HELP with wind for 4wk old boy.

[tammy37]

hi i am a mum to a four week old boy who weighed 10 pounds 11 ounces. he wouldnt take a lot of milk but he kept bringing a lot up. he was on cow and gate but we changed to cow and gate comfort. he farts a lot but is still left squirming with wind. he gets fed every three hours and only takes no more that three ounces cos if he does he will bring most of it back up. it takes the time in between feeds to get wind from him.we have tried infacol but disagreed with him. every time he settles he makes a funny sound as if liquid is coming back up his throat and he swallows it and this wakes him up sometimes screaming.have spoken to health visitor and she says he will grow out of it. i am at my wits end cos i dont know what to do next. i have to cuddle him in half sitting up to get a sleep for me or him. does anyone have any ideas???i was told that windy babies can only take in small amounts of milk but more often like he does.any help would be greatly appreciated. xx

If he has issues when lying down but can sleep propped up, I would ask the GP about reflux.

Try keeping him as upright as possible. Like you i used to sleep propped up in bed with her on my chest.

To wind him drape him over one arm and gently rub. Can take a while- DD could take 10-15 mins. I know it seems like they bring up a lot (i used to think DD brought up the whole feed) but it isn't. As long as he is weeing, pooing and putting on weight them he is getting enough.

The wind is getting trapped behind some milk so when it comes up- so does some milk.

Have you asked the doctor about gaviscon? Infacol didn't work for us until about 6 weeks so maybe just some perservence needed?

gaviscon is great, and I also found when looking on sma/cow and gate websites that you do get special formula for reflux so might be worth looking into them and speaking to your gp? No-one really tells you about these formulas..

Definitely speak to your gp about reflux as it sounds very much like it and there are things they can give you to help.
I had exactly the same response from my health visitor and waited and waited for things to improve before i went to see my gp and then felt so stupid that i hadnt gone sooner when i saw such an improvement in him with gaviscon and then ranitidine.
Yes, he WILL grow out of it but you dont both have to suffer in the meantime.

Try feeding him as upright as you can and let him sit upright for a while afterwards, also if you can get a wedge pillow for the moses basket/cot or cot blocks, that can help a lot....Failing that, let him sleep on you if he is comfortable like that (only way i could get ds to sleep until he was 8 weeks).
Comfort milk helped ds with wind but it does take a while to see an improvement, i would say around 2 weeks.

Also try anti colic bottles, I use MAM but have heard others say Dr Browns, Tommee Tippee anti colic are good.
Buy one or two bottles and see how you get on before buying a whole new set...I tried loads before settling on MAM and he did the most MASSIVE burp the first time I used it.

Good luck, sending hugs your way and hoping you get some help.

my DS was exacly the same and still is! he had same sort of symptoms frequent feeds normally fusses during feeds seems like hes in pain whilst feeding lots or crying and fussing waking up screaming and that funny noise in there throut! i waint untill DS was 9 weeks till i went to the docs as i got the same response by HV 'he'll grow out of it all babies fuss' then when i went to docs the prescribed gaviscon but this made my LO one constipated and didnt make much difference as i belive gaviscon if more for reflux babies that bring there feeds up, my LO has silent relfux where is bring up a lil bit after feeds but normally i here that funny noise in his throut this being the acid coming up and my LO swallowing it back down then i'm greeted with a very big screaming fit poor lil thing! docs moved him on to ranitine which has made some difference but still some feed times are very stressful! hes got the docs again today so gonna see if theres anything else to try if not i'm going to try and be refered to a pead but sure this will take a long time! hope this helps my LO is 12 weeks now just hoping for the day all these horrible pains stop for him! hope this helps isnt nice seeing them in pain and upset :(

My DS was a very windy baby (but not reflux) - he is now 18 weeks old and much much better at bringing up his burps.
What seems to have made a difference is giving him plenty of nappy off time (before bath) to really kick and squirm. This has built up his tummy muscles to help him with pushing wind up (and down - he farts like a trooper)

The only thing I've not seen mentioned above is Colief drops - they are expensive (around £10) but you can get them on prescription.
Hope all your lo's get over this quickly!

I would bet my bottom dollar it's not wind - it sounds like either reflux or a cow's milk protein intolerance. Does he have ay eczema?

any!

Thank you all for your input, we are off to the docs this Friday so will see what they say then. Will keep you updated and please feel free to continue to offer any support or tips that might help. T xx

Hi there

We had the same problem with our DS (who is now nearly 4). The midwife and then HV told us he was a boy and being dramatic.

I eventually took him to the Drs (after trying Colief drops, Infacol and all other brands) who diagnosed him with reflux who prescribed infant Gaviscon. Straight after feeding the Dr said to keep him upright for 30 mins which was a bit of a killer in the middle of the night, but it did definitely help.

I also found that the Cow & Gate brand really made him worse so switched to Aptamil which made him less windy!

Hope it helps