teething powders have lactose in btw). it may be temporary. ds now has no problem with milk/dairy products and we weaned him off the lactose free formula at 14months.

yalkult often contains sugar, which unfreindly bugs and yeasts live on. also babies gut bugs are quite specific. the predominant bug is bifidum infantis. after around 5 years old, this bug is either gone or in minute amounts. products like yakult contains adult bugs only and therefore are quite useless to under 5's.
thats why I prefer babylife, as it is B. infantis and a few others specific for babies.

this is a US site that tells you a bit about the product
www.suzannes.com/allnatenpow2.html

Just ordered some ABCdophilus from Solgar as I can get it a little quicker than the babylife but may well order it too, can I get it in the UK?

just noticed in your op that you are giving the colief with the expressed bm? is he having the colief with each feed? i.e. expressing a little milk onto a teaspoon and putting mixing the colief with it pre breastfeed?

oh yes, I used to sell it from my shop but you can get it mail order in this country and probably cheaper than I could ever sell it for too!!
solgar is the next best I think so is a good choice