Infacol - does it work? Very windy 2 week old, screaming etc.

[Elsqueak]

My 2 week old ebf Dd cries and cries for 3 hrs every night. It's awful.
Bought Infacol but not sure if it really works.
Does it build up effectiveness over time or is it meant to be instantaneous relief?

I don't know what else will help- Mil said gripe water works?

what is the best wind relief that's worked for you?

If it is trapped wind infacol does work. I noticed with dd she did bigger burps strait away. But I was also told effectiveness took a while of regular use. Dot know about gripe water cos we used infacol during the gripe water shortage this summer!

Also dd problem was horrendous reflux NOT trapped wind so even though it made her burp more (and projectile vom) it wasn't our solution to the 15 hour screaming fits

Infacol. We had a couple of dreadful evenings, started on the Infacol and it was much better.
Stopped the infacol a while later and then had more dreadful evenings. Started it again and again an improvement.

Give it a go, if it works, keep it up, if it doesn't, try something else. We had bottles and bottles of the stuff stashed around the house for feeding.

Well it worked for DS- basically it makes the small air bubbles form a big bubble which is much easier to burp up. It does take time to be effective though (around a week- some people say 2 weeks) and you MUST burp them if you use it, otherwise they get very uncomfortable.

Do not believe people who say you don't need to burp a bf baby.

Take comfort in the fact that as they get older, the wind problems tend to resolve themselves. I reckon even without the Infacol, you'll see an improvement in 2 weeks. DD was mega windy (and hated Infacol). It had basically sorted itself out by 6 weeks.

Congrats on your LO :)

Infacol apparently takes a couple of days (?) to take affect given before every feed i think but I'm not sure it works, others think its great.

Assuming it is wind (what makes you think it is BTW?), others I know have tried gripe water and colief. Some people don't think gripe water works and colief has good reputation but is expensive. I believe you can get it on prescription.

I guess you've tried lots of different wind positions?

GL :)

DS had mild reflux and we were utterly dependent on nfacol. It took a few days to really be effective and we got it on prescription for him. Really made a difference to his comfort (unfortunately it did not reduce the huge vomiting).

Thank you.
I am pretty sure it's wind. She needs a lot of winding and lots of little burps come out, sometimes farts but it takes ages (a good hour) and she eventually gets them all up but it takes a while and then she needs it again. Makes the wee hour feeds a bit of a slog.
Not sure why it's worse at this particular time. She's also sick but not huge amounts.
I will keep dosing with Infacol and see how we get on.
With Dd1 we had no wind issues so am a bit confused.

Elsqueak It;s hellish isnt it?- an hour to feed them, an hour to burp them and an hour to settle them. It will get better. It seems that when they develop a bit more core strength, the wind comes up much more easily. Keep trying a few different positions as well. Personally, I find holding them over the shoulder with their arms down your back and then move the heel of your hand up the left hand side of their body repeatedly (press quite firmly) works well.

I think with Infacol the difficulty is that it takes a while to work, so they might have just got better over that timescale anyway.

Thanks for the burping tip, Rich. Willing to try anything that will help!

Second that burping technique :)

hi - this article really gelled with me - i'm not saying babies don't have wind ever/ reflux - but this article proposes that we always associate colic (as in lots of crying especially in the evening) with digestive discomfort - when actually it might be to do with being overstimulated.

www.babydoc.com.au/faqs/Bore_Your_Baby_to_Sleep.htm

what was especially interesting to learn was that arching back/ drawing knees up can be a sign of general stress - not just digestion related.

we all (parents of screaming babies) want to grasp on something to explain why they're crying, and something we can do to stop it i.e. infacol/ gripe water etc - that's not to say that the "overstimulation" theory isn't similarly 'grasping' but that its another point of view.

Elsqueak, all my babies cried in the pm for an hour or two until 6/7 weeks. Typical colicky babies. Youngest is 3 months. He is bf. My tips are... 1-try to stay calm and relaxed. Gently rub back or tummy, bé in dimly lit room, no tv etc. Try not to 'jiggle' the baby.Agree that some babies like being 'over the shoulder' as mentioned above. 2- walking up the stairs helps to get burbs up. 3- When 'winding' try having palm on back and thumb on side/tummy. Rub quite vigorously. And don't bé afraid to pat back quite firmly too! Sitting dd up on your lap, then tilt her backwards, do this a few times, I find this often gets wind shifted. Remember it usually passes by 6/7 weeks!

Apparently studies have shown that Infacol has no effect and just makes parents feel better. I read that in Marc Weissbluth's book. However, in the case of my DD I have no doubt but that it made a difference. She used to take ages to wind and do the little burps that you describe. Once we started Infacol she would usually do a big burp quite quickly. We started it at two weeks too and it did take a few days to kick in. I stopped it at nine weeks but went back to it after 48 hours. I stopped for good at 13 weeks and she's been fine since.

I found the best way to wind her was to sit her on my lap kind of draped over my forearm and pat her on the back. Either that or over the shoulder like Rich describes but you have to get them really up there - almost as you feel like they'll slip over the other side! The other thing was keeping her upright after her night feeds. In the beginning it was for a good 30 minutes - down to about 10 towards the end (she slept through from 13 weeks).

Good luck and congratulations - typing this has made me remember how quickly this passed.

No, it is not true to say that Infacol has been shown to have no effect, rather that it hasn't been shown to be more effective than a placebo. And placebos can certainly result in an improvement of symptoms (there has been plenty of research in this area).

So, if you don't use it, you definitely won't benefit from it, but if you do use it, the placebo effect may come into play and you may see an improvement.

It didn't work for us. DD was diagnosed with silent reflux at 10 weeks. We have been prescribed Ranitidine.

noblegiraffe I stand corrected! I didn't know that placebos have been shown to improve symptoms. Would be interested in that research actually as am quite interested in alternative medicine, especially acupuncture. Can you point me in the right direction?

Goodness, this is interesting. I had no idea Infacol had such contrasting reviews.
I suppose anything that claims to ease a distressing situation with babies will be a money spinner for the company that makes it. God knows we don't want our children to suffer if we can help it & we'll buy it.
Woodifer - interesting to read about general distress there not just wind.

My Dd seems to suffer about 10pm til 3am sometimes by which time any possibility of over stimulation is zero. I become very practical and only whisper & I have an extremely dim night light on at the most.
Have loved reading all your replies & knowing I'm not the only one battling the wind!

my DD has really bad colic and infacol really worked for us, i used to put a few drops in all her bottles after 4pm as it was the evening that was worse.
another trick i learnt from hours walking around with a screaming baby is if you walk up and down the stairs holding them upright over your shoulder it seems to bring wind up, not always but i know at your stage you will try anything!
another thing that helped was having her upright over your shoulder and jig her up and down, you will hear her tummy bubbling and gurgling and should burp.
taking her for walks outside should help (holding not in a pram), sometimes if they just stop crying for a minute the wind just comes up.
i know this time is hard but it will get better.