howling with wind aftet feeds

[icurgnmum]

My 7 week old as howls, pumps legs, arches back, writhes around after feeds and cries all evening. He wakes frequently over night due to wind, and has awful stinky farts. Dr told me today the post feed screaming is due to constipation (!!) as he only poos once a week. She advised giving him water, but as he's breastfed I don't think that's right. He vomits alot, but it doesn't seem to bother him unless it gets up his nose. So his problems are stuffy nose, swallowing air when feeding, trapped wind..he has infacol which does help to get some of the wind up, saline drops for nose, having cranial osteopathy, just don't seem to be able to help him. haven't had more than three hours sleep(in bits) since he was born and getting bit desperate. I don't seem able to stop him from eating air when feeding.
any advice welcome please.

Could be colic. Try infacol before feeds

We have a very similar problem with my DD (5 weeks) - health visitor thinks it's due to poor latch, which is allowing her to swallow air when feeding, perhaps worth having this checked? (I thought my latch was fine as it's my 2nd baby and had no problems or soreness this time round, and DD is piling on the weight). You should also get the GP to rule out thrush, as my DD has this too (treated but didn't go away so needed a second course of treatment). I think once a week poos are normal for a breastfed baby, I understand that constipation is pretty rare (but not impossible) for exclusively breastfed babies. Hope things get better for you soon.

icurgnmum, definitely, definitely get someone experienced and knowledgable (g breastfeeding counsellor) to observe a feed from start to finish.

He's almost certainly not constipated; that poo frequency is normal.

You can contact a breastfeeding helpline (see mumsnet bf pages) and see if there is someone nearby who you can see.

There may be a bf support group in your area with a breastfeeding counsellor there.

Thanks all. Doctor did say he has a small tongue tie, but he can stick his tongue out so I thought it wasn't a problem... I mentioned the cutting out dairy thing to the doctor yesterday and she told me it was a bad idea if breastfeeding and that as his weight gain is ok he's fine.. but then she didn't seem terribly interested in anything but his weight to be honest, so maybe I'll have to give it a go. I'm just concerned that if I cut out dairy then it'll be hard to reintroduce later as surely he'll be sensitized to it.. and also, I'm a cheese freak, and not sure I can live without it!! (Selfish mummy). His poo is just like normal breastfed poo, never had a green one, however his farts are like boiled cabbage.. he smells like an sprout.. and the closer it gets to "poo day" the worse he smells..

TheJoyfulPuddlejumper - how long after cutting out dairy did you notice a difference?

I will get someone to look at me feeding him then.. I rather pompously assumed that as I fed first one for 13 months that I'd be doing it all right, but clearly I'm not. I haven't had any nipple soreness at all, but after first one maybe I have leather nipples. It's probably the most obviously thing and stupid me, the only thing I haven't done!

If I get no joy at breastfeeding drop in - there's a lactation consultant locally who has been recommended but costs £75!! Still, having shelled out for Cranial Osteopathy, pro biotics, and litres of infacol, maybe it would be money well spent. To enhance matters he now has streaming cold, so we're vapourising like mad too..

Thanks all.

Yes, don't think I'd go dairy free until I've explored all other avenues..

I was told that Gaviscon is rendered ineffective by breastmilk by my HV, but most GPs still prescribe as first line treatment for reflux. Not sure if that's right.. but might explain why it didn't work.

I fed dd until 13 months old so prob lost knack of feeding small baby. Must admit, the behaviour i'm getting during and after feeding looks like reflux, but when he vomits it doesn't seem to bother him at all, which it would do if it was burning him

It's all so tricky.

The HV who told me had just done an "infant feeding" course and she seemed pretty convinced. Cheers for advice.