Horribly windy month old baby - PLEASE help

[edwardscissorhands]

My DS has really bad wind. Some days it's manageable until the early evening when he is usually inconsolable, but the past few days/nights, he's been so unsettled. He's FF and we wind him really well - take ages, keep him upright for ages after, use massage and different winding techniques etc. He has become irritable during feeds too. Red faced, grimacing. He spits up a bit but no projectile vomit - although he makes a face like he has a bit of a bad taste in his mouth so I suspect he has a bit of acid too. His sleep is restless although he does go down. He has lots of hiccups too.

What can we do? I've booked in with a cranial osteopath. He's very small. I also give him EBM once a day - and it's only this past week when he's been mainly on formula. Could it be the transition that has seen him get worse - or is it colic? All day colic????

Could it be reflux maybe? I don't have experience of it myself but a friend of mine's baby had this.

DD was dreadfully windy. Every feed was an ordeal. We became experts at various winding positions, we switched bottles from Avent to TT CTN (make quite a difference actually) but probably the biggest improvement was when we started making her bottles up with camomile tea. The effect was amazing.

A friend is a natrupath and suggested we give it a try. In desperation we did and it worked.

We would drop a teabag (just twinnings camomile from the supermarket) in a litre of hot water and let it cool for a bit then make her bottles up with the tea.

She is now 8.5months and i still do it as she takes those bottles so much better than just normal formula.

Have you tried using Infacol before feeds (helps bring up burps) and/or Colief? Colief is different - it helps break down lactose in milk...

You should read up a bit on reflux/silent reflux & see if you recognise any of the signs. If so, an anti-reflux formula may help.

SugarPlumFairy - the camomile sounds good but my ds is only one month, so he's too young?

Showdown - I've looked up silent reflux and yes, he does have some symptoms but then they're also the symptoms in common with colic so it's confusing!

Does sound like reflux to me too. Reflux babies are often very windy, our paed said its because of all the excess acid in their stomach.

Reflux can be worse in the evenings which makes it confusing with colic. However it seems that a colicky baby will just cry and cry and cry with nothing consoling them. A reflux baby will often calm and sleep in an upright position as being upright forces the bit at the top of the stomach closed, and the acid can't come up and hurt them any longer.

Before we got medication, the best thing was what you are doing, although being upright for too long didn't help as he had trouble getting wind out in this position. We used to lie him at a 45 degree angle and watch for windy symptoms (windy smile, spilling up, looking uncomfortable) then whip him up and wind again. I used to try and get at least two burps out of him, at first I thought that one was enough but it wasn't!

Infacol was also a magic potion for us.

Thanks ThisisYourSong - can you tell me...how long did your baby get affected for, what medication are you on etc...when you got diagnosed

We started noticing symptoms about four weeks old. The GP put us on Gaviscon which made things progressively worse, but insisted we try it for two weeks before she would do anything else. We eventually got a paed referral to our local hospital, but that appointment was for when he was four months old.

The period between 6-12 weeks was probably the worst (a knock-on effect of the Gaviscon). By about three months we had it a lot more under control. Mostly by lots of lots and winding, using Dr Browns bottles, Infacol and an Amby nest for sleeping. He would then sleep for three or four hours in a stretch at night. Don't get me wrong it wasn't easy, but more manageable.

Then at four months we saw the paed who put him on Omeprazole. This takes a few weeks to work, but was brilliant. After that he started sleeping through. We're still on the meds, had a trial off at 13 months but it was back within a day or two. So we will try again at 18 months.

Gaviscon or comfort/thickened milks are usually the first port of call, and can work for mild cases where it keeps the milk in the stomach. If you have a moderate to severe case it can make things worse, as these thicken the milk which means it is slower to come back up, and gives it longer to burn the throat.

Let me know if you have any other questions...

That's really helpful - thanks so much. I'd like to think he's a mild case - takes majority of his feeds okay (and has gained weight), though eating is worse in evenings, does sleep (though far less than he did), on his back/side in the moses basket. But I know something isn't quite right. My DH is a fantastic dad but he thinks I'm neurotic and that this is normal baby behaviour. I'm not so sure. However, I have health insurance which might make things quicker/easier if I need to see a paed. I hate seeing him in discomfort, and i'm scared of what the sleep deprivation is going to do to all of us!

Reflux is also related to the volume of milk they are taking, which is why it doesn't show up at first and means it can get progressively worse as they take and need more and more milk.

Babies with silent reflux often do put on weight well, as they comfort feed. The milk neutralises the acid which soothes their throats. We used to have terrible trouble with our LO only wanting to feed to sleep, which made getting wind out much much harder. When he would finally burp, it would wake him up and he would want to feed again! Try to never let him get into that habit.

Its hard as babies do cry, do often have problems with wind and gut problems and can often grow out of it within a few weeks. Its probably best to just keep an eye on it and see if he gets any worse. Having private medical insurance is great, as it can usually be sorted out within a few appointments.

It might be worth investing in a couple of Dr Browns bottles (great for all feeding problems) to see if they help and definitely Infacol if you are not using it yet. Also consider trying a comfort milk for a couple of weeks and see if that helps.

Yes, have sent out DH for Dr Brown bottles and have bought Infacol. Will consider a comfort milk and have a cranial osteopath appointment booked. Can't do much more than that at this stage; as you say, there are all manner of gut/digestive problems that can occur at thi stage when baby is immature - and in our case, very small. Was born 5lbs 6oz and desperately trying to catch up since!

Thanks again - you've been so incredibly helpful.

If it is a mild case of reflux, I really recommend Enfamil A.R. (anti-reflux). It doesn't have any medication in it - just rice starch which thickens in the tummy. Mixing it up is easy once you get the hang of it (some comfort milks are gluggy) though you would need variflow teats.

You can buy Enfamil from independent pharmacies or from Boots - though you won't see it on the shelf, just ask the pharmacist.

Enfamil A.R is a brand of formula - sorry, didn't make that clear.