Do you think wind pains really exist or are a result of how we feed?

[Again]

I read the theory in the continuum concept that if we really did nurse on demand then babies would self regulate their wind. I'm now on my second baby who gets pains in their tummy. We cosleep but she does not look to nurse through out the night. At a maximum it's every couple of hours or else I wake her so that she's had enough. What are your general views on the theory and am I doing something wrong?

It's confusing because when people talk about "feeding on demand" they usually assume that babies want little and often, whereas some babies do nurse less frequently but take more on each time, so if you feed them more often then you're not really "feeding on demand". Then there's often talk of "offering them the boob" when they haven't asked, or putting them on if they cry, so basically I dont even really know what "feeding on demand" really means. If you offer them milk, and they take some, but they hadnt actually asked for it, is that "feeding on demand"?? Personally, I find it's that pre-empting which causes wind problems in DS but sometimes I do do it, if, for example, we have a 45 min drive ahead of us, and I know he's likely to cry for milk during the drive when there's nothing I can do about it.

If we have a whole day at home when I do just wait till he asks, then I'd agree the wind is not as bad.

However, I think there are other factors that affect windiness, like speed of milk flow and if your baby is a steady nurser or (as one poster so brilliantly put it) goes at it like they're trying to suck a pineapple through a straw

Fedding on demand doesn't mean feeding when your baby cries though, it means feeding when you first see baby hunger cues. It certainly could be argued that if you wait until they cry then you're leaving it too late. That being said I am rubbish at reading the cues and normally miss them.

I also think that lots of factors affect the amount of wind babies have i.e. crying, sucking on dummies, fast letdown, bad latch. I also think some babies, like some adults, are just more prone to wind than others.

I've always fed on demand and my DD (21 weeks) has always suffered from terrible wind which wakes her up at night. It doesn't matter how much she is winded before she is put down. When she wakes up you only have to put the tiniest amount of pressure on her tummy to release a stream of farts whch she can't seem to get out herself.

She also has wind during the daytime possibly due to fast letdown. She only nurses for about 5 mins at a time but even after that short period always brings up a load of wind after a feed.

It makes co-sleeping in the traditional sense impossible. If I was to just let her feed when she wanted during the night while I dozed then she would spend half the night screaming because of the accumulation of wind produced by a) feeding lying down instead of as upright as possible and b) not winding after feeds.

I do bring her into bed with me when she wakes the second time (the first time is always because of wind not hunger) but I have to wake when she wakes to feed her so I can wind her afterwards.

It is a particular annoyance of mine when people say that babies don't really get wind and that you shouldn't need to wind a baby. If I followed that advice I would have a very miserable screaming baby.

p.s. OP if you're lucky enough to have a baby who sleeps through the night I wouldn't wake her to feed her :)

My baby's too young not to wake as she's only 12 days old. I had to hand compress into her mouth because she had no wet nappies. On demand almost killed her.

You do have to be careful about "on demand" in the early days - babies can be jaundiced or affected by drugs (pethedine) the mother had during labour, which can make them sleepy and mean they don't wake to feed. My midwives told me to nurse every 3 hours at least, more often if she asked for it. With hindsight I wish I had nursed min every 2 hours during the day to help establish supply.

It doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong to me. Out of interest, how do you know she has tummy pains? Honestly, I think newborns just cry sometimes because they don't know how to do anything else....

I remember feeling like a failure when I read continuum concept, and my baby still cried! I think that it was wind with DS as as soon as he burped, he was okay. I think though you have this expectation when they are tiny that if they cry, that means something is wrong and you should be able to fix it. But sometimes they do just cry and there is nothing you can do except hold them and love them through it.

I can't remember if it was in the CC book itself or on the website somewhere, but I remember reading somewhere that when Western women had babies in this society, they behaved like western babies and cried and kicked etc, which the Yeqana babies didn't. So it's not anything you're doing - nobody knows why it is.

I felt like Bertie about the CC , so I stopped reading it.

That said, I think all the fuss British people make about babies and wind is largely bollocks. In my experience, if a baby needs to burp it burps, and if it needs to fart it farts. Babies curl up and draw up their knees when they cry. It's what they do and nothing at all to do with pain usually. Crying makes them swallow air, so when they finally stop they burp. In other countries no-one goes on about wind and newborns. It's just another thing to try to 'fix' and to try to explain away normal newborn behaviour that can be difficult to cope with.

She doesn't cry, but does like to be held upright or have the wind helped out before she'll have milk Rj and so feeding lying down is a definite no no for her. I think that it's true that it might just be slight discomfort. On the yequana, surely a baby is a baby and if they can just sleep all night long with the baby nipping on and off why do western babies not. Whether you call it pains or not I just don't understand why our babies don't do it, unless I'm missing some obvious solution