BF lying down; what about wind?

[MarmaladeSun]

Hi all. Just wondered what anyone else does about this? My DD wakes a couple of times in the night, and rather than sit up with her I feed her lying down, as I manage to snatch some extra sleep that way. Trouble is, after about an hour of sleeping she wakes up obviously in pain and won't stop crying until she has got rid of the wind. If I wind her the usual way it seems to wake her up too much. Anyone know a different way?

i did exactly the same with my dd1, i loved feeding her lying down at night in the bed. have you tried winding her halfway through her feed? sometimes its hard to work out when halfway through is or to stay awake enough to remember to do so but it worked for me quite often. good luck xxx

have you tried feeding half sitting up in a reclined position with baby lying on you so head is up - hard to explain also just trying not to feed in a prone posistion used to work and you can doze like taht

This works!!!

Explanation first, then method!:

1.Apparently a young baby's stomach/gullet etc functions more like a wide necked bottle than the adult bag/valve/pipe shape (as it was described to me).

2.Bubbles of air which naturally get in when feeding can get trapped and cause wind/pain.

3.To avoid this let baby stay laying down for a few minutes after feed before slowly & gently tilting baby up- just keep her cradled in your arms after bf then raise in the crook of your arm - as you raise her the bubbles gurgle up and out without pain or disturbance:

the bubbles settle on surface of milk in stomach and float out -try it with a carafe of wine or a tall drinking glass - hold it at an angle after filling with lemonade or soapy water to see what I mean, I'm not very good at explaining things without my hands waving about!!

A midwife told me about this, and it really does help (unfortunately she told me after DS2 - DS1 had had horrid wind, wish I'd known earlier!!)

Apparently Britain is one of the few places in the world who routinely pat their babies on the back until they burp. I used to think everyone did it, I blame tv/films showing knackered parents walking around playing the living bongos on pretend babies!!

Hope this helps. I fed my DS1 exclusively laying down as I couldn't sit up at all due to a disabling illness.

Forgot to say, used this method from day one with DS2 (still had to feed mainly laying down, even day feeds), and we had a much better time of it. I also didn't stress out/wake him up trying to transfer him back into the cot after each feed - as hubbie had to lift him for me he usually woke up.

Another midwife told me to tuck the top sheet under baby and lie on it myself - then abolutely no fear of baby falling out of bed if I fell asleep - I found that gave me reassurance that he was safe and I could sleep more.

Keep with it, this stage passes and it is such a precious time, even though it can be so exhausting you wonder if you'll get through it sometimes!

I love feeding lying down - the best way, IMO. To help the wind up at night I used to drape dd onto my chest at the end of the feed (or between boobs, if I felt she needed it, she was a very windy little thing) by sliding my arm under her top half and rolling backwards taking her with me so that she was half on and half off my chest. That way her body was tilted upwards enough for the wind to come up, and I could pat or rub her back, without disturbing her if she had fallen asleep.

I used to prop baby against me, too, & fall back to sleep that way. I'm sure someone will say I shouldn't, but kept me sane.