Windy baby

[precariouslybalanced]

Hello all,
I have just realised (DD 3 weeks old) that the painful, squirming, windy tummy aches she gets every now and then may be down to the foods I eat. D'oh, I know. I haven't had much in the way of cabbage or melon since I started bfing, and generally eat anything and everything. Is there anything in particular that you have learned to avoid to dodge windiness?
TIA.

I suspect you're right and food is an issue but you can help by pre-empting some of it - look for blue-ish skin around the mouth as that's a sign she needs to be picked up and winded.

Really, really, really unlikely that what you eat is causing these symptoms, OP. Babies squirm and appear to have discomfort, and we call it 'wind' but unless it is really serious and on-going doing an 'elimination diet' is more trouble than it's worth, IMO.

NotDaphne - bluish skin round the mouth = wind is myth, sorry.

How would gas in the stomach make the skin blue?! :)

I don't know why this idea is so prevalent.

Out of curiosity, what does cause the blue lips? Sorry to hijack thread!

Babies have a cluster of veins round the mouth and they can become 'fuller' with blood after a period of mild exertion, like feeding or crying. This sometimes shows up as a blueish tinge because of the translucency of the skin. In a healthy baby it should be mild and very temporary, and confined to the face around the mouth (ie not the mouth, lips, tongue, where blue means cyanosis or lack of oxygen and is an emergency).

Thanks for the explanation tiktok - DD3 gets this (blue/grey/purplish skin around mouth/lips) during an asthma attack if not properly treated and we usually call an ambulance at that point (if inhalers are not working well enough). It has happened since she was small (had bronchiolitis attacks from about 3m old) so would have been beyond worried if it was brushed off as 'wind'!

Glad to hear that there can be a benign reason for a milder version of it though as I worry when I hear of babies with blue mouths being winded not taken to A&E for oxygen and a head box

Truth, there have been cases where the blue tinges have been ignored, because of this daft myth of wind...and it turned out to be something very serious.

That's very sad tiktok - I am glad that I have been taken seriously when DD3 was blue around her mouth (ambulance staff have always been very happy to take us in to be checked/treated and in fact I have been told off for not calling ambulances for her [went to local walk-in for check up rather than 'waste' an ambulance - I don't do that now!]).

I do think though the HV did on occasions think I was a little neurotic about the colour changes but she could go from fine to not being able to bf due to shortness of breath in a matter of an hour or less so I needed to be vigilant and not ignore the early warning signs!

Truth - did the HV tell you 'it's just wind'??????

Luckily no or there would have been a complaint issued! She just wrote down in DD3's red book that 'mother reports baby had an episode of colour change' and advised me to speak to GP.

This was after 3 bronch. episodes in 8 weeks (2 of those were week long stays with tube feeding as DD3 was too poorly to bf directly - all ebm though) and she was very fragile and as soon as she got a cold she would be in hospital needing oxygen (no cure for bronch. just palliative care to help baby get through the infection). She was 21 weeks old then and 3lbs over her birth weight (8lb 10 born & 12lb 9 1/2 at 21 weeks).

So could the blue mouth have been caused by squirming because she had wind? Just wondering because it definitely did seem to make a difference with both my kids.