Burping baby...?

[atrcts]

Does everyone manage to get their babies winded after each feed?

I have a prem baby who I breastfeed and who in the beginning winded really well - almost adult belches! But now, since getting reflux, winding him seems pretty impossible.

We're using infacol which seems to make him pass wind more when he fills his napoies, but still doesn't seem to release wind at the top end.

It's hard to know if this makes him uncomfortable, as he has reflux and so we can't put him down after a feed until we've kept him upright for at least an hour post feed.

I remember my sister saying breastfeeding her babies laying down often meant they didn't need winding, but am not sure if this is be case for everyone?

I also read that if you can't shift wind within 5 minutes of a feed then you might as well not bother trying.

So.... Any winding thoughts welcomed !

Ds was 8 weeks prem and we spent ages winding him after a feed. Best way for him was over the shoulder and pat and pat and pat...

Got better when we went on to gripe water when he was a bit older.

I wouldn't recommend feeding lying down very often if your baby has reflux or you'll get what I got - baby throwing up all over herself while lying down! I'd reccomend the biological nuturing position to help with wind and reflux.

I also found that rubbing to burp is better than patting with reflux. I also found gripe water really helps to get wind up and reduces the amount of rear end wind!

How are you winding? Sitting the baby up and swaying them around can be very effective.

I would agree that if they don't burp after five minutes it's not worth persevering, unless it is causing real problems at the other end. When I was struggling to get wind up, baby massage, clockwise circles around the tummy button (you can buy baby massage oil or just use olive oil) followed by cycling the legs helped it come out the other end.

I find that lifting them up under their arms a couple of times and sitting them sideways on your knee with your hand under their chin and rubbing their backs to be the most successful way. If that doesn't work then either cycling the legs or just sort of rolling their knees up towards their chin and out straight again helps.

I personally don't think infacol helps.

Oh yes, hand under chin to straighten the back works well! It's all coming back to me now

It's a strange thing that, the flatter I feed him (cradles in my arm) the longer he takes to feed and he's more gentle with the sucking. When I feed him fully face on and upright, he gulps really hard and is all done in half the time - about 5-10 mins max.

Burping him I automatically place him right over one shoulder and have been doing anticlockwise rubbing on his back, sometimes the odd pat once between the shoulder blades or upper bottom. Then I switch to sitting him leaning his his supported over my hand and again rubbing the back anticlockwise.

Sometimes I cradle his head and semi-recline him away from me and then sit him upright, not too fast to give him whiplash(!!!) but not too slowly either.

Oh and then there's the leopard in a tree hold (face down with limbs dangling either side of my arm).

He's too young to use gripe water for another week yet so I might have to just ride it out until then. Meanwhile he's on Gaviscon and ranitidine, as well as infacol. Covering all the bases!

It's hard to know whether his discomfort and inability to lie down after a feed is due to wind or reflux - or both?! Often with the reflux he sounds like trapped air when you fill a hot water bottle, a lot of wet gurgle and gulps high in the back of the throat, shortly before being sick if he isn't picked up quickly enough, but it's not always that obvious as he sometimes silently sucks up before squirming and crying.

Oops sicks up - not sucks up!

I'm just after some advice...my baby boy is 7 weeks old and is generally very uncomfortable with wind etc. I definitely think he is suffering from colic and have started to use infacol. I'm exclusively breastfeeding and my son had his tongue tie snipped 3 weeks ago. My reason for visiting the tongue tie clinic was due to feeding being extremely painful, however, ever since, I've noticed his latch hasn't been as good and also my breast milk sometimes leaks from the sides of his mouth during feeding. I take breaks during feeding to burp him but there constantly seems to be wind that needs to come up, for example if I lay him on his play mat, he's happy for a few minutes but then goes red in the face and starts crying, so I pick him up and pat him on the back and he burps. I feel so sorry for him as he never seems content.
Does anyone think all of this is purely down to a bad latch? I'm considering moving him onto bottle so he doesn't constantly have bad wind.
I also have a 20 month old toddler, so it's really hard for me to having to constantly burp my baby all day whilst trying to entertain/ look after my toddler. Times are tough right now.